What changed in 2026
New power units
From 2026 the power unit works in a new way: roughly half the power comes from the internal combustion engine and half from the electric motor. The electric motor is almost three times as powerful, at up to 350 kW, and the unit that charged the battery from the exhaust gases is gone completely.
The fuel is fully sustainable: it’s made from renewable sources, not oil. The new engine rules brought Audi into the championship, and Honda became Aston Martin’s official engine supplier.
Smaller, lighter cars
The cars are shorter and narrower: the wheelbase is 20 centimetres shorter, the width is down by 10 and the minimum weight by 30 kilograms. The wheels are still 18 inches, but the tyres are narrower.
Straight Mode instead of DRS
DRS — the moving flap on the rear wing that helped with overtaking — is gone. Now both the front and rear wings move. In the corners they work to create downforce, and on the straights marked out in the rules the driver switches them to Straight Mode: drag drops and the car accelerates faster.
Every driver uses Straight Mode on every lap in the permitted zones — it isn’t an overtaking tool but part of how the car gets round a lap. On Gridlap’s circuit maps, these sections are marked as Straight Mode zones.
Overtake Mode
Overtaking now has its own tool: if you’re within a second of the car ahead at the detection point, the hybrid system gives you extra energy. It’s enough to close in and attack, but it doesn’t last forever — the battery has to be looked after.
This chapter’s key term — .