F1 2026 thread

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/revealed-the-fias-plans-for-nimble-2026-f1-cars-and-moveable-aero/10557364/


Revealed: The FIA's plans for "nimble" 2026 F1 cars and moveable aero
While Formula 1 is only in the second year of its current rules set, plans are already advancing fast for the next era that is due to begin in 2026.

AUTHORJonathan Noble
UPDATEDDEC 13, 2023 AT 10:27 AM

Central to the changes are new power unit regulations, with a move to fully sustainable fuel and tweaked turbo-hybrids, eradicating the MGU-H, having brought Audi in and convinced Honda to do a U-turn on leaving.

But it is not only the engines that are new, and there are going to be major revisions to the cars too in a bid to ensure the racing is as good as possible.

While there have been some broad ideas discussed at various times, the FIA has so far not revealed much about the specific details of what is coming on the chassis side.

That has changed now with the governing body's head of single-seaters Nikolas Tombazis talking at length to selected media, including Autosport, about where things are heading for 2026.

Smaller, lighter and more nimble machinery

One of the biggest complaints about the current cars is that they are so heavy. This not only makes them less responsive, but it is also punishing on tyres – which are critical to the spectacle.

As the FIA moves towards delivering the first draft of outline regulations by the end of next June, it is clear car dimensions are going to change for 2026.

Tombazis has explained that the basic layout of an F1 2026 car is defined and will be different to what we have at the moment.

The cars will be shorter, with the wheelbase likely trimmed down to 3400mm from the current maximum 3600mm. The cars will also be narrower by 10cm, so will be reduced from 2000mm to 1900mm.


All of the above are aimed at helping the FIA deliver on one of its key targets – which is shedding a lot of bulk from the cars.

"We aim to have a significantly lower weight limit, and we are looking to reduce the weight limit by 40 to 50 kilos in 2026," said Tombazis.

"The way we want to do that is related to what we've termed the 'nimble car' concept, because we basically feel that in recent years the cars have become a bit too bulky and too heavy."

The smaller dimensions will automatically help with the weight, but another factor will be crucial as well: a reduction of downforce.

It will mean less load on parts, and that will mean teams will not have to make things so beefy.

"This lower downforce means that a lot of the loading on components, such as suspension, will reduce and that will enable the teams to reduce the weight consequentially," said Tombazis.

More savings will also come from F1 ditching the current 18-inch wheels.

Tombazis added: "We are tentatively aiming for wheels that are 16-inch wheel rims, with smaller wheel diameter and smaller width both front and rear. All of these things we believe are pushing towards a significantly lower weight."

Robust racing focus with less downforce

In aerodynamic terms, the FIA views the 2026 cars as an evolution of the concept that we have right now.

They will still be ground effect, and the hope is that the rules will be improved to ensure cars can follow each other.

This comes amid the recent admission that some loopholes were left in the current regulations that allowed teams to introduce designs that hurt the airflow to pursuing cars – such as outwash from the front wings.


As Tombazis said: "The 2023 season had a small worsening of the close racing features. The cars had degraded a bit in their ability to follow each other closely, and we think we understand why, how and what we need to do.

"We believe that for the next round [of rules in 2026] we'll achieve a much more robust close racing solution."

The plan is for less downforce and drag, and current simulations do not point to lap times being dramatically worse than they are now, although ultimately Tombazis says outright speed is not its biggest worry.

"It is really not a huge factor," he said. "It's going to be very close to now.

"I think we're going to be within a couple of seconds or something like that. But even if it was five seconds slower, we're not going to be sweating too much."

In terms of their looks, Tombazis says the 2026 cars will be similar to now.

"Somebody who knows about it will be able to see the differences, but they will look like F1 cars. On that, there wouldn't be any doubt."

Moveable aero and DRS plans

One of the step changes from the current cars will be the addition of moveable aero to help reduce drag on the straights.

There has been some uncertainty over how this will play out – and whether it will scupper the potential for DRS on the straights.

There was even talk of it being used to introduce a reverse form of DRS, where cars in front have to run more aggressive wing angles.

Tombazis has now clarified more about the F1 2026 ideas.

"There will definitely be a change of incidence of the wing on the straight to achieve the low drag," he said.

"But there will definitely not be any slowing down of the front car by some means. That simply wouldn't work."

In terms of DRS, plans have not been finalised – with the FIA weighing up several different ideas to deliver overtaking opportunities.

"There will be something equivalent to the current DRS, which will basically enable the following car that is within a certain limit to potentially get in a position to attack," he said.

"What form that mechanism will take: whether it will be an additional change of an aerodynamic component on the straight, or an additional change of the aerodynamic component in the corner, or whether it will be part of the energy of the engine....which of the three, we're still doing our best simulations to arrive to the best possible solution.

"What we don't want to have is cars basically diving past each other on the straight. We want cars arriving close to each other at the braking point and there being a fight, and drivers having to use their skill."

Tombazis says coming up with a DRS solution that is too effective, so can be tuned down, is a much better thing to have than going the other way and ending up with cars that cannot overtake.

"We will never want to make it too easy, but we also don't feel that we can say: 'Oh, well, it's not needed anymore'," he said.

"We can't risk arriving into a situation where overtaking becomes impossible again, or something like that. So we want to have it in the pocket and to use it moderately, but not highly.

"Overtaking must also be a fight. We don't want the cars just to drive past each other."

The unfounded "disaster scenario" fears

Talk of the 2026 regulation plans earlier this year was dominated by concerns from Red Bull about a potential for big problems on the horizon.

With the ICE element of the power unit going from around 550-560kw down to 400kw, and the battery element jumping from 150kw to 350kw, it was obvious that putting the future engines in the current cars would lead to battery power running out quite early on the straights.

And even with lighter cars, if drag was too high, places like Monza could be a challenge and force drivers to do weird stuff – like changing down gears on the straight – to try to get some recharging going.

Tombazis thinks those worries were unfounded and based on early simulation models that were far away from where things are at right now.

 

New CEO reaffirms Audi's commitment to join F1 in 2026
Audi's new CEO has reaffirmed the manufacturer's plan to enter Formula 1 in 2026 in his first interview since taking the job to quash speculation it was considering backing out.

 

Have faith that they will. We are now back to more difficult passing. I have zero faith the new 'formula' of rolling billboards that are still too big/too heavy will offer any better racing. They did all the studies this current set of regs and we have less passing and the drivers confirm its more difficult. Given how aero dependent the performance is, to include tire wear MaxRedBull are the favorites already lol

 

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/fia-wants-to-avoid-weight-haggling-with-f1-2026-rules/10561973/

FIA wants to avoid weight “haggling” with F1 2026 rules
The FIA has vowed to steer clear of any “haggling” over Formula 1’s minimum weight limit for the new 2026 rules era, to avoid cars stealthily getting too bulky.

AUTHORJonathan Noble
PUBLISHEDJAN 2, 2024, 1:06 PM

One of the criticisms of the current ground effect machines is that they are far too heavy – with the current minimum weight limit being set at 798kg.

Although this figure does include a baseline element for the drivers, it is still a far cry from the 585kg that the cars alone weighed in 2008.

Much of the increase in weight has come from the move to hybrid powerunits that include heavy batteries, as well as a raft of safety measures including tougher impact protection structures and the Halo.

But the FIA is aware that there has been a tendency for the minimum weight limit to creep up as the result of teams putting pressure on the governing body to raise things to compensate for new car elements.

This is something that it wants to avoid for 2026, as it feels that it will be a better policy to declare a weight limit for the start of the new rules cycle and then stick to it.

Its stance comes amid an outline plan to bring F1 car weight down by 40 to 50 kilos in 2026 – which will be helped by smaller cars and wheels.


Nikolas Tombazis, the FIA’s head of single seater matters, is clear though that once the weight limit is set, then the FIA will not be willing to allow it to creep up just because teams are struggling to hit it.

“Clearly it will still be a challenge for the teams to achieve that low weight,” he said. “They're not going to have an easy ride there.

“But we are going to stick to the weight limit we're going to impose, and we won't be inflating upwards again.

“They [the teams] will just have to push harder to reduce the weight if they can't make it.”

 

I give them credit for at least placing idea's and thoughts in this direction. I do think the 2026 reg's should have been formulated with a v in tery aggressive result in mind - a more radical version of F1 in terms of size, weight etc. Well a welcome change it will be overall I hope.

 

Via Autosport LOL - F1 is officially just a Automakers test series on a budget. F1 is DEAD!

F1’s engine future will be driven by road relevance, says FIA
The FIA says the long-term direction of Formula 1 engines will be dictated by what ensures the championship remains road relevant for car manufacturers.

F1 has committed itself in the next rules cycle from 2026 to turbo hybrid power units that will run on fully sustainable fuel.

One of the big changes from now, though, will be an increased reliance on battery power, with there being a rough 50/50 split between electrical and internal combustion engine power.

F1 is well aware that it needs to be at the forefront of battery technology development to keep the interest of road car makers, who are shifting towards fully electrical cars.

However, longer term, grand prix racing could also make the switch to hydrogen power if it proves suitable for racing – with F1 and the FIA having recently joined Extreme E’s sister series Extreme H in forming a working group to evaluate the technology.