Just a day after the FIA shared some pictures and early plans about the big changes coming to F1 cars in 2026, concerns have popped up about some of these ideas.
During an online meeting of the FIA’s Technical Advisory Committee on Thursday, problems with the plans were brought up. Sources say team bosses want to discuss these concerns in a meeting in Montreal on Saturday morning.
But this meeting is part of a regular chat with F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali and other top people in F1, so it’s unclear if they’ll get to talk about the 2026 issues much.
One big worry is that some teams think the FIA is going ahead with parts of the rules that might not work well. They’re especially concerned about the aerodynamics of the new cars, which they think could be too slow and run out of battery power often.
Teams are also worried about plans to make the cars lighter by 30kg, even though the batteries will likely make the cars heavier overall. They think it’ll be hard to meet this weight target without spending a lot of money.
Teams want more details about plans for active aerodynamics too, like how the wings will switch between high downforce and low drag.
Although teams have had concerns about the rules for a while, the FIA’s announcement this week has made it clear that a lot of decisions have already been made. The FIA wants to finalize everything by the end of June, as per the rules.
According to the FIA’s rules, any big changes in regulations need to be announced by June 30, a year and a half before they come into effect. After that, changes need support from most teams, which might be tricky as not all teams agree on what to do.
Some teams wanted to delay announcing the rules until October, but this was blocked. However, the FIA could still decide to delay the rules with the support of most teams, if they believe it’s necessary.
The FIA plans to get the rules approved by the World Motor Sport Council on June 28, according to their presentation documents.
