Ferrari's SF-26 looks 'basic': very simple endplates and bulky bodywork... this might be a 'base-spec' to be significantly developed! 👀

💡Interesting bits:
- The minimal centerline cooling makes up for the huge sidepod inlets (the opposite of Racing Bulls!) → Lower CoG, cleaner rear wing airflow.
- This is the first real car with an inwashing front wing.
- Back to front push-rod. Very rearward-rotated upper wishbone.
- Stepped shark fin.
- From video, the car has almost no rake.
- The bargeboard stays have an intriguing shape!

Considering Ferrari's frequent development issues, starting from a simple base might be a pro, not a cons.

Tifosi: "Is this our year? Or next year?"

The 3 Ferrari-engined F1 cars have VASTLY different cooling solutions!

🔴 Ferrari:
- Upper Intake: medium-sized, triangular
- Sidepods inlets: very complex geometry

⚪️ Haas:
- Upper: Largest (triangle + side inlets)
- Side: Simple, rectangular

⚫️ Cadillac:
- Upper: Tiny triangle + small side inlets
- Side: U-shaped

Sidepod designs differ greatly, too (less sculpted for Ferrari, more for Haas, boxiest for Cadillac).

This difference in design means that there might be space left to 'shrink' them for aerodynamic gains.

Unrelated: I LOVE Cadillac's livery! Similar colour-scheme to my logo... 😇

What's YOUR favourite thus far?

I can’t quite make sense of Mercedes’ front-wing actuation choice

- They’re the ONLY team not exploiting the 30 mm drag-reducing deflection allowed on the 🔵 primary flap, keeping it fixed. 🤯
- They rely solely on the 🟡 secondary flap’s 60 mm deflection.

Expect a less-loaded secondary plane to limit straight-line drag, with a more-loaded upper plane to compensate.

It’s the most puzzling thing I’ve seen so far. There must be an upside, but for now, only the downside is obvious. 🤔

Mercedes is famous for their clever solutions (e.g. DAS).

What's YOUR opinion?

Notice how Ferrari's solution acts on both planes, while Mercedes' only changes the angle of the upper plane (while the lower one remains fixed).

Expect Mercedes' solution to be less effective in terms of drag reduction, but it might produce benefits when in 'cornering mode'.


https://x.com/FDataAnalysis/status/2016533128207118724

This is, BY FAR, the best article I've ever read on the 2026 #F1 regulations, a must-read for any fan to get started with the new season! 💡

Written by F1 commentator @GaborWeber , I was honoured to contribute to it and to review it, together with two F1 professionals! 😏


Exciting read ahead:
https://wgmotorsport.hu/cikk/total-reset

Some of the main topics discussed in the article:

How Formula 1 changes in 2026

"One of the biggest rule shake-up in Formula 1’s 76-year history arrives this year—so wide-ranging that its real-world consequences are genuinely hard to predict."

- Aerodynamics and Bodywork: Smaller, Lighter, Less Downforce
- The Internal Combustion Engine: Less Fuel, New Constraints
- Energy Recovery: More Powerful, More Demanding, More Strategic
- Fuel Revolution: Sustainable, Synthetic, and Strategically Different
- Driver workload will increase

"2026 will therefore bring truly far-reaching changes for teams, designers, and drivers alike, and these challenges are so complex and wide-ranging that it is almost impossible for anyone to get everything right on the first attempt. [...] Meanwhile, the clock is ticking fast: in just over a month, the race-ready cars will already need to be shipped to Melbourne."

Big design differences in the top 4 WCC teams' front wings! 💡

🟠 McL: Complex design, featuring an outboard winglet! Loaded midspan.

⚫️ Merc: fixed primary flap, only the secondary can move → potentially less drag reduction.

🔵 RBR: Primary flap 'flat' (no camber).

🔴 Ferrari: only one to have the front wing actuator ON the wing (and not inside the nose) → could disrupt airflow?

Expect wings to look different in Melbourne!

My prediction was right: 2026 F1 cars will be WAY faster on the straights! 🚀

Esteban Ocon reached 355 km/h once he was allowed full deployment, and no evidence of slipstream!

In his best '25 quali lap, he reached 'just' 327km/h - and he mentioned reaching the top speed EARLIER on the straight in '26.

The drag drop is massive (-37%), even assuming the ’25 car was in full ERS harvest (–120 kW), to be subtracted from ~615 kW ICE power (~840 hp). The ’26 car was +28 km/h faster despite a ≥95 kW (130 hp) power deficit.

Back in December, I predicted CxA = 0.66 → 359 km/h top speed, very close to real data (355 km/h → 0.68).

💡At least one (likely both) is true:
- The new cars have extremely low drag.
- Ferrari's new ICE is stronger than F1 predicted (400kW).

What’s certain: these cars will fly on the straights - and Catalunya isn’t even low-drag!

[CxA from drag POWER: 0.5ρCxAv^3 = ICEpower@vMax, ρ≈1.22]

***FIRST LOOK AT 2026 TELEMETRY***

VER’s top speed was already +24 km/h vs his best 2025 quali lap. 😳

Conversely, Stroll barely exceeded 300 km/h due to Honda PU issues - Alonso PTSD incoming ⚠️

VER lapped 4.375s slower than in quali, yet was already gaining time on the two main straights...

Clipping (speed drop at full-throttle from ERS power cut-off) looks better than expected: good news, F1 fans!

[Cadillac and Alpine telemetry unavailable...]

Verstappen: "As a pure driver, I enjoy driving flat out, and at the moment, you cannot drive like that."

He was right, look at Turn 12: LEC and NOR were full-gas for ~300m, yet their cars couldn't exceed 240km/h! 😳

2026 F1 Rules allow the ERS to generate NEGATIVE power (recharge battery) when the driver is full-gas, up to -250kW. As the ICE power is ~400kW, the resulting power is as little as 400-250=150 kW... about half that of a Formula 3! ⚠️

The driver is full throttle, yet it's the software that decides whether power should be 200hp (240km/h in T12) or 1000hp (330km/h on the main straight), or something in between: the engineers have more control on the instantaneous power than the driver!

Therefore, LEC and NOR didn't have to lift in T12, as the power was controlled electronically there.

[...]

Compared to 🟧NOR, 🟥LEC:
- 🟡 Had more deployment on the main straight 🔋(gaining 0.2s) but 🟢 less at lap-end. 🪫
- 🔵 Braker later, losing on exit.
- ⚪️ Lifted way less in T6-7, due to better downforce and/or confidence.

What's your opinion?

Alonso then made this comment which confirms my analysis:

I've analysed the telemetry of ALL 3,716 laps made during the F1 Bahrain test, looking for the highest top speeds - here are the results!

PU averages:
1) RBPT ✅
2) Ferrari -5.8 km/h 👌
3) Mercedes -7.5
4) Audi -13.5 ⚠️
5) Honda -15.5 ❌

- VER reached 344 km/h on Day 1, and no one has beaten it since!
- The 2 fastest cars have an RBPT engine.
- Ferrari was 7km/h faster than Cadillac; Mercedes 6km/h faster than Alpine.
- Honda struggled the most, yet improved day after day (303→318→326). They are running a detuned mode to safeguard the PU. Audi's lack of top speed seems genuine, though.

No team is running full-power yet. Still, RBPT's PU is looking strong, while Audi's and Honda's gap looks due to more than just a different PU setting.

What's your prediction?

If you are a content creator or journalist, remember you are always welcome to use my content... for free! 😁

This analysis is me putting my new gaming laptop to good use... 🔥

⚠️Getting the deployment strategy right will be a huge performance differentiator this year...

TOP (Vertical axis) VS AVERAGE SPEED (Laptime, Horizontal) IN EACH TEAM'S BEST LAP

Cadillac reached 343 km/h on the main straight; Aston? Just 317. Yet, things are not looking that bad for Aston: power was actually decent for most of the lap, except for the main straight.

They were as quick as Cadillac out of T3, T10, and faster out of T13 and T15! For both, speed in T12 was limited by the engine, and Aston decided to deploy more there.

The top 3 laps (RUS, PIA, LEC) all had a moderate speed on the main straight. Still huge differences deployment-wise: Ferrari deployed the least out of T3 and in T12, and the most out of T13!

Audi, which had very low top speeds in the past test, has finally tested a higher-deployment mode.

Each team's 15 highest top speeds reached on Wednesday

BOR was fastest on average (330km/h), and even reached 342km/h on one lap. No driver got close; OCO (2nd highest) reached 'just' 325km/h.

Slowest drivers on average were ALO (314km/h), PER (312), and STR (308km/h).

Ferrari’s “Rotating Wing” is the wildest concept since DAS - Here's how it works!

🔴 Corner-Mode (Traditional): Max downforce, moderate drag.

🟢 Parachute-Mode (90°): downforce drops to ~0, drag skyrockets, possibly helping slow the car at the start of braking (🔵 Straight → 🔴 Corner) when speed and drag are highest.

🔵 Straight-Mode (180°): wing faces the OPPOSITE direction. With a cambered flap, this minimises drag… and even generates lift!

Ferrari tailored the rear end to exploit this:
- Highly cambered wing profiles → rotation massively reduces drag.
- Exaust deflector→ gases hit the wing’s lower side, boosting downforce in 🔴 Corner Mode and helping cancel drag in 🔵 Straight Mode.

Possible effects:
✅ Less drag in Straight-Mode
✅ Higher drag at braking start
✅ Reduced rolling resistance on straights
⚠️ Less stable initial braking?
⚠️ Higher tyre wear on straights?

[ Images: @dr_obbs / @KyleEngineers / @Motor_Sport ]

Only time will tell, but things like this and DAS are what make F1 what it is! 😃

About why this could generate more tyre wear on the straights: the answer is ‘more friction power’.

Friction power = longitudinal force * sliding speed.

The lower the force that pushes the tyre onto the ground, the more the tyre slides longitudinally as it generates the same longitudinal force.

Lift decreases this force, making the Tyre slide more.

Length of 8th Gear per Team and PU

Rules allow max fuel flow starting from 10500rpm --> peak power around here as friction increases above that.

At 10500rpm, McL is travelling at just 288 km/h... Audi? 319km/h!

Possible implications of this 31km/h (10%!) difference:
- McL expects a low top speed due to high drag in Straight Mode and/or plans little deployment at high speed. Additionally, the Mercedes engine might remain close to its peak power well above 10500rpm.
- Audi expects a high top speed, its PU loses a lot of power above 10500, and plans to have a more balanced ERS deployment between medium and high speeds. Due to the very long gear, they'll likely have to downshift at full throttle once the clipping starts!

The three Ferrari-Powered teams share the same ratio. Same for Red Bull/Racing Bulls, and Alpine/Williams.

F1 teams are allowed to change ratios just once throughout the season.

[Calculation approach: median (rpm/speed) ratio using all the laps from Day 3]