F1 without Governance: does the FIA ​​write the 2026 rules alone?

F1 is experiencing a strange moment of uncertainty. The ability of the technicians to find aerodynamic load with the latest generation single-seaters that move an ever greater volume of air and the widening of the regulatory meshes that allow the approval of aerodynamic solutions that dirty the wake, have brought the topic of dirty air which prevents a car from approaching the one in front, limiting the possibility of overtaking.

But the problems do not only concern the present, because dark clouds also cloud the future: we have all understood that the gestation of the 2026 rules is more complex than expected, but perhaps only a few know what is happening.

The part relating to the new power units was discussed between the Manufacturers, the FIA ​​and the FOM in a close discussion which had led, at the urging of Audi and Porsche (which today is not among the engine manufacturers) to define a unit which divided the power between the endothermic and hybrid engines.

The FIA ​​World Council has approved the regulations and continues to make small changes to the text published on 6 December 2023, but as regards the chassis and aerodynamics there is still nothing written and, objectively, it is a topic of which is rarely talked about. How come?

The answer is simple: the 2026 single-seaters are not “designed” by the Governance that regulates the functioning of current F1: FIA, FOM and the 10 teams. With the expiry of the “Concordia Pact” at the end of 2025 and, in the absence of a renewal, there is no phase of continuity, but that of decay.

And since the 2026 rules are outside the scope of activity of this “Pact”, it is up to the FIA ​​to write the rules, having the statutory role of legislator. It is up to the staff of Nikolas Tombazis, FIA technical manager of single-seaters, to define a first draft by June 2024 on which F1 and the teams will be able to raise their objections before the text is approved by the World Council.

Nickolas Tombazis, FIA technical manager of the single-seater sector

In this phase, the passage from the F1 Commission which collects the requests of the various working groups which usually inspire the rules in a close comparison with the FIA ​​and F1 is missing. For the ground effect single-seaters, it will be remembered, Liberty Media had set up its own technical staff (the person in charge was Pat Symonds) who had shouldered the costs of the wind tunnel study to have cars that could stay in the slipstream and facilitate overtaking and , therefore, the show).

The times are very tight and the FIA, not yet having clear ideas, had asked the teams for an extension to September to gain a few months, but since it was a regulatory change it was necessary to find unanimity among the teams which did not exist.

The World Council had voted that aerodynamic research and work in the wind tunnel on the 2026 F1 cars could only start from 1 January 2025 (with the aim of putting everyone on an equal footing and containing costs), but nothing prevents a dedicated technical staff you start thinking about the layout of future machines.

Mohammed Ben Sulayem, FIA President

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Without rules it is impossible, so we understand the teams' need to have an initial document in hand on which to make evaluations. The FIA, at this stage, finds itself with a power that it has never had in recent years and it wants to exercise it. It will not seem true to President Ben Sulayem that he can write the rules according to his dictates, after having always been the “earthenware jar” between Liberty and the teams who have always found a connection in decisions to the detriment of the International Federation.

It is a moment in which the controversies that have held sway over the winter have been put to rest (such as the legal action of the Wolff spouses against Ben Sulayem and the fake investigation that the FIA ​​moral protection body had started on the simple indication of a media), because a particularly weak International Federation (many prominent figures have left their roles in dissonance with the president) has the opportunity to take back a role that in the past was its own and which has recently been shared with the promoter and the teams.

The opportunity is tempting to regain a strategic role in the paddock, but all this takes place on a topic that is full of pitfalls, because the rules discussed so far have not resulted in a shared synthesis, and there are aspects, even important ones, that are all 'other than defined.

Pirelli convinced the FIA ​​to continue with 18-inch tires in 2026

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

An example? Pirelli had been invited to study 16-inch tires instead of the current 18″ to contribute to the creation of single-seaters that will have to become lighter, despite having to carry decidedly larger and heavier batteries. The sole supplier, after a careful study, concluded that the weight advantage was limited and there was a risk with smaller tires of increasing overheating, a phenomenon that Bicocca are fighting for next year. The 2026 F1s will have narrower 18″ tires with a lower shoulder.

The episode highlights how complicated it is to reach targets: the FIA ​​had to review a concept on which it was building the shorter, lighter and narrower F1. There is talk of double DRS to facilitate overtaking thanks to mobile aerodynamics, raising doubts about safety, or of a “Push to pass”.

Stefano Domenicali, CEO of Formula One Group

Photo by: Shameem Fahath

Stefano Domenicali is inviting manufacturers to sit down at a table to close the negotiations on the “Concordia Pact” as soon as possible and re-establish a governance in which all actors can have a role in decisions. Let's prepare ourselves for a phase with a lot of turbulence, in which everyone will try to gain an advantage from their relationship of strength with the legislator…