FIA single seater director Nikolas Tombazis expects the brand new System 1 laws for 2026 to ship “extra thrilling racing” as a web results of the assorted modifications the governing physique is making to the vehicles.
For 2026, F1 is transferring to lighter, narrower vehicles with an even bigger electrical element 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The latter includes opening each the entrance and rear wings on the straight, making the present DRS gadget out of date.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 vehicles will be capable of get a pace benefit on the rivals they’re chasing by way of an electrical vitality enhance known as guide override mode.
And whereas the brand new technical laws on each the facility unit and chassis facet might properly 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 larger unfold of the grid, however we do count on from an aerodynamic viewpoint, vehicles to have the ability to observe one another a lot nearer than now,” he stated.
“The wake traits are a lot improved and we really feel we have realized loads from the 2022 vehicles to implement a number of these learnings for the aerodynamic laws this yr.
“The transition from utilizing DRS to vitality because the software to help overtaking – that is all going to alter the character and make it extra unpredictable. That, along with the completely different aerodynamics, I believe are going to make racing in the end extra thrilling.”
Nikolas Tombazis, FIA Single Seater Director
Picture by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Photographs
Tombazis believes the distinction with the present vehicles 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 affect of soiled air has additionally step by step worsened.
“Let me say, to begin with, that the 2022 vehicles began off with a big enchancment of their wake traits. I don’t bear in mind the precise numbers, however the lack of downforce at 20 metres behind went from about 50% on the earlier technology of vehicles to about 80 or 85% to start out with on the 2022 vehicles. After which that step by step decayed in the course of the regulation cycle to what it’s now, which once more I’m not totally certain – however we’re most likely speaking extra like 70%.
“Because of this we see that vehicles are at present struggling a bit extra now following one another than in 2022, albeit nonetheless higher than it was in 2021. We consider that the beginning of the brand new cycle shall be extra like 90% or one thing like that. So we consider it’s going to be higher than it’s ever been.”
One other aspect that may create variance between groups and drivers isn’t just the completely different engine {hardware}, however the best way during which every energy unit is being run and the way the vitality is managed. It’s believed two similar energy models can fluctuate in efficiency to the tune of a number of tenths per lap purely right down to how the driving force truly deploys the vitality.
“If a driver deploys his vitality 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 Crimson Bull’s chief engineer Paul Monaghan.
“So, I believe the scatter of automotive utilization and efficiency might be better than we at present have. And as such, the racing shall be completely different in that we might not be as closed up as we at present are – however we’ll see. And then you definitely’ve bought the uncertainty of utterly new vehicles, new electronics, and can all people make it to the tip? We’ll discover out. It is unpredictable in the mean time.”
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