How F1's 2026 cars will now be two seconds faster

There may be another year to go before the all-new Formula 1 cars hit the track for the first time, but every team is already well-advanced in work on their 2026 car designs for what some, including Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, call the biggest rules reset in F1 history.

And after a raft of changes to the rules late last year, the 2026 cars are now going to be two seconds faster than expected - as we explain in this video.

00:00 Two seconds faster than expected
01:12 The big picture
03:37 Front wing
05:01 Front of floor and sidepods
06:05 Floor
07:20 Different concepts

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[PP-hxit]

Im all in on narrowing and shortening the car. Maybe someday we can see overtaking in Monaco.

[jamdc]

We need more close racing, not necesarly faster cars, yet, it is something almost impossible because there will be always a team or two who will 'interpret' better the new rules.

[Vousie]

So the 2026 cars will be "two seconds faster" but still slower than 2025 cars? 🤦‍♀ Bit of a misleading title.

[CSum-emjg]

That safety car will be busy in 26 with these new engines as teams work to make them reliable.

[Ruiner]

Thanks for the info, hope it's correct.

[michaeldelaney]

Absolutely NOT the "biggest reset in the last 50 years." F1 used to allow the engine and chassis designers to choose their designs. The engines and most of the car weren't controlled by the FIA regulations, as they are now. Current, and recent, Grand Prix cars are almost a One-Design Formula. The 2026 cars will be more of the same.

[FelixWurz]

i saw the title and instantly asked myself if they were using magnesium parts

[fabienthuillez]

just bring back V10 already we have substainable full + it will make industry improve the way they extract this fuel + F1 car will be way narrowed and lighter equal more fight and overtake just a win win everywhere

[chrisjones]

Doesn’t matter if the engine sounds like Poo. All hail the V10 era

[nielsvanheteren]

So basically F1 now gets a push to pass ERS button (2x the amount of bhp), no slipstream due to active aero, more dirty air again and much slower cars than current gen and no DRS. All just because F1 wants to go green? The emissions from these cars over a season is negligable, especially when you factor in all emissions around the event. F1 is going to be a disaster from 2026 onwards. I might just stop watching all together. It had its time, maybe some other racing series can take over the title of pinnacle of motorsport, they're ruining F1 by making it F2 speeds.

[ksec]

Sigh, I guess I am the only one who want sustainable fuel with V10.

[lessardo]

Those front wing end plate things look like punctures and broken wings waiting to happen. Sometimes a design looks good in isolation but in wheel to wheel racing it’s a different story.

[CalgarGTX]

Everytime they say more aero won't affect following car and everytime it has an oversized effect over their predictions

[anarchy]

Think they need to go smaller still down to the size of the 1988 mclaren

[DieHardF]

The changes in F1 cars are great fun and always through in curve balls but it takes far to long for some teams to gain direction before the rules change again

[stormageddon]

As soon as we get competitive fields, the rules get changed. I hope this is the last time we see a large reg change for a while.

[samharris]

Making the cars faster will surely will make the racing worse

[Allyphant]

Good news for Aston Martin and Red Bull and bad news for Mercedes and Ferrari, then. Sounds like the new regs won't make F1 as much of an engine formula as some had thought.

[ImDrawty]

2 seconds faster!? That’s F2004 improvement levels. Believe it when we see it.

[kevinwoods]

We need to eliminate 90% of all rules. Fastest car wins. Period. That would lead to real innovation and engineering. We already have a cost cap so it’s fair.