Nikolas Tombazis, the technical head of the FIA single-seater department, has explained that the current technical regulations will not be changed in 2025 to limit the outwash effect that tends to dirty the wake of the cars, increasing the loss of front downforce, and consequently, the chances of overtaking. The Greek engineer does not believe there are regulatory loopholes that would allow further worsening of the situation. Therefore, attention will be directly focused on the 2026 Formula One cars.
In the interview Nikolas Tombazis gave to Motorsport.com on the occasion of the Italian Grand Prix, the technical head of the single-seater department had anticipated that in 2025, the International Federation could intervene in the technical regulations to limit the outwash effect, reducing the possibility for the following car to stay in the wake of the car in front.
However, the Greek engineer wanted to clarify a change in the federation’s plans, which will now impose limits on “loopholes” only from 2026 when the new F1 regulations will come into effect, requiring cars that are significantly different from the current ones, as they will be smaller and lighter.
Team engineers have been very skillful in interpreting the current rules in the least restrictive way possible, increasing the airflow pushed by the front wing outside the wheel to push turbulence losses to the outside of the car body, dirtying the wake.
The aerodynamic rules for ground-effect cars were designed precisely to avoid a loss of front aerodynamic load that would not facilitate overtaking, thus affecting the spectacle.
“If we take the F1 of 2021,” explained Nikolas Tombazis, “when it was two car lengths behind the one in front, it lost more than 50% of the load. With the 2022 cars, there was only a 20% reduction in load, while this year we went up to about 35%. There has certainly been a deterioration, but we believe we can control this effect without further worsening.”
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Engineers, by exaggerating the design of the sideplates with cambered shapes and slots between the wing flaps, have managed to generate channels to direct the flow. The main profile, which had the larger chord, has become much shorter over time in conjunction with the endplate, and the flaps in this specific portion of the wing had almost zero incidence, favoring a wind tunnel-designed airflow channeling.
“We should not only look at the endplate area because the outwash effect is also contributed to by the fins and flow diverters of the front brake duct. I don’t think we will see exaggerations in 2024 and 2025 because there will be no loopholes in the interpretation of the rules. I expect a certain stability, so we will focus on the new concepts that will be introduced by the 2026 cars.”
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