2026 Formula 1 cars to look very different amid driver concerns. F1 plans changes for 2026 cars amid driver concerns.

Formula 1 challengers will be lighter and shorter starting from the 2026 Formula 1 season, as confirmed by racing car designer Nikolas Tombazis, who is currently the FIA’s Single Seater Technical Director.

During recent seasons, the weight of Formula 1 cars has increased as a result of several key aspects, including electrical systems, heavier power units and changes made with the goal of improving drivers’ safety.

While the sport will continue its plan to focus on technology progression, Nikolas Tombazis feels that the idea to reduce weight in the 2026 championship is doable.

“It is realistic to make them a bit lighter,” Nikolas Tombazis said in a recent interview regarding the new generation of cars – “Not a massive amount; we have to consider that the difference in weight since 2000, say 20 years ago or so, is about 200kg, which is a massive number.” – he explained.

While Nikolas Tombazis admitted that there are several areas where it would be difficult to attempt weight reductions – like the engine and safety updates – the racing car designer feels there are other elements that provide a good “opportunity” to make changes.

“There’s about 15-20kg because of more complex systems on the cars and there’s about 30-35kg on car dimensions. So cars being much longer and wider, bigger tyres and so on. And we believe in the car dimensions there lies an opportunity. We would want 2026 cars to be quite a lot shorter and probably maybe a bit narrower as well and all of that is going to contain the weight increase.” – Nikolas Tombazis said.

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Several drivers have expressed their concern regarding the weight of the cars in the last few years. The minimum weight for cars in the last championship was 798kg, a limit that will be reduced by 2kg for the next Formula 1 season. This represents a big difference as compared to the past: two decades ago, Formula 1 single-seaters could weigh 600kg or less.