A ban on teams developing the main areas of their 2026 Formula 1 cars until early 2025 has been enshrined in the regulations through further restrictions on windtunnels and CFD.
After the F1 Commission agreed that “no work on the development of a car” for 2026 could take place before 1 January 2025, the FIA World Motor Sport Council endorsed rule changes to police it.
As expected, this is done by setting restrictions on limited wind tunnel testing and CFD simulations – essentially the same restriction that was invoked for the current generation of cars when the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted the plan for new rules in 2021 and efforts were made to manage costs for the 12-month delay in introducing the new rules until 2022.
From December 1 of this year to January 1, 2025, the only wind tunnel work permitted is to use a scale model that “substantially complies with the 2023, 2024 or 2025 technical regulations.”
Dyno tests aimed at developing “minimum vent” brake system components can be performed as long as they do not “test or in any way provide incidental data or knowledge of” body performance or endurance.
It’s a similar story when it comes to preventing CFD simulations, with the same timeframe from 1 December 2023 to 1 January 2025 only allowing CFD work using geometries that “substantially comply with Technical Regulations 2021-2525”.
Likewise, the “sole purpose of brake system component development and related testing” is the only exception.
HAS WORK STARTED ALREADY?
Since the ban came into effect on December 1st of this year, any work that may have been done before then is acceptable, although if it has been done at all, it will be extremely preliminary as no framework rules have been set yet.
So far, all that’s publicly known is that the cars are going to be shorter and lighter, with revamped aerodynamics, less downforce and less drag – and an attempt to improve the wake characteristics once again, though some would prefer a longer focus on how the cars can best produce downforce in “dirty air” rather than trying to control the wake itself.
However, the lack of a published set of technical regulations would not necessarily stop teams from working on their cars either now or next year without the ban.
Draft versions could be circulated privately, so the regulations make the meaning of illegal use more than just working on cars defined by published technical regulations.
The rules prohibit “the use of car geometry partially or fully compatible with and/or substantially derived from draft and/or published versions of the 2026 F1 Technical Regulations or the FIA’s proposed 2026 geometries and concepts” for either windtunnel testing or CFDs.
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However, group working groups will already be set up and looking to 2026, and these may continue as long as nothing reaches the windtunnel or CFD phase.
While this doesn’t go as far as what Lewis Hamilton proposed earlier this year – not allowing teams to develop next year’s car until a certain point in the season before – it is a sensible measure that means teams can only devote substantial development resources to 2026 cars for the 12 months prior to that year.
It means that all windtunnel and CFD work, in terms of cost and time spent, will be fully factored into the teams’ 2025 budget cap and aerodynamic test limit limits, and will stop anyone attempting to get a head by sacrificing the 2024 seasons and/or their 2025 cars.
That could have been tempting – it’s similar to what Haas and Sauber did before 2022 – as early development ahead of a new set of regulations can buy a team a big advantage.
That will still be a factor, though, and those constraints put all the emphasis on deciding when to shut down development in 2025 to fully focus time and money on the 2026 car.
WHAT ABOUT ENGINE DEVELOPMENT?
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Given the scale of the technical undertaking, the constraints on the development of the power unit are not so strict – and nothing essential has changed from what has been set for some time.
Although the V6 turbo-hybrid engines are retained after a long run for the first-generation versions introduced in 2014, there are significant changes to come.
The MGU-H has been dropped for 2026, but electric power increases significantly thanks to the massively upgraded MGU-K and battery, which will bring the split between combustion engine and electric power close to 50/50.
The six registered powertrain manufacturers – Red Bull Powertrains, Mercedes, Ferrari, Honda, Alpine (Renault) and Audi – have been allowed to work on the 2026 engines unhindered and there will apparently be no ban like that of aerodynamic work. was implemented.
But there are restrictions on how they are developed covering the equipment that can be used, how much time can be spent using them and for the first time how much money can be spent.
The power unit test benches are limited to three single-cylinder dynamometers, three dynamometers, one engine dyno and one full car dyno, as well as two energy recovery system test benches and one energy storage (battery) test bench.
The operating hours – defined as when the engine speed exceeds 7500 rpm. on the dynamo – limited to 5400 cumulative for 2023, 2024 and 2025 with a limit of 2160 hours for each individual year in this period.
Existing or prospective fuel and oil suppliers may not operate a test bench for the purposes of 2026 engine development, with the exception of a single-cylinder dynamo solely for fuel and/or oil development.
There are also financial constraints before 2026.
In 2023, 2024 and 2025, engine manufacturers may spend $95 million per reporting year – although new powertrain manufacturers (Audi and Red Bull Powertrains) receive $10 million in 2023 and 2024 and an additional $5 million in 2025.