FIA single seater director Nikolas Tombazis expects the brand new Components 1 laws for 2026 to ship “extra thrilling racing” as a web results of the varied modifications the governing physique is making to the automobiles.
For 2026, F1 is shifting to lighter, narrower automobiles with an even bigger electrical part to their hybrid engines, in addition to the usage of sustainable fuels and energetic aerodynamics.
The latter includes opening each the entrance and rear wings on the straight, making the present DRS gadget out of date. As a replacement, trailing automobiles will have the ability to get a velocity benefit on the opponents they’re chasing by means of an electrical power enhance referred to as guide override mode.
And whereas the brand new technical laws on each the ability unit and chassis aspect might nicely result in a a lot bigger unfold between groups at first, Tombazis thinks the brand new ruleset will create a greater present.
“Clearly, with new laws one expects initially a barely greater unfold of the grid, however we do count on from an aerodynamic standpoint, automobiles to have the ability to comply with one another a lot nearer than now,” he stated.
“The wake traits are a lot improved and we really feel we have discovered loads from the 2022 automobiles to implement a whole lot of these learnings for the aerodynamic laws this yr.
“The transition from utilizing DRS to power because the device to help overtaking – that is all going to vary the character and make it extra unpredictable. That, along with the totally different aerodynamics, I believe are going to make racing finally extra thrilling.”
Nikolas Tombazis, FIA Single Seater Director
Photograph by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Photographs
Tombazis believes the distinction with the present automobiles shall be starker as a result of groups have all clawed again a lot downforce because the creation of the 2022 laws. On this time, the impression of soiled air has additionally steadily worsened.
“Let me say, to begin with, that the 2022 automobiles began off with a major enchancment of their wake traits. I don’t keep in mind the precise numbers, however the lack of downforce at 20 metres behind went from about 50% on the earlier era of automobiles to about 80 or 85% to begin with on the 2022 automobiles. After which that steadily decayed in the course of the regulation cycle to what it’s now, which once more I’m not totally certain – however we’re in all probability speaking extra like 70%.
“Because of this we see that automobiles are at present struggling a bit extra now following one another than in 2022, albeit nonetheless higher than it was in 2021. We imagine that the beginning of the brand new cycle shall be extra like 90% or one thing like that. So we imagine it’s going to be higher than it’s ever been.”
One other component that may create variance between groups and drivers isn’t just the totally different engine {hardware}, however the way in which by which every energy unit is being run and the way the power is managed. It’s believed two an identical energy items can range in efficiency to the tune of a number of tenths per lap purely all the way down to how the motive force really deploys the power.
“If a driver deploys his power in a different way and also you’re a little bit bit inefficient in your use across the lap, an overtake is definitely fairly sensible or possible,” stated Pink Bull’s chief engineer Paul Monaghan.
“So, I believe the scatter of automobile utilization and efficiency might be better than we at present have. And as such, the racing shall be totally different in that we is probably not as closed up as we at present are – however we’ll see. And then you definitely’ve obtained the uncertainty of utterly new automobiles, new electronics, and can all people make it to the tip? We’ll discover out. It is unpredictable in the meanwhile.”
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