The final pre-season test of the 2026 Formula 1 season takes place this week, as fans continue to learn the new rules and regulations implemented for the new campaign.
New engine and chassis regulations threaten to alter the pecking order in the sport, after McLaren won both world championships in 2025 ahead of Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari.
Aston Martin and Williams have long had 2026 in their targets for a potential ascension to the top of the sport, while new teams in Audi and Cadillac will be eyeing strong starts when the cars hit the racetrack for the first time in Australia on 8 March.
Yet within a whole raft of complex regulation changes, F1 has moved to simplify the terminology used by pundits, commentators and reporters alike to clarify the new systems at play next year.
The Independent now takes you through the new mechanisms for the drivers at the wheel:
Overtake mode
This will replace DRS (Drag Reduction System), the rear-wing flap mechanism which is being ditched after 15 years.
Yet the premise will be the same: overtake mode will deploy extra power to aid an overtaking manoeuvre for any car within one second of the car in front. However, there will be only one detection point on the circuit.
The power can be used all in one go – or spread over the course of an entire lap.
Boost mode
This can be used by any driver in any situation and is an energy deployment tool from the ERS (Energy Recovery System), giving the driver maximum power from the engine and battery at the push of a button.
It can be used anywhere on track, in offence to aid an overtake or in defence to thwart a manoeuvre from behind.
Active Aero
For the first time, F1 has introduced dynamically adjustable angles for the front and rear wings, changing automatically depending on whether the driver is on a straight or in a corner.
The wings will open (reducing drag) on the straights and close (increasing downforce) in the corners, with the cars operating in X (straight) mode or Z (corner) mode respectively. It is hoped this will maximise the full usage of the car’s power through greater on-track grip.
Overall, downforce has been reduced by 15-30% for 2026, as a result of the cars losing the ground-effect floor tunnels used in the 2022-2025 regulation cycle.
Recharge
Drivers can recharge their battery, mainly in three different ways:
- Recovered energy from braking
- Throttle lift at the end of straights (lift and coast)
- When applying partial power in corners
What are all the regulation changes?
F1, or F1’s governing body the FIA, refreshing their regulations is nothing new, with the last major rule-change taking place in 2022. Yet the scale of these latest modifications are significant – and perhaps the biggest shift in the sport’s history.
The most significant aspect is the engine/power unit: the MGU-H, which recovered energy from the exhaust and turbo, has been removed and now there will be a near 50/50 split between internal combustion power and electric power.
The actual engine is still a 1.6-litre V6 turbo hybrid, yet the proportion of power produced by the hybrid aspect of the engine has been doubled to approximately 50%. The increase in electrical power overall is nearly 300%.
In addition, every team will run alternative sustainable fuel – as F1 works towards their net-zero target by 2030 – on their cars, which will be 30kg lighter to 768kg, 20cm smaller in length and 10cm narrower. Naturally, this should help the racing on tight circuits.
Yet these changes also have an impact on the aerodynamics, which is where we say farewell to the DRS (drag reduction system) rear-wing we’ve had in the sport since 2011.
Instead, it will be replaced by ‘overtake mode which gives a temporary boost in hybrid power. The ground-effect cars of the last four years, much criticised by the drivers for how difficult it was to follow, have been binned, but the front and rear wings will now be movable automatically.
Cars will have two modes at all times: X (straight) mode and Z (corner) mode.
X mode means the drivers can open the front and rear wing flaps at certain points on the racetrack, mostly straights, to increase speed by reducing drag. Z mode means those flaps will be closed, generating more downforce through the corners.
There are concerns, though, that drivers will be forced to ‘lift and coast’ – not having the foot hard down on the accelerator on the straights – in order to recover energy. Hardly ideal in a sport which is meant to showcase the quickest single-seater cars in the world.
