The 2026 cars have to use 30 kgs of fuel only to generate electric power, according to the latest calculations. Wheelbase set to be shortened by 30 cm, new gearbox with only 6 instead of 8 gears. More about the 2026 regs in our AMuS story (in German): https://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/formel-1/f1-reglement-2026-details-motor-technik-radstand-getriebe/
Being nearly a foot shorter is a huge step in the right direction.
It being roughly a foot shorter isn’t a massive size difference on these boats I feel. Gearbox changes are interesting, I wonder if that will reduce speed in long straights like Mexico or if it will result in slower acceleration in gears 3/4. I don’t know enough about motive force generation to even weigh an opinion on the fuel comment
I’ll let the engineers set the rules though and see how the racing goes, it’s too early and my brain is barely functioning after dealing with on-call causing me to have 3 hours of sleep in the last 48 hours…
30cm shorter wheelbase is roughly a 10% decrease I think. It would be good if weight comes down quite a bit too.
Is the ground clearance on that car particularly low?