Car and Power Unit

• Chassis (monocoque): the extremely strong carbon-fibre safety cell the driver sits in.
• Halo: the titanium protection hoop above the cockpit. It shields the driver's head from impacts and flying debris.
• Front and rear wings: they steer the airflow to push the car onto the track. In 2026 the wing flaps can move.
• Floor: generates a large share of the downforce from the air flowing under the car.
• Power unit: a hybrid made up of a turbocharged petrol engine and an electrical system.
• Tyres: 18-inch tyres supplied to every team by Pirelli.
• Steering wheel: a small computer with dozens of controls and a screen, used to manage engine, brake balance and energy settings.

F1 cars use the air to take corners at very high speed. The wings and the floor use the airflow over and under the car to push it onto the track; this is called downforce.

It comes at a price: drag, the air resistance that tries to slow the car down. A good car makes plenty of downforce in the corners and as little drag as possible on the straights. The active aerodynamics introduced in 2026 were designed for exactly this balance: Active Aero and Overtake Mode.

The power unit is still a 1.6-litre turbocharged V6 petrol engine with a hybrid system, but the balance has changed:

• The combustion engine's output has dropped to about 400 kW (around 550 kW in 2025).
• The MGU-K electric motor has gone from 120 kW to 350 kW, so roughly half of the total power now comes from electricity.
• The complex and expensive MGU-H, which recovered energy from the exhaust, has been removed.
• The engines run on 100% sustainable fuel. Fuel use is limited by the energy it contains rather than by mass (at most 3000 MJ per hour).

These changes were made to cut costs, strengthen the link with road cars and attract new manufacturers.

The electric motor is very powerful but the battery is small, so drivers have to manage their energy carefully over the lap:

• Recharge: the battery is charged under braking, when the driver lifts off the throttle and even in some corners at part throttle. The rules cap the energy that can be recovered per lap at about 8.5 MJ, and the FIA can lower this at some circuits.
• Boost: the driver uses a button to deploy battery energy wherever they choose — to attack, to defend or to gain lap time.
• Overtake Mode: gives extra energy to a driver who is close to the car ahead. More in Active Aero and Overtake Mode.

At the end of long straights you may see a car stop accelerating even though the driver is flat out: the battery may be empty, or the system may have switched to recharging. This is more common with the 2026 cars.