New 2026 Season Rules Aim for Lighter and Faster F1 Cars
Jun.6 - F1's governing body is finally ready to unveil the full regulations for a revolutionary new technical era starting in 2026.
The media has been told that the presentation will take place on Thursday, as the Formula 1 teams prepare for the weekend's Canadian GP in Montreal.
"We have already given the green light to the 2025 car," Ferrari team boss Frederic Vasseur revealed last week, "and work on the 2026 power unit began a long time ago.
"Regarding the chassis and aerodynamics," he is quoted by Marca sports newspaper, "we could hypothesise some concepts but nothing more as we don't yet have the regulations."
For some, the fact that the regulations are changing again is bad news, given that Red Bull's dominance in the current 2022-2025 'ground effect' rules era is finally now eroding.
Others hope the new cars will help to prevent situations like Monaco recently, where winner Charles Leclerc set a deliberately and painfully slow pace because overtaking was impossible.
"Well, the (2026) cars are very similar dimensions, so I don't think they're going to be making overtaking a great deal easier," insisted Red Bull boss Christian Horner.
His Williams counterpart James Vowles, however, thinks the 2026 rules are a perfect way for midfield teams to drastically improve - for example by producing cars out-of-the-box that are lighter than the others.
"Hopefully the weight of the car will be at the right level in '26," he is quoted by the Dutch publication Formule 1. "As it looks now, a light car will be a big advantage.
"After all, the minimum weight requirements are so low that I don't think anyone will be able to achieve it."
Also being negotiated between F1, the governing FIA and the ten teams at present is a new commercial 'Concorde Agreement' to govern the sport from 2026.
One element looks to be an increase in the team budget cap to up to $220 million, albeit with less items to be excluded from the cap than is currently the case.
"I think there's a sensible discussion about what's being included, what is to remain excluded and what actually is relevant to creating performance," Horner said.
"For example, does a Christmas party actually make your car go faster?" he added. "If that is to be included in the cap, every technical director is going to want a front wing as opposed to a party, and so it's about finding that balance."
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2026-spec cars will definitely be narrower, shorter, & lighter, although faster is another matter, given the weight reduction will partly also come from reduced aero, as well as narrower tyres.
James Vowles of course can't speak for other teams, so he should be careful not to make definitive assumptions that no team could reach the minimum weight limit.
I still think increasing the budget cap base limit & to a figure as high as 220m is unnecessary as the current base limit of 135m has worked adequately well.
I can see the arguments in favor but still somewhat increasing for the sake of increasing.