Pirelli praises teams' attitude ahead of the sweeping technical regulation change
Pirelli's motorsport director Mario Isola sounded a positive note when speaking about the collaboration between the Italian tyre manufacturer and the teams regarding the brand-new 2026 technical regulations.
Ahead of the sweeping regulation change in two years' time, the technical rules for the 2026 F1 season were originally approved in June 2024.
The FIA has recently confirmed that the aerodynamic regulations have been updated after a long collaboration between the FIA, FOM and the Formula 1 teams
In fact, the sport's governing body announced a raft of modifications to 2026 technical, sporting and financial rules, which, according to the FIA, will “see a higher performance from the cars, while maintaining management of the wake characteristics to promote close and exciting racing.”
The tweaks to the technical regulations have been introduced in order to enhance "a higher performance from the cars, while maintaining management of the wake characteristics to promote close and exciting racing." It is understood that the technical update will mean that the all-new 2026 F1 cars will be two seconds faster than the ones that would have been design in accordance of the original rules.
Formula One's sole tyre supplier Pirelli will also introduce a new tyre, reducing the front tyre width by 25mm and the rear tyre width by 30mm. The tyres themselves will also become smaller in diameter, going from the current 720mm diameter to 705-710mm.
Pirelli's motorsport director Mario Isola is confident regarding the new tyres will suit the brand-new cars, with the Italian manufacturer building on the cooperation with the teams.
"We continue our development plan. Obviously, we are monitoring the technical regulations in order to have a tyre that can suit the expected performance of the cars. The limitation we have is that testing on the mule cars obviously is not fully representative of what we will find in 2026.
"We have one test, the first wet test in the next few weeks that is already planned and we will continue and we will try to do our best to have a good product.
"I believe that most of the job is on the virtual model of the tyre and we have a fantastic cooperation with the teams to test this model on their simulators and come back with the feedback," noted the Italian.
