Mar 05, 2026
3 min read
F1 has undergone the biggest rule change in its history with engines, chassis, tires and fuel all subject to new rules.Let's see what this all means.
Everything you need to know about the new F1 cars
The F1 car that starts the new season at the Australian GP this weekend will be very different to the one that ended in 2025.
Over the winter, teams have been grappling with the biggest rule change in F1 history - engines, chassis, tires and fuel all come under new regulations.
On the surface, the cars look similar - they're a single seater with front and rear wings and exposed wheels.
But the engine design has changed, the chassis has a new aerodynamic philosophy, the carbon-neutral fuel made from waste biomass or synthetic industrial processes is fully sustainable and the tires are smaller.
Let's dig into what Tegese is.
Last year, the engines were 1.6-litre V6 turbo hybrids producing close to 1,000bhp.But their architecture has changed and therefore there is a separation between the internal combustion engine (ICE) and the electric parts of the power unit.
The split between ICE and electric is more or less 50-50 (actually, it's 52-48, but it's small), compared to about 80-20 last year.
The electric side now produces up to 350kw (470hp), three times more than last year.But the battery is just as big.
2014-2025the engine was equipped with two motor-generator units for energy recovery - one on the rear axle called MGU-K (kinetic energy) and the other on the turbine shaft called MGU-H (thermal energy).
However, now the MGU-H, which was brilliant but very complex and expensive, has been eliminated, leaving only the K.
The idea was to attract more car manufacturers to F1.In this he was successful - Audi, General Motors and Ford joined F1 due to the new regulations, and Honda reversed its decision to leave.
But the removal of the MGU-H, and the decision not to allow the return of power from the front axle, left the cars power hungry.
Their batteries are constantly being discharged and recharged but it is impossible to recover enough energy to always have maximum power.This has led to some big changes for pilots, which we'll talk about shortly.
From 2022 to 2025, cars are based on an aerodynamic philosophy known as "ground effect".They had curved venturi tunnels under the car, effectively turning the bottom of the car into two large wings, which created a low pressure area and sucked the car down the track.
The FIA governing body decided to abandon this approach as it required the cars to run out and have stiffer suspensions for optimum performance.Drivers welcomed this change, as previously the cars were uncomfortable to drive and caused problems at the rear.
In new cars, it reverted to the so-called "step-level" philosophy.The bottom of the area between the wheels is flat, and its center - the chassis in which the driver sits - is lower than the floor on both sides.
In addition, the car was made narrower, smaller and about 30 kg lighter to increase their maneuverability.
Currently, the car is quite slow per lap - about two seconds in the pre-season test in Bahrain. But that will change as the design matures in development.
But the most obvious change is the front and rear fenders.
The engine formula was arrived at before the chassis rules, and it quickly became clear that the cars were power hungry.So the cars had to make adjustments to help them work better with the new engines and harvest enough power.
Braking is the preferred method of energy recovery in a hybrid vehicle, but older vehicles did not decelerate long enough to generate electricity.
To increase top speed and extend stopping distances, the rulemakers have come up with moving aerodynamics known as 'straight mode' - the front and rear fenders are flattened to reduce drag.
For the same reason, the tire width has been narrowed by 25mm at the front and 30mm at the rear.
The result is a traditional overtaking system (DRS), which straightens the rear wing to increase speed if the car in front is within seconds.Not available anymoreThe wings were already open for another reason.
Instead, they introduced an 'overtaking' mode, which essentially allows the driver of the car behind them to use their electric charge longer if they are behind the required distance.
the Australian Grand Prix
Races Sunday 6-8 March 04:00 GMT
Live commentary on Radio 5 Live and Radio 5 Sports Extra;live updates on the Sport website and app
complex bit
So far so easy.But this is F1, so it gets complicated very quickly.
The need to recover energy on a much larger scale than last year, and the limited opportunities to do so, has meant that the driving challenge has changed significantly.
Of course, cornering drivers still push the car to its limits of grip, going in, through and out of corners as quickly as possible.At least the vast majority of the time.
A strong comeback has changed this, however.In many corners, especially at high speeds, drivers are using higher gears than they would be able to achieve if there is only speed.
This is to keep the turbocharger spinning so the engines can work with the MGU-K to charge the battery.
But this is only one way to restore energy.Others include:
Lift and coast - lift off the throttle before the corner braking point, coast for a while, then brake at a later point
Write at full throttle.The F1 jargon for this is 'super-clip', a phrase which, hopefully, will be used as little as possible by fans.This means that when the driver is upright, the engine is used to charge the battery from the generator instead of using power from the wheels.
There is another layer of complexity beyond that.We will not go too deep, but one thing to know is that, as the product stands, the group can recover power at a maximum of 350kw when lifting and coasting, but only 250kw when supercut.
There is an ongoing debate about whether this should change and allow the full 350 kW at all times to make energy recovery more efficient and easier.
Engineers are soon researching how to best utilize energy recovery and distribution within the tank to produce the best cycle times.
Now we come to the concept of why drivers should always be careful in grip style corners.That said, sometimes it's more effective to avoid developing high-speed power in corners and save it for slow-speed acceleration.
In some cases this leads to corners that were previously challenging, as the reduced speed without hybrid implementation keeps the car within its physical capabilities.
What about energy use?
Generally, the energy used is controlled by the team.But there are situations where the driver can take control of the system.
One of them is the bypass method described above.The other is the "upgrade" method.This simply means that with the push of a button the driver can demand maximum power from the battery.
Unlike passing, this can be used anywhere around the track, both offensively and defensively.
Drivers have to calculate whether to use it on a reward-versus-reward basis.
If, for example, the pilot uses momentum to overtake a rival or defend himself from an attack, he will have less power in the next plane, so he will run the risk of being overtaken easily.
- Posted 3 days ago
- Pipe 22 ago
- Posted 19 hours ago
- Posted 2 days ago
- Posted on February 25th
- Posted 4 days ago
- Published 6 days
- Posted on February 24th
- Published 7 days ago
- Published on February 24
