Revealed: Why Ferrari and McLaren have stolen a march on their F1 rivals

Just a month into the development of the radical new cars for 2026, it is fair to suggest the programmes of all 10 teams are in their infancy, and it will not be until the summer that they will begin to fully take shape.

Interestingly, despite the regulatory change concerning the power unit and the aerodynamics, with the adoption of active aero, two teams have already found a conceptual bridge between the current project for this year and the major overhaul for next season. 

Given the apparent gulf between the two projects, it appears Ferrari and McLaren have the edge that will stand both in good stead in 2026.

With regard to Ferrari, its investment for this season in a front pull-rod suspension will also serve as the basis for its 2026 car.

As for McLaren, if rumours are correct that its MCL39 is an extreme concept, compared to last season's car, it is in the knowledge such a considerable technical effort will be with one eye on next year.

Putting aside the active aero, on an aerodynamic level, it seems that with the 2026 cars being smaller in size than those at present, they can be considered as an F1 2021 2.0, possessing lower aerodynamics that are decidedly more simplified than the current ones due to the elimination of the Venturi Channels underneath.

The aerodynamic platform should have a similar integration to that of the cars that preceded the current ground-effect machines, both in terms of suspension response management and platform stiffness, providing variations of ride heights between the front and rear axles.

Effectively, it is plausible F1 will return to a floor with a rake setup, but with the prerogative that the rear end is of equal stiffness to that of the front.

Flow management, particularly at an upper level, will also see a study concentrated on the two aerodynamic set-up modes, i.e. the standard Z configuration for high downforce and the X configuration for minimal downforce and reduced incidence of the wing profiles.

It will be essential to manage the ride heights to optimise the two configurations, not only for reasons related to the downforce that will be generated by the floor but primarily to find a transition between the Z and the X to avoid an aerodynamic imbalance between the two axles. 

In essence, dynamic balance will be the basis for the precise exploitation of active aerodynamics in 2026. 

From this perspective, implementing concepts that guarantee this balance on the current cars represents a technical investment not only aimed at optimising the 2025 models but also intelligent management of resources for 2026, with the most precious being time.

Old rivals Ferrari and McLaren appear to have their noses in front at this stage compared to their contemporary adversaries.