FIA expecting close F1 grid despite new engine formula

FIA single seater director Nikolas Tombazis believes the front-running teams will be closely matched soon into the new regulations, but that the power unit will be an early differentiator.

New power unit regulations that put a greater emphasis on electrical power come in for this season, as well as fresh aerodynamic rules for teams to tackle.

Having such widespread changes to the cars at the same time opens up the potential for significant differences in performance, but Tombazis believes the field will soon close up to similar levels to those seen at the end of last season.

“I would expect a factor to be the engine initially, the ICE, because we obviously have newcomers and we have a new ICE regulation,” Tombazis said. “We expect there to be some initial differentiation there, but we believe that we've also put in place procedures to enable people to gradually catch up, so we believe that's a temporary matter in terms of performance differentiation.

“Then we have completely new aerodynamic regulations. Naturally, initially there will be some solutions that are better, some are worse, there will be some initial convergence, I guess over the first six months to one year – I guess it will take some time for people to converge aerodynamically. So initially in 2026 I would not expect to have quite as close a grid as we have [at the end of 2025], but I would also expect that the converged grid is closer than it is now.”

Tombazis clarifies he is not specifically talking about the difference between the fastest and the slowest car on the entire grid, but a situation where there are smaller gaps between multiple teams and no one dominant force.

“We are pretty sure that the converged performance should be a smaller grid. Initially, I think there may be some variation,” he said. “If one or two teams initially are in a bit of trouble and get it wrong, I don't think that determines how exciting a championship is.

“But what usually determines the championship is how close the people in the top half are, let's say, in terms of battling for points and wins, for example. And I think that we will have a reasonably close field, I would say.”