2026 Aerodynamic & Chassis Regulations

[CaribouBread]

While flat floors are still "ground effects" it'd be a great shame and a loss if the FIA went away from the venturi floor designs.
It actually felt a bit radical when it comes to aero, and still has plenty of design potential left - we've barely scratched the surface when it comes to venturi downforce IMO.
I hope the rumor about going back to flat floors is untrue

[bananapeel23]

2026 really looks like it’s going to be a complete disaster.

Sub-600HP engines, narrow chassis and huge downforce cuts, while the cars lose only a few dozen kg. They’re legitimately going to be like 10 seconds a lap slower at tracks like Spa. It’s ridiculous that these regulations were pushed through.

Pick a small, heavy, low-downforce chassis OR a weak engine. Not both.

Narrow chassis? I only remember narrower tires.

190cm car width. I used car and tyre interchangably which was a mistake on my part. I don't know if they are just making the tyres narrower, or if the floor is also getting narrower

[MV8]

New FIA tweet.



https://x.com/i/status/1798670265469345965

[organic]

Here we have FIA giving us a sneak preview at the next regs from their teaser video

See flat floor, 2019 style rear wing, inwashing floor fence, large inwashing FW endplates, limited diffuser



Front wing looks very interesting

[AMG.Tzan]

Aaand another teaser this time showing the legality boxes and some wings! Is it me or are these basically the 2005-2008 cars but with ground effect tunnels?



Edit: not even ground effect tunnels? Whaaaaaaaaat?

[mzso]

Here we have FIA giving us a sneak preview at the next regs from their teaser video

See flat floor, 2019 style rear wing, inwashing floor fence, large inwashing FW endplates, limited diffuser

https://i.imgur.com/i2fasMS.jpeg

Front wing looks very interesting

https://i.imgur.com/M1nfKIZ.png

How does that front wing aimed at the front wheel, doesn't create massive drag?

[Cs98]

So it looks like 3 elements on the rear and front wings, with the upper two being active. Clearly visible on the rear, presumably the same on the front.

Maybe they had to ditch the ground effect (or reduce its power) because it was simply generating too much downforce and drag on the straights, thus slowing them down too much with the underpowered drivetrain.

[CaribouBread]

Looks like the regbox has scope for a high floor inlet so its not completely flat, so just a half hearted compromise

[Cs98]

Looks like the regbox has scope for a high floor inlet so its not completely flat, so just a half hearted compromise

Reminds of the current spec F2 floor. Ground effect light.

[Vanja #66]

Here we have FIA giving us a sneak preview at the next regs from their teaser video

See flat floor, 2019 style rear wing, inwashing floor fence, large inwashing FW endplates, limited diffuser



Front wing looks very interesting

https://i.imgur.com/M1nfKIZ.png

Here's a screenshot with both wings from their video. Both seem very much prescribed, but there's some volume for front endplate and footplate that might result in some interesting rule interpretations.



Overall, here's what I see from screenshots and especially the rule boxes:

1) front wing very prescribed, reduced to 3 profiles and an elaborate footplate geometry, not sure why it's needed; no indication there will be a front DRS system yet

2) nose detached from the wing like pre-2009 cars and the wing sweep looks a lot smaller finally

3) nose to cockpit fully prescribed, much like it is today

4) no bargeboards or even turning vanes like today, inwash outboard vane looks very unnatural (and goes opposed to how the flow tends to go outboard behind front tyre) and especially the inboard footplate

5) floor inlet is not too low, but much lower than today, since there are no vanes like today it will be a challenge to make it ingest as much air as the rules allow I think

6) splitter and keel look smaller and shorter than today, there is probably some scope for gray areas to enlarge or reduce some elements in this area where these rule boxes meet

7) sidepod inlets have a big sweep, bigger than today I think; mirrors and mirrors stalks look very much the same as today

8 ) there is this curious gray box around the cockpit, hard to tell if it protrudes the green sidepod box, could be the box where the Halo winglets are allowed to be or something like that

9) sidepods are allowed to be as wide as the floor and it will be curious to see how teams will exploit them again, I might make a separate analysis on them later; right now I feel like the downwash solution won't be the clear winner like it is today

10) floor edge and rear corner look like they will be completely flat, but we need to wait for the rules to be released definitely

11) diffuser is much smaller than today, but looks bigger than what was allowed in pre-2022 rule set; the bottom edge of the wall is moved up quite a lot and this will not help keep the dirty air out at all

12) beam wing looks tiny and borderline insignificant, it will have very little interaction with diffuser as things stand and I'm not sure why diffuser is not extended all the way to it, this way it will result in lower efficiency as well as (intended) lower downforce levels

13) rear wing will have 3 elements and 2 will move as we see from the videos; the height of the wing looks much lower than ever before, while the span is decent and it should be a good and efficient design; endplates are almost back to pre-2022 standard

14) rear wing brackets are almost mandated and single pylon solutions won't be possible, while swan neck solutions don't seem to be possible either

If these really are the final 2026 rule boxes, we will get cars as close to spec F1 cars as possible. The (only) good thing is having shorter cars, both with front wing overhang and shorter WB and it's really noticeable on this rule box model. I think there will be some raked cars again, especially if front wing is not as high as it is today.

[Holm86]

[Xyz22]

Active aero confirmed.

[F1NAC]

So all the cars can use DRS on both wings on all straights, yet the car that is behind can now use more ERS to overtake the guy in front? You will need hella lot energy to overtake car in front that also shed drag..

[MV8]

So all the cars will be able to control their aerodevices for max performance around a lap... I don't know how this will lead to more overtaking and fight to be honest btw I find this interesting.

Edit: Didn't read F1NAC post, the idea is the same

[Xyz22]

So if understand this correctly, a small damage to the front wing = "race over" because it will require a FW change.

Active aero is on the front wing as well.