Formula 1 will see major changes in 2026, as the power unit regulations will undergo a massive overhaul and present teams with a chance to go back to the drawing board.
Audi will be taking advantage of these changes by completing their takeover of Sauber, while Red Bull will make huge strides forward by developing their own power unit after previously relying on Honda.
The major changes in regulations are not yet confirmed however, as the currently published power unit regulations have been approved by the FIA, but the chassis regulations are still some way away from being finalised.
F1 chief technical officer Pat Symonds has now confirmed that the sport’s concepts for the chassis changes will be shown to the teams later this month in Geneva, as the sport looks to finalise the exact changes for 2026.
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“The power unit regulations are out and published, they’re not finished, we’re now really tidying up,” Symonds told PlanetF1.com.
“The chassis regulations we have been working on for a while now, a couple of years on some basic layout, but on January 25 we’ve got a big meeting in Geneva with all the teams, and that’s the first sort of real interaction where we sit down with the teams and we say ‘here are the concepts we want to bring into ’26’ and we start getting their views on that.
“End of January is when we really turn our attention to spending a lot more time with the teams themselves.”
Audi will be manufacturing their own power unit when they take over Sauber, making 2026 the ideal year to enter the sport and start at the same point as the rest of the teams.
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The new era of F1 power units will see the MGU-H element removed and the electrical element become a more essential part of the engine.
These changes come into effect with the aim of making Formula 1 more environmentally friendly and sustainable, with the new fuel in the ICE set to be fully sustainable.
The major regulation changes that came into effect at the start of last year have already improved the quality of racing and competitiveness Formula 1, meaning that the sport is set to be in a good place for the change of power unit regulations come 2026.