FIA
General
New Regulations under review? Problem between FIA and F1 could be prevented
- Ludo van Denderen
For years, the FIA, under the leadership of (the now sacked) Pat Symonds, has been working on the rulebook for the '26 season onwards, and finally last week there was white smoke: with a flashy video, beautiful-looking AI photos and an explanation via a press release, fans and the media were allowed to get acquainted with the 2026 bolide. Much to the annoyance of the teams, even they had not been informed of the content of the release in advance, which led to irritated faces in the Montreal F1 paddock.
On Saturday - before the FIA came to explain the new regulations in a specially convened press conference - the 10 F1 teams, the motorsport federation and Formula 1 in Canada met for an emergency meeting to discuss the discontent that had arisen among the race teams. After interviews with team members on Thursday and Friday, it was clear that there were several parts to it. First and foremost, the fact that teams thus did not know the exact content of the regulations before everything was shared with the outside world was an important issue.
F1 teams were not familiar with the final regulations
So, relatively soon after the FIA and F1 announced they were re-establishing ties and resolving previous dissatisfaction with decisions taken by the federation on their own (read: opening a bid for an eleventh F1 team), the FIA have once again taken the aggravation out on their hands. In Montreal, it was confirmed that the teams were not fully aware of the final regulations, as they had been presented.
It should be noted that in recent years the FIA did regularly keep their ears to the ground with the experts from the F1 teams, who will soon have to actually implement what comes on paper. But in these talks, for example, it was explained by the teams that reducing the maximum weight of an F1 car, while a noble goal, was virtually impracticable. Yet the motorsport federation came out with the announcement that 30 kilos were going to be taken off the cars. Since the FIA revealed the rules, a common comment from teams has been: 'It simply won't work'.
FIA back to the drawing board
The teams also have comments on the proposed aerodynamics regulations and these, along with some other concerns, were conveyed to the FIA on Saturday morning in Canada. They are expected to go to the drawing board again in the near future, to make adjustments as yet. If huge changes are necessary to align with the teams, it could feel like a defeat for the FIA. On the other hand, if the teams are already saying that what the federation wants is not realistic, there is little choice.
In any case, it begs the question: Why did the FIA not fully coordinate the new rules with the teams first, before going public with them? With the way things have gone now, it gives the appearance that the FIA and Formula 1 have not become as close after all as previously claimed. Surely hassle with the F1 teams must be the last thing the FIA are currently waiting for?