F1 Explains: new rules + new words for 2026

14:24Lawrence Barretto:I mean for me this is the coolest addition to the cars this year you've got rear wing flaps that opened with DRS when you press the button through an activation zone in the previous era of formula one now they'll open every time you go on a straight and not just the rear wing but the front wings too so it's quite a sight to watch both flaps on the rear and the front wing open and that is the idea of that is to reduce the drag down the straight and so that we'll see formula one cars going much quicker or getting up to top speed much quicker because we're reducing low drag so we'll see something very different this year you're right lawrence this is also my

15:00Tom Clarkson:favorite bit fundamentally this is good fun i've got a couple of thoughts on this none of them are very technical uh the first is i think it's made the cars look a little bit like lawrence you and i are british our american friends would call this battle bots for us it was robot wars i think it's quite front flipper on a fighting robot sometimes as the things lift up i really like that i like but lawrence yeah well we'll use that but also lawrence ferrari did something very fun in testing and they're being cagey as to whether this will make it to Australia. But the whole rear wing or a part of it seemed to do a full turn, which was brilliant.

15:39Tom Clarkson:And everyone's like, the whole wing's turn's not just open. Lawrence, is this a gimmick or could this be one of those things that people go, actually, this is really giving Ferrari an advantage and therefore you see the teams copying it up and down the grid?

15:52Lawrence Barretto:I mean, honestly, this is the coolest thing I think I've seen and testing since mercedes bought the dan uh device it was brilliant it flipped 270 degrees i think and ollie berman's reaction when he saw it was uh was priceless because he was behind it yeah because he was behind it when it opened for the first time ferrari only ran it for a few laps in pre-season testing and they were insistent that it is a test item so that they're they're not sure yet like you hinted at christian whether or not we're going to see it over the course of the season but it certainly got a lot of engineers up and down the paddock um scratching their head a little bit to see whether or not they've missed a trick or indeed they'd seen it and they didn't think that it was worth pursuing um so i'm intrigued to see whether or not we're going to see it on the ferrari early doors but it was a very cool device and obviously potentially could give them a really good boost on the straights this is what's brilliant about formula

16:48Tom Clarkson:on absolutely brilliant because it just takes somebody somewhere to have one idea and go hang on a minute if we're opening a wing flap what if the whole wing turned and it sort of reminds me one of the greatest sporting stories ever is when brawn gp turned up at testing and had a rocket ship and won the championship with jenson button in 2009 and again they the diffuser is a bit at the back of the car that fundamentally helps the car grip it increases downforce and they had a double diffuser and this fairly simple idea of sort of doubling up on it and again it was like wow what's this and that won them the championship now listen i'm putting a lot of pressure on ferrari here i'm not saying it's going to win them the championship but it's amazing when sometimes a fairly simple idea can end up with something really cool and something that has really cool consequences for the team ferrari we wish you well with your rotating wing uh right let's get another listener question f1 explains at f1.com if you want more answers on anything we're talking about or anything else to do with Formula 1, in fact.

17:46Tom Clarkson:Isabel is in Perth, in Australia, the country of our first race of the season, of course. Isabel says, hi, Christian. My question is, what is in the fuel used in F1 cars? Is it similar to the petrol we use on the roads or is it a mixture unique to Formula 1? Thanks for this podcast. I love it and I've learned so much. Thank you, Isabel. We're very grateful for that. Lawrence, the fuel is different this year, isn't it? So what will the power units that we have just been discussing be running on?

18:18Lawrence Barretto:Well, for the first time, Christian, they're going to have advanced sustainable fuel. So F2 and F3 have been trialing this for Formula One over the last couple of years just to get a feel for how it affects performance over the course of a season. And for this year, these fuels will be making their debut in Formula One. Each team will have a different type of blend depending on who their supplier is. you know ferrari use shell for example mercedes use patronus red bull use exxon mobil and effectively this fuel is an e-fuel it's made from cutting edge sources like carbon capture so that's taking co2 directly from the air um municipal waste and non-food biomass so a mix of the above and effectively that combines to create the best kind of e-fuel that the uh the various makers can put together and nothing just to be clear nothing comes from crude oil so that's the difference um it's supposed to be more sustainable yeah and we should add as well it's

19:16Tom Clarkson:independently certified to meet really strict sustainability standards it's been trialed in formula 2 and formula 3 just another example of really cool technology making it to formula 1 right i think we should fuel up laurence i think this is a good time to pop some fuel in and recharge our batteries time for a quick break when we come back we'll do tire talk team talk We'll contract talk. See you in a minute.

19:43Christian Hewgill:Some crimes are never forgotten. Others are lost to history. Those are the ones we focus on in Crimes of the Centuries. A history meets true crime podcast revisiting murders, trials, and frauds that once dominated headlines. I'm Amber Hunt, your host and a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist. If you like true crime that feels both cinematic and historical, find Crimes of the Centuries wherever you get your podcasts.

20:16Tom Clarkson:Welcome back to F1 Explains. I'm Christian Hugill. F1 correspondent Lawrence Barreto is with me to run through all the new stuff in F1 2026. we'll be taking a deep dive into so many of these things in the coming weeks but we're enjoying talking more broadly about what you can expect this season and on that note before we carry on doing that if you've been with F1 Explains for a while now you'll know alongside our regular episodes we also have live shows recorded on big stages at F1 Weekends they're your chance to come and watch this show for no extra cost while you're at a Grand Prix and also get involved by putting your questions directly to some of the sport's biggest names.

20:56Tom Clarkson:And if you can't make it to the race, we always said, don't worry, you can listen to the shows right here on this feed. Now, our first live show of the season is in Australia. Makes sense, doesn't it? On the F1 Fan Zone stage with special guest James Vowles. Lawrence, would you say James is your favourite team principal?

21:13Lawrence Barretto:I've obviously got no favourite team principals, Christian, because I love them all and I need to talk to them all. But I do think that he is a very articulate team principal.

21:25Tom Clarkson:He's a very articulate, he is a very articulate man. So the very articulate James Valves will be with me on Thursday, the 5th of March on the F1 Fan Zone stage at Albert Park. Let us know if you're going to be there, please. Send us a question. We might be able to make you part of the show. Email f1explains at f1.com. As I say, let us know if you are going to be there. But if not, you can still send James a question anyway. And that show is coming right soon to this feed. you'll be able to listen to it whether you can make it to Australia or not. Right, let's talk tyres. Pirelli are still the official tyre supplier of Formula One.

22:03Tom Clarkson:That has not changed, but the tyres themselves have. We've got different tyres for this year, haven't we, Lawrence?

22:10Lawrence Barretto:We sure have. Much like the cars, which are narrower, smaller, nimbler, lighter, so are the tyres in that they are narrower, 18-inch tyres for 2026. The compounds have changed slightly as well. So last year we had a C6 in the compound range. This year we're down to C1, C2, C3, C4, C5. So those five compound tyres, and they're the slick tyres in addition to the intermediates and the full wet tyres that will still be available should the conditions turn nasty. And we're actually going to see all five of those compounds in some form over the course of the first three races. The harder tyres will make an appearance in race three in Japan.

22:49Tom Clarkson:So, yes, C1 being the hardest tyre available, C5 being the softest tyre available. Those newer to Formula 1 may not know this. Those who've been with us a while will. But every weekend, Pirelli picks three of those tyre compounds to act as that weekend's soft, medium and hard tyres. And actually, Lawrence, just while we're on the tyres, now you were out in testing. I've not seen a car on track yet this year. The first race of the season will be my first time seeing the new cars. from what friends have told me people who work in the sport have told me like the smaller tires and as you've just said Lawrence the fact the cars do look a little bit smaller has actually sort of made a notable impact on the look of them that they seem to look at a little bit racier a little bit more agile you've really noticed the difference don't you with these new cars all right absolutely

23:35Lawrence Barretto:um even though we're only talking like 20 centimeters you know in terms of the size of the the car is shrinking they look considerably smaller than that and I think there's that real feel of having these cars that i guess when i was a kid you want those cool futuristic looking cars on posters on your walls and i do think that 2026 spec cars look just like that um obviously yeah as you said the tires are smaller to fit onto a smaller car as well but i think the feedback generally from the drivers in terms of you know the cars feel a lighter narrower smaller more nimble um was definitely very positive across testing and listen that's the advantage for the sport

24:11Tom Clarkson:because we hope it will, you know, increase overtaking and not just increase overtaking more simply, but increase the likelihood of a driver thinking, I can make this move work as well. It encourages racing. And it's why a lot of the aerodynamic rules that we've changed that we were talking about in part one have been brought in as well. Of course, F1's always looking to increase more racing, increase overtaking opportunities. And we hope that'll carry on this season. So let's move on. Another listener question, F1explains at F1.com. We're going to look at what else is different for 2026 other than the new cars and the new rules.

24:42Tom Clarkson:This one is on Cadillac from Nick in Norway. Nick says, hi guys, thanks for a great podcast. I'm a regular listener from Oslo, Norway, and I love your show. We love you, Nick. Excellent work. Nick says, I have a question about qualifying this season. We now have 11 teams. Will there still be the five slowest cars that go out in Q1 and Q2, or will we leave six cars in each session? do you know i only thought of this fairly recently lawrence like oh q1 q2 q3 is different because we've now got 22 cars lawrence explain how this is going to work well it's just as well there's a

25:18Lawrence Barretto:podcast called f1 explains christian isn't it so it can kind of keep you up to date on what you need

25:22Tom Clarkson:to know for the season ahead i mean i like to think so the existence of it helps me well yes

25:30Lawrence Barretto:um you're right in that there'll be six cars leaving q1 and q2 because the idea was to keep 10 cars fighting for pole in q3 so we'll just be trimming off an extra car in q1 so rather than five cars six cars will go in that session and the same again in q2 and that will leave 10 in the pole position shootout in that final segment of quali so yeah with valchie bottas and checo perez joining the throw with cadillac um yeah we just had to tweak the format slightly so it'll be the same time durations for each session um so there'll be just a couple more cars on the track in that first session and obviously one extra one in the second session but yeah a bit trickier for traffic on certain circuits but yeah that's the plan for this year

26:12Tom Clarkson:we're going to talk plenty more about Cadillac on this podcast in the coming weeks we're looking to do an episode with them where we really dig into their journey a little bit more from sort of the idea to make a new Formula One team to here they are on the grid in 2026 but but just briefly Lawrence we should reflect on it it's the first um new brand new Formula One team since Haas and and they had a really successful testing all things considered didn't they you know it's of course a big old ass to come into Formula One this is the top level of motorsport uh and I I think Lawrence I don't know about you I think they'll be really encouraged by how testing went reliability looked good of course they've got some skilled old hands in Valtteri and in Sergio Perez a really promising start for Cadillac as our newbies.

26:54Lawrence Barretto:Oh super encouraging Christian I think there was mutual respect from their rivals in the paddock because it's no mean feat to start a Formula One team from scratch they only got the go-ahead around a year or so ago and yet they were able to shake the car down early doors in January they were at the Barcelona shakedown they made the two pre-season tests in Bahrain their reliability improved over the course of that period you know they still have only run that car for 10 days you know that's all they've got in terms of data relative to their rivals who have obviously got years decades of experience running a formula one car and i think the way they went about uh the operation particularly in bahrain um you know everything from the slick pit stops that they were doing to the operation that of the car to the logistics to the look at the garage to the car itself out on track with pat simmons even telling me that he He had had a few people come up to him and said there were some quite cool, neat details on the car from an aero package kind of perspective.

27:53Lawrence Barretto:I think the job that they've done is spectacular. Of course, they are up against it because they are a new team and they do not have the wealth of data or experience competing in Formula One. And they are starting from scratch. But I think as starts go for a new team, they've made a really strong one, even if they will probably be towards the back of the field to start with.

28:13Tom Clarkson:And Lawrence mentioned Pat Simmons there. Pat's got a wealth of experience in Formula One. He's Cadillac's executive engineering consultant for the Cadillac F1 team. They've obviously gone with Pat's experience. It's not a coincidence, is it, Lawrence, that our newer teams, because I'm coming on to Audi now, have gone for a lot of experience. Obviously, Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas, both race winners, hundreds of Grand Prixs between them. Moving on to Audi. Now, not a brand new team as such. Audi has purchased the Sauber team, but a lot of what they're doing is new. They're now an engine supplier for the first time.

28:51Tom Clarkson:They've gone with Nico Hülkenberg, of course. It's an unchanged driver lineup for the team in Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoletto. So, but again, Sauber being Audi, they've got that experience with the Hulk. And of course, Gabby's got a season under his belt now. And again, a broadly encouraging first test for them, Lawrence, considering they've got so much to change and are now an engine supplier to their own team, a works team, as we like to call it. You know, so much has changed for them.

29:17Lawrence Barretto:We've seen in previous years, Christian, how hard it is to create a Formula 1 power unit. We saw Honda struggle when they came in with McLaren almost a decade ago. We saw them struggle again with Aston Martin through pre-season tests and i'm sure we'll talk about that a little bit more over the coming podcast series as well but um for audi the job that they've done to to do a very polished uh power unit and they've only got one team that they're supplying themselves you know mercedes are supplying three other customer teams so they will get much more mileage on their new engine for 2026 whereas audi have just got that bank of the two cars and their own team to learn about it so i think the job that audi have done so far is very impressive from a power unit perspective i think they've just look to improve and enhance the the chassis side from a team that was very well respected within the paddock in Sauber uh independent team been in the midfield for a long time and they are just going through that tricky challenge of trying to become a big team you know growing from a team that punches above their weight to one that can punch consistently at their weight and I think that what they've done recruiting Jonathan Wheatley from Red Bull Mattia Bonotto from Ferrari they've from experience from a leadership perspective like you said they've got nico hulkenberg who's a veteran now in formula one but also a rising star in gabriel botoletto who had an outstanding rookie season so they've done a really good job i think through pre-season they were the first ones out for the shakedown they bought a huge upgrade package to bahrain the car was night and day different and nico said you know it's a big step up from spec a and it's no mean feat to be able to do that so I've been very very impressed by the approach that Audi have taken because they've had success in other motorsports but it's no guarantee of success when you come to Formula One.

30:59Tom Clarkson:They're also being so punchy from the people I speak to within the team of their long-term ambitions they're saying as you just said Lawrence this is a huge car manufacturer they are really making bold statements that they want to be in this for the long term and in it to win so following Audi's progress, following Cadillac's progress over not just this season but the coming seasons is going to be just fascinating in terms of Formula 1 storylines. So we've got a couple of new teams and we've got one new driver on the grid as well with Izaq Hachir replacing Yuki Tsunoda at the main Red Bull team.

31:31Tom Clarkson:We've got Arvid Lindblad in at Racing Bull so it's going to be interesting to see how he gets on. He's had a very promising Junior Series record, someone that Red Bull speak very highly of and And on the race calendar front, we've got a new Grand Prix. Listen, it's always so exciting when a new track comes onto the calendar. We get to see it for the first time. Lawrence, we're going to Madrid in September. Really exciting. Great city in Spain, isn't it? Absolutely great city. Just so exciting to have a new Grand Prix.

31:57Lawrence Barretto:Yeah, it's very cool when a new track comes on board. And the one in Madrid looks pretty spectacular, to be honest. It's going to be a street track. Part of it will be permanent, but most of it will be a street track. Carlos Sainz, whose home city is Madrid, an ambassador for the race. And there are real high expectations for this addition to the calendar, two Spanish Grand Prix on the calendar this year, joining Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya.

32:21Tom Clarkson:Lovely. And that's another thing, by the way, we will dig into on F1 Explains a little bit later this year, the new race in Madrid. Right. Lawrence, just before we go, I mean, I find myself, so I'm sure like you, we're recording this on Thursday evening, UK time the podcast is out on Friday so like we're days away from going out to Australia Lawrence I'm really excited because you know you and I've been covering the sport a while Lawrence you longer than me we've both been F1 fans for a long long time but this feels so different this feels so much fun this feels such a big change like I'm so excited to see how it

32:58Lawrence Barretto:shakes out are you I mean honestly Christian it's been so long since I've gone to an opening race of the season and honestly have so little idea about what to expect from the first race whether that is pecking order whether or not that's how qualifying is going to unfold what the racing is going to be like on on sunday afternoon i think it's fascinating and just talking to the teams across bahrain testing they are in as much in the dark as we are about what to expect yeah okay there's a rough pecking order that looks like it is emerging but there is no real clear indication of who's going to be quick and who's not going to be quick and that is unheard of in Formula One in recent years so yeah I can't wait to get there and Christian you know this Australia is a stunner of an opening race of the season so I cannot wait to get out of there.

33:50Tom Clarkson:Yeah it was my first Australian Grand Prix last year and I absolutely loved it so I can't wait. Lawrence Really appreciate you joining us. Thank you very much. And we will do lots more previewing of the Australian Grand Prix on this feed because a reminder that F1 Nation and F1 Explains are right here together on the same feed now. So F1 Nation's preview of the Australian Grand Prix will be out on Monday. So if you're a new listener to this feed, make sure you click like, follow or subscribe, not just for a notification of when we've got new F1 Explains episodes, but also new F1 Nations episodes as well.

34:21Tom Clarkson:now I'm back next Friday direct from Australia we're also of course doing that live show with the Williams team principal James Valls at 2 in the afternoon on the Thursday of the Australian Grand Prix weekend if you're going to be there send us a question for James we might be able to make you part of the show email f1explains at f1.com and of course you can follow the Australian Grand Prix on F1 TV with Lawrence and the gang where you will not miss a thing right Lawrence I will see you in Australia. F1 Explains listeners, thank you for joining us. I will talk to you from Australia, from all of us here.

34:57Tom Clarkson:Bye for now.

35:20Christian Hewgill:journalist. If you like true crime that feels both cinematic and historical, find Crimes of the Centuries wherever you get your podcasts.