2026 F1 Cars - General Thread

[vorticism]

Ready for the return of rake?

Q.E.D.

[TeamKoolGreen]

A return to rake , complex front wings and basically everything that led to dirty air and bad racing from before.

Not sure what the big thrill about rake is.No other single seaters or circuit cars have rake. Nor did the 1990 to 2005 F1 cars. Yet everyone is talking like rake is a return to the norm or something

[BassVirolla]

A return to rake , complex front wings and basically everything that led to dirty air and bad racing from before.

Not sure what the big thrill about rake is.No other single seaters or circuit cars have rake. Nor did the 1990 to 2005 F1 cars. Yet everyone is talking like rake is a return to the norm or something

Are you serious about complex front wings? Where were you in 2018?

Elements for generating dirty air? Also, what about 2018 bargeboards?

[FittingMechanics]

A return to rake , complex front wings and basically everything that led to dirty air and bad racing from before.

Not sure what the big thrill about rake is.No other single seaters or circuit cars have rake. Nor did the 1990 to 2005 F1 cars. Yet everyone is talking like rake is a return to the norm or something

Why are you so against these regulations? I don't understand it. Are you a Venturi floor specialist out of a job now or what?

[Vinlarr89]

I’m purely approaching it from an aesthetics perspective, cars with lots of rake just don’t look right to me, but it is what it is.
Actually quite excited about the new rules at least for the first season, see how the drivers adapt to the new cars

[venkyhere]

A return to rake , complex front wings and basically everything that led to dirty air and bad racing from before.

Not sure what the big thrill about rake is.No other single seaters or circuit cars have rake. Nor did the 1990 to 2005 F1 cars. Yet everyone is talking like rake is a return to the norm or something

To my novice understanding, rake 'helps' the diffuser with expansion and also allows a softer rear suspension, so that when the car squats from traction or rolls in the corners, the diffuser's efficiency isn't killed.

[mzso]

A return to rake , complex front wings and basically everything that led to dirty air and bad racing from before.

Not sure what the big thrill about rake is.No other single seaters or circuit cars have rake. Nor did the 1990 to 2005 F1 cars. Yet everyone is talking like rake is a return to the norm or something

Why are you so against these regulations? I don't understand it. Are you a Venturi floor specialist out of a job now or what?

Maybe he expects a huge drop in racing quality. Lots of dirty air an no on-track battles. It's not unfounded.

I’m purely approaching it from an aesthetics perspective, cars with lots of rake just don’t look right to me, but it is what it is.
Actually quite excited about the new rules at least for the first season, see how the drivers adapt to the new cars

Arguably it's a clunky work-around to get more downforce out of the floor, instead of shaping it. And to shed some drag in the straights. I think it's a formula created peculiarity.

[Fred]

A return to rake , complex front wings and basically everything that led to dirty air and bad racing from before.

Not sure what the big thrill about rake is.No other single seaters or circuit cars have rake. Nor did the 1990 to 2005 F1 cars. Yet everyone is talking like rake is a return to the norm or something

These wings aren’t as complex as pretty much 2009-2018 rule regs, and the barge boards from 2017-2021 were the bigger problem.

That aside, I’m hopeful the active aero and smaller cars will help with this. In an ideal world, I would’ve preferred the active aero to be the opposite of DRS where if you’re within 3s (or however far behind you need to be for dirty air to be an issue), you can get more downforce wherever you want to offset the dirty air. That said, I think the active aero will be good and P2P will be an interesting replacement for DRS and allows the front car to defend too.

[mantikos]

A return to rake , complex front wings and basically everything that led to dirty air and bad racing from before.

Not sure what the big thrill about rake is.No other single seaters or circuit cars have rake. Nor did the 1990 to 2005 F1 cars. Yet everyone is talking like rake is a return to the norm or something

These wings aren’t as complex as pretty much 2009-2018 rule regs, and the barge boards from 2017-2021 were the bigger problem.

That aside, I’m hopeful the active aero and smaller cars will help with this. In an ideal world, I would’ve preferred the active aero to be the opposite of DRS where if you’re within 3s (or however far behind you need to be for dirty air to be an issue), you can get more downforce wherever you want to offset the dirty air. That said, I think the active aero will be good and P2P will be an interesting replacement for DRS and allows the front car to defend too.

So you're going down a straight following a car and we give you more drag?

[TeamKoolGreen]

A return to rake , complex front wings and basically everything that led to dirty air and bad racing from before.

Not sure what the big thrill about rake is.No other single seaters or circuit cars have rake. Nor did the 1990 to 2005 F1 cars. Yet everyone is talking like rake is a return to the norm or something

Why are you so against these regulations? I don't understand it. Are you a Venturi floor specialist out of a job now or what?

Maybe because I loved the venturi floor era because that was the only time in the history of F1 where there was a noticable improvement in following. Even to the very end. It was the only time a noticable improvement was made and then they scrapped this era in a record 4 years. It truly boggles the f'ing mind. And it all happened because of these new feeble power units. The chassis regs weren't even up for revision.

[TeamKoolGreen]

Anyway , some receipts are in about how these cars follow. And this was at shakedown speed

From the Race https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/what ... elations/

Haas driver Ollie Bearman said: "It was a bit more challenging to follow. It picked up quite a big shift in balance compared to clean air, which seemed a bit more so than the previous generation of cars."

Team-mate Ocon said: "You seem to lose quite a lot of front load, a bit more maybe than before."

[organic]

Anyway , some receipts are in about how these cars follow. And this was at shakedown speed

From the Race https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/what ... elations/

Haas driver Ollie Bearman said: "It was a bit more challenging to follow. It picked up quite a big shift in balance compared to clean air, which seemed a bit more so than the previous generation of cars."

Team-mate Ocon said: "You seem to lose quite a lot of front load, a bit more maybe than before."

Full Ocon quote

I've been following a few cars. You seem to lose quite a lot of front load, a bit more maybe than before. But we need to see. And the overtake, yes, I played with it. I don't want to give too early conclusions on how it's going to be, because obviously it needs to be adjusted, optimised, etc, for that to work in a perfect way. But so far it looks to be difficult to pass - that's my first first thought about it. But I hope it's going to get on the easier side.

However George Russell said

"Following definitely does seem easier, especially in the high-speed corners," he said. "It's firstly because you have less downforce, and you're going through the corners slower, so there is naturally less wake."

[SealTheRealDeal]

A return to rake , complex front wings and basically everything that led to dirty air and bad racing from before.

Not sure what the big thrill about rake is.No other single seaters or circuit cars have rake. Nor did the 1990 to 2005 F1 cars. Yet everyone is talking like rake is a return to the norm or something

Why are you so against these regulations? I don't understand it. Are you a Venturi floor specialist out of a job now or what?

Maybe because I loved the venturi floor era because that was the only time in the history of F1 where there was a noticable improvement in following. Even to the very end. It was the only time a noticable improvement was made and then they scrapped this era in a record 4 years. It truly boggles the f'ing mind. And it all happened because of these new feeble power units. The chassis regs weren't even up for revision.

Does closer following matter if there's less passing? 742 on-track overtakes in 2025 vs 807 in 2021.

Also, given this is now supposedly a battery efficiency formula, more tow should lead to more passing, as the cars behind will make more efficient use of their battery with the car ahead plowing the air for them.

[AR3-GP]

Does closer following matter if there's less passing? 742 on-track overtakes in 2025 vs 807 in 2021...

This is a false picture. The field spread was very low in 2025. Cars that have the same pace have no reason to pass one another. Following was horrendous in 2021, but the field spread was much larger so fast cars that were out of position could still overtake.

[SealTheRealDeal]

Does closer following matter if there's less passing? 742 on-track overtakes in 2025 vs 807 in 2021...

This is a false picture. The field spread was very low in 2025. Cars that have the same pace have no reason to pass one another. Following was horrendous in 2021, but the field spread was much larger so fast cars that were out of position could still overtake.

What? Passing is how you gain positions, and thereby increase your points. Cars with similar pace have every reason to try passing eachother.