In three years, Formula 1 awaits another revolution. In 2026, new generation power plants and active aerodynamics will appear. The details are still under discussion, but the goal is a controlled reduction of the vehicles’ aerodynamic drag to increase their efficiency.
Nicolas Tombasis, FIA Technical Director: “We want to achieve better fuel economy with every lap by increasing the role of the electric motors and reducing the role of the internal combustion engine.
We can’t burn that much fuel every lap. In order for a car to consume less fuel, it must have less frontal resistance, spend less on overcoming air resistance. At the same time, we don’t want to slow down when cornering, so the obvious solution would be to use active aerodynamics, which reduces the drag of the cars on the straights.
We are looking for a solution similar to DRS, but still working. The task is tough, in fact we are talking about two levels of switchable dragging, plus DRS. I think DRS will still remain in 2026.
Active suspension? It might help, but with less effect than active aerodynamics. Also, active hibernation can have its problems. We want the drivers to struggle to handle the car, we want to keep the challenge and the active suspension would allow them to change balance easily.”
