Why F1's reset could reshape the sport

AS the 2025 Formula

- JEHRAN NAIDOO

One season wraps up, the paddocks attention has already shifted to 2026, a year many insiders are calling the most transformative in a generation.Once again, F1 is rewriting the technical rulebook, and this time it is not a subtle tweak but a full-blown evolution designed to reset competition, enhance racing, and pivot the sport towards sustainability and new forms of power delivery.

The last seismic upheaval of this scale came in 2014, when the sport moved from screaming 2.4-litre V8 engines to 1.6-litre turbocharged hybrid power units. This hybrid era redefined how teams approached performance: energy recovery systems became as important as combustion power, budgets ballooned, and the balance of power shifted dramatically in favour of Mercedes in the early years.

That change did not just alter engines; it reshaped competition and racecraft, forcing teams and drivers to rethink strategy, throttle control, brake management and fuel efficiency in ways that rewrote championship narratives.

Fast forward to 2026, and once again the structure of Formula One is being retooled — this time in areas that touch nearly every component of a contemporary F1 car. The new regulations encompass chassis design, aerodynamics, power units, overtaking systems and sustainability goals.