F1 revving up for changes

Next year, Formula One will see one of its biggest changes in a generation.

Sweeping new regulations will change how cars look, sound and run. The goal is to make them more "agile, competitive, safer and more sustainable," governing body FIA said. Some teams all but abandoned their 2025 car designs early this year in search of the biggest boost they could get in 2026.

Reporters spoke with Nikolas Tombazis, who is overseeing the transition to the new rules as the director for single-seater racing series at the FIA, to explain how the changes will affect the action on track, and what could still change.

'Bigger gaps' possible

Teams are guarding their development data, but what has become public suggests the slowest cars could be way off the pace.

Tire manufacturer Pirelli has confirmed that the estimated lap times it has received from teams vary by as much as four seconds, a relative eternity in F1. Tombazis acknowledges that new engine manufacturers may need extra development time to catch up on "15 years of know-how "from the likes of Mercedes.

F1 has a rule which could, in theory, rule cars out if their qualifying times aren't within 107 percent of the fastest car. So could cars be deemed too slow to race?

"I think 107 percent is pretty unlikely, in my view," Tombazis said. "Next year we have a wider level of uncertainty in performances, it's absolutely true. We have newcomers. We have new regulations. Two of those things combined can mean that there could be bigger gaps in some places."

The difference to 2025 could be stark. Despite McLaren's dominance so far this season, six different teams have finished on the podium, and less than a second has separated the entire field in some qualifying sessions.