The tech battlegrounds of F1's new age

It’s all change for 2026. Sure, the increasingly electrified powertrains have courted the lion’s share of complaints and column inches through the prelude to the new year, but let’s not forget that Formula 1 has also reverted to a less finicky aerodynamic ruleset for this season.

The highly strung ground-effect cars and their cumbersome aesthetic is now passe; the new machines, with their shorter wheelbase and narrower track width, look much more nimble. Were the early complaints over energy management not so all-encompassing, then it’s safe to say that the drivers might prefer the chassis side of the new formula to last year.

With new aero regulations come new areas in which to develop, and testing offered a few signs of where the teams may begin to focus their efforts across the year.

And, of course, engineers will be looking to copy each others’ homework – “we’re all shameless plagiarists,” Alpine team manager Steve Nielsen said of the development war. Let’s take a look at what we’ve seen in testing.

Wakeboard approaches

There's been a series of different development directions on wakeboards

Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images

One of the new additions for 2026 is the wakeboard sitting behind the front tyres, designed to tidy up the tyre wake and provide some inward direction to mitigate outwashing flow.

The aerodynamicists at each team have taken multiple approaches here, with most opting for a series of three to four horizontal slats of equal chord length. Red Bull, Mercedes and Audi are chief among these designs, in which the upward flow created by the rotation of the wheel can be conditioned. Aston Martin also has the full slat design, albeit with an arrow-shaped second element to use as a vortex generator.

Ferrari, Haas and Racing Bulls also have a similar geometry, but with a leading-edge vertical element to straighten up the flow from the front wheel assembly first, while Alpine has a vertical protrusion from its upper slat to provide a similar interface.

McLaren, Cadillac and Williams have opted for larger wakeboards with smaller slat elements sitting underneath. The two UK-registered squads have produced a trapezoidal board with the leading-edge vertical strake, while Cadillac has a low-line rectangular geometry. 

This will be a rich area of development, if previous form is anything to go by; when restrictions on bargeboard development were loosened with the 2017 rules, the furniture in this area quickly became increasingly intricate as aerodynamicists aimed to grasp every inch of flow from the front tyres and turn it outwards away from the floor. Although this year’s devices are intended for a marginally different role, the teams will surely play around with them.

Front wing active aero

Both active aero and more scope on design means front wings are one of the most noticeable differences compared to the ground-effect era

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images

Although a version of an adjustable front wing was included in the 2009 regulations, this was not nearly as effective as the new active-aero front end, which tilts back when the cars enter the straight, or partial active-aero modes. It’s interesting to see the different approaches; while the rear-wing active aero effectively apes DRS, the teams are not unified on how best to use the front end.

While most teams have the active aero actuators in the centre, either attached to the wing elements between the nose pylons or embedded within the nose itself, Audi and Racing Bulls have the actuators either side of the wing. Most have opted to tilt back the rear pair of elements, but variation exists across the grid. Mercedes has configured its front wing to only operate the upper element, albeit with its central section remaining static. Contrary to this, Haas operates the full central section but leaves a small length of outboard wing up when straight mode is activated.

It’s also interesting to see the different approaches in front wing geometry, from Red Bull’s flat-profile mainplane to Alpine’s curvaceous element design – which allows it to fit strakes into the wing design. For the first time since 2008, teams can employ spoon-like central sections to make use of the greater downforce experienced when closer to the ground. Plus, there’s other furniture to play with: vortex tunnels, diveplane winglets, and the endplates themselves to shape the flow structures from the front.

Ferrari’s suspension switch

Ferrari's push-rod suspension and exhaust winglet caught the eye in testing

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Formula 1 via Getty Images

After taking a risk in 2025 with a switch to pull-rod front suspension, Ferrari has reverted to type, following the majority with a double-push-rod arrangement. Over the previous set of regulations, the implementation of push-rods at the rear had become popular; moving the rockers and torsion bars to the top of the gearbox came with a small centre of gravity penalty, but with the advantage of more aerodynamic freedom for the floor.

This has remained a trend, something that Ferrari has chosen to follow this year after persisting with the pull-rod layout last year. Given that the rear ride heights are expected to rise this season to maximise the working volume of the diffuser, the centre of gravity gains from running rear-end pull-rods are further reduced – hence Ferrari’s switch.

Since the cars are much less stiffly sprung this season, the suspension layouts are largely aerodynamic. Williams, Cadillac and Alpine clearly feel that a pull-rod layout suits their front-end aero much more efficiently, but the rest of the field – including Ferrari – perhaps prefer the link-up between the upper wishbone’s front leg and the push-rod’s proximity to it.

On the first day of running in Bahrain’s second test week, Ferrari also emerged from the garage with a winglet positioned aft of the exhaust. Since the exhaust continues to work mid-corner as the power unit is operated as a generator through the corner to assist with harvesting, these gases help to enhance the strength of the low-pressure zone behind the car, increasing diffuser performance and therefore downforce.

Williams’s FW48 breaks cover

The Williams FW48 made a belated start in Bahrain after missing the Barcelona shakedown

Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images

After skipping the Barcelona test, the new Williams FW48 was first seen at a private shakedown at Silverstone before joining the fray in Bahrain. Although it had missed on-track mileage, its ‘virtual test track’ programme (which involved hooking the car up to a series of rigs and dynos to simulate real-world conditions) helped it iron out some of the more immediate creases that are generally present in any box-fresh machinery.

The Grove squad was relieved with the level of reliability shown by the FW48. Interestingly, it has joined Cadillac and Alpine in gravitating towards a pull-rod front suspension solution for 2026, which helps to clear the way for any vorticity generated by the strakes underneath the front wing, and also aligns with the low-line rear leg of the upper suspension wishbone. 

Further details extend to a drooping nose with a curved underside to mitigate any front-end lift, outwash fins on the front wing’s vortex tunnel, a similar wakeboard arrangement to the McLaren with a larger upper element, and sidepods that are intended to merge the downwash and inwash flows at the rear end.

“The car was doing more or less what we expected,” Carlos Sainz explained, having felt that the simulator-to-track correlation had been strong. While it is understood that the car is a little bit overweight, it’s nowhere near the 20-30kg rumoured; team principal James Vowles says that the team has a plan in place for the opening rounds to get the car onto the 768kg weight limit.

Audi’s sidepods 

It isn't quite the zeropod design of Mercedes 2022 but Audi had a version of its own for Bahrain

Photo by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Images via Getty Images

After running with a somewhat conventional sidepod solution during the Barcelona shakedown, Audi had something up its sleeve for the Bahrain tests: new bodywork with a completely reconfigured inlet. A tall, narrow intake now sits next to the chassis flanks, similar in form to the Mercedes ‘zeropods’ from 2022, but this flares out into wider ‘pods’ with a swept undercut. This is to provide interface with the tyre wake from the front end and allow it to be diverted around the sidepods’ bottom edge.

The lower crash structure has been raised to help bring a touch more airflow towards the leading edge of the floor. Over the top, the sidepods feature a ramped channel to help bring flow towards the rear of the car and improve the strength of the diffuser. 

“I’m encouraged, we have a bold approach to these technical regulations,” says team principal Jonathan Wheatley, who feels that it “made sense” to put together a provisional aero spec to get the R26 running early. “I think people are looking at us and they can see the ambition in the team.”

Further new elements have appeared on the Audi, particularly around the front wing. The team has opted for the twin active-aero actuators, rather than the central actuator under the nose. This allows the team to lower the nose without creating too much blockage from the actuator housing. Outwash fins have also appeared on top of the front wing’s vortex tunnels to assist with outwash ahead of the front tyres. The team has also opted for a split upper wishbone around the front suspension.

Audi and Alpine are the only two teams to operate their rear active aero flap differently, pulling the upper plane downwards rather than lifting the leading edge up. Although visually interesting, the difference should be negligible.

This article is one of many in the monthly Autosport magazine. For more premium content, take a look at the April 2026 issue and subscribe today. 

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Photo by: Mark Sutton / Formula 1 via Getty Images