I can’t believe I’m saying this, but it looks like the FIA is actually doing something good for a change. The new detailed regulations for 2026 have been revealed, along with a render of what the future car will look like (see picture above). The engines are the primary target, but the cars have changed significantly alongside it. And the new changes actually seem very positive.
The cars will be smaller
Drivers have been asking for literal years to have the cars be made smaller. Everyone from Max Verstappen to Esteban Ocon to Fernando Alonso to Mick Schumacher has complained that the cars and wheels are too properly see out of, and most of them have paid the price for it. Schumacher often crashed because of the low visibility, Alonso and Ocon got penalties last year due to being in the wrong starting position, and Verstappen had crucial lap times deleted for going over track limits. In addition, the cars have now become so bulky and big that it’s become increasingly difficult to overtake on F1’s more narrow circuits.
That’s why the 2026 cars will be lighter and smaller. The front wing is 10 cm narrower, the floor width has been reduced by 10 cm as well, the wheelbase is 20 cm lower and 10 cm narrower, the width of the front and rear wheels has been reduced by 25 cm and 30 cm respectively, and the entire car will weigh 30 kg less.
These numbers may not sound that big in the grand scheme of things, but combined they make a massive difference. The cars are much more nimble and are so much reduced in size and weight, that it should make for much more interesting action on track. Monaco will probably still be a bit of a procession, but places like Miami and Imola should benefit from this and see more wheel-to-wheel racing happening there.
Farewell DRS
DRS has been a blessing and a curse in Formula 1 for a while now. If you go back and watch races from before DRS was introduced, you will see some incredible battles on track. The downside is that in those cases, the defender is always at an advantage. As long as you can position yourself properly, it will be near impossible to overtake. That is why the glorious yet infamous Trulli Train was able to exist: it was very hard to overtake the person in front of you.
DRS fixed that by giving the attacker an advantage, but the side effect of that is that F1 has now become too dependent on DRS. It’s not impossible to overtake without it, but most drivers will just wait a lap to come around to their DRS point and then overtake the car in front with a lot of overspeed.
The new regulations hope to remedy that by removing DRS completely. Instead they introduce two new elements: active aero and manual override mode. Active aero works in a similar way to DRS (elements on the car can change during the race to adapt to the aerodynamic situation), but they can now be used at any given moment while in the aero zone. You don’t have to be within one second of the car ahead, you can just use it while in that right area.
The manual override mode is the new trick used to overtake. It’s a system that allows a driver to send a lot more battery power through their car when they’re within one second of the car ahead. The feature has diminishing returns for the leading car, so it will become a bit more difficult to defend and therefore prevent DRS trains from forming. All in all, it puts more focus on the skill of the driver in a battle like that.
Other changes
- 100% sustainable fuel
- Increased safety standards
- 300% more battery power
- Even split between electrical and combustion power from the engines
- More energy recovered while braking
- Downforce reduced by 30%
- Drag reduced by 55%
- Flatter floor to reduce the reliance on low and stiff set-ups
The new 2026 cars from the front and from above (source: FIA). Note that these are just renders right now, not an actual model yet.
There are some downsides
It’s not all sunshine and rainbows though. The rules themselves may seem good, but the very fact that we’re getting new rules is a bit of a downer. Ferrari and McLaren appear to have caught up to Red Bull at the front, giving us the first chance of a title battle in quite a while. The new regulations will likely undo that progress and lead to one dominant team again. The new engine rules of 2014 made Mercedes almost untouchable for seven years. The new aero regulations of 2022 made Red Bull so dominant that they only lost six races in two years time. There’s a very good chance that something similar will happen now.
The drivers were asked about the new rules on Thursday, and while most of them are optimistic, there are still some slight concerns. Verstappen and Hamilton for example argued that the 30 kg weight reduction is good, but not enough. Alonso argued that the FIA has to be careful with making promises they might not be able to keep. Albon and Tsunoda pointed out that we shouldn’t make things overly complicated and stick to the core of racing. But overall, these new regulations seem to be a step in the right direction.