Ever seen a 2026 F1 car accelerate?
Now you can, through this simulation!🏎

⬛️ Normal ERS vs 🟥 Overtake Mode
— Normal Aero vs -- Active Aero

Key points:
- Cars will accelerate QUICKER than in '25 until 290km/h (same power, 30kg less, less drag).
- Beyond that, acceleration drops sharply as ERS power fades. When chasing another car, Overtake keeps full ERS power up to 337.5 km/h.
- In '25, Active Aero's (DRS) impact grew with speed. Same in '26, AS LONG ASA.
full ERS power is available. With overtake mode and open wings, '26 cars will accelerate super-quickly until 337.5km/h, then effectively 'hit a wall' (as ERS power drops sharply).

Data:
m: 770kg;
Power: 400 kW (ICE) + 350 kW (ERS);
Rho: 1.225 kgm-3 (air density);
CdA: 0.77 m2 (Closed) vs 0.66 m2 (Open wings).

Previous analysis on the 2026 regulations:

https://t.iss.one/FDataAn/2562

https://t.iss.one/FDataAn/2563

Mercedes' (and RBR's?) "compression ratio trick" could be worth 4 tenths in Monza, and even more in the opening laps (~21s over a race: the difference between P2 and P6 this year)!

Let’s look at the numbers!

16:1 → mandated ’26 compression ratio (cold engine check)
18:1 → ’25 level (~ upper knock limit)

Reaching 18:1 in ’26 via thermal expansion would yield ~10 kW (~13 hp), requiring only a ~0.5 mm geometric change.

Currently, +13hp ICE power is worth ~0.26s/lap in Monza. But '26 ICEs will be far less powerful (~540hp vs ~840hp), so the same gain matters much more, since the ICE feeds the battery!

Scaling the effect:
0.26 / 540 × 840 ≈ 0.4 s/lap

That means:
- More ICE power;
- More ERS power;
- Lighter car at race start (Higher thermal efficiency with fixed fuel flow → Better fuel economy → Less fuel load).

This mirrors the early ('14) V6 era, when Mercedes NEVER ran full power, and still dominated with a detuned engine!

Such a fundamental design advantage will be hard to copy before '27. That said, this is Mercedes' best-case scenario: its real impact might be smaller.

What are your expectations? 🤔

Some of the sources I started from come from this article:

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/everything-we-learned-about-impact-of-f1-2026s-loophole-controversy/

I simulated a 🟥 2026 F1 car’s acceleration against 🟦 VER’s real Monza pole telemetry, and the result was shocking!

Narrower track + active aero slash drag, so 2026 cars accelerate much faster than ’25 cars.

ERS power will drop above 290 km/h, yet the drag reduction more than offsets the lower ICE power!

And that's without 'ERS Override': with that, maximum power will be retained until 337km/h!

After opening the DRS, the 2025 car did start closing the gap... but was still slower by the end of Monza's long straight!

I assumed a conservative 90% transmission efficiency for '26 and picked Monza to minimise ’25 drag… yet the acceleration gap stayed massive!

2026 cars will be ROCKETS! 🚀

The renders - NOT the physical show cars - released by
Red Bull Racing and VCARB do NOT match any F1 FIA renders seen so far. They may be pre-testing prototypes, hinting at the design direction already chosen. 💡

Both will switch the front suspension from PULL to PUSH-rod. 🛠

🟪2025 vs 🟩2026
KEY DIFFERENCES 👇

- HUGE central inlet (~3× ERS power → far higher cooling needs);
- Radical front suspension rethink: much flatter upper wishbone and switch from PULL-rod to PUSH-rod;
- TINY front wingspan (+ active aero actuator);
- Far more complex endplate and outboard section.

The Pull→Push-rod switch, mainly aero-driven, is major and potentially critical (Ferrari’s failed push→pull change last year is a warning).

We still need clearer shots of the lower wishbone to assess anti-dive.

Intriguing design: 2026 F1 cars look radically different! 😁

2026 Mercedes: Comparison & Mass Analysis

The new Mercedes W17 DOES have sidepods - and keeps W16’s front and rear push-rod suspension layout.

The size reduction is striking: Mercedes’ wheelbase is over 30 cm shorter than in 2021, yet the car is 18 kg heavier!

DO NOT read on unless you're a nerd!

If a 2021 F1 car were simply scaled down to a 2026-style wheelbase, its mass would be:
752 × (3400 / 3724)³ = 572.3 kg
(since volume - and mass - scale with the cube of length).

Yet the 2026 car is almost 200 kg heavier than that! Why?

- F1 cars have very low “effective density”: much of the mass sits in components (e.g. PU) that don’t shrink when the car gets shorter.

- Some parts got HEAVIER, most notably the jump from 13″ to 18″ wheels.

A more conservative way to estimate the ‘expected’ mass is:
Wheelbase 3724mm → 3400mm
Track 2000mm → 1900mm
Same height

752*(3400/3724)*(1900/2000)=652.2kg, or still ~120kg less than the 2026 mandated minimum

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?