F1 team bosses address 'significant' obstacle as huge opportunity beckons

F1 team principals James Vowles, Fred Vasseur and Ayao Komatsu have spoken about the difficulty of knowing when to turn full attention to the 2026 F1 regulations.

The championship's overhaul of the technical rulebook will come into force next year, thus leaving team's torn over how to allocate resources throughout the current campaign.

Naturally, that pivotal point varies across F1's ten constructors and some, like Williams, have already switched focus due to it being a "clean sheet of paper", in the words of Vowles.

"I think you’ll find it’s probably different team by team," the Grove-based squad's team boss told media including RacingNews365. "For us, I’ve been very vocal about this.

"We pulled the [2025] car out the tunnel on January 2nd [when work on the new chassis was allowed from] on purpose. We’re here to make sure we have an opportunity. Next year is basically a clean sheet of paper - you can redraw everything. There’s no carryover.

"And for us as Williams, that’s a really good opportunity to make sure we’re just digging out some of the other elements that we need to put foundations in for and get it right. But that’s probably an exception, not the rule. But for us, it’s a good reset opportunity."

Vasseur and Komatsu

Vasseur, on the other hand, highlighted how many teams are still weighing up and evaluating when to fully transition focus to next season.

He pointed out how, at this stage, Ferrari is making "perhaps ten times more improvement" on the new car compared to 2025's SF-25.

"I think every single team has the same topic on the table now: to decide when we have to switch completely to the next year’s project," the Frenchman said.

"For sure, every single day in the wind tunnel on the next year’s project, we are making perhaps ten times more improvement than on the current car.

"And it’s always a difficult choice - but that’s life, and we knew before. From the beginning of the season in the press conference, we were speaking about this. Due to the circumstances and the situation in the championship, we will make different choices."

Komatsu, meanwhile, underlined how with some of the smaller details still being refined, work is having to be restarted in certain areas.

"Obviously, especially for small teams like us, it’s a very significant challenge," the Haas boss stated. "But it’s the same for everyone - it’s the name of the game. So, we are just getting on with it.

"But one thing which is difficult is still the technical regulation is not completely stable. So, you work on certain things, the regulation changes, then you have to start again. So yeah. But again - it’s the same for everyone. But it’s challenging."