The smaller tyres Formula 1 will use in 2026 are still larger than the FIA wanted them to be.
The sport’s governing body announced its next set of technical regulations last week, including plans for thinner front and rear tyres. But the reduction which has been proposed – 25mm at the front and 30mm at the rear – is less aggressive than they originally aimed for.
The FIA’s single seater technical director Jan Monchaux said they chose not to make the tyres any narrower, or reduce their overall size, because of concerns they might not cope with the output from the more powerful 2026 engines, which will produce up to 1,100bhp.
“We don’t want the tyres to be a source of concern early in 2026,” he told media including RaceFans. “These new PUs which will have, for the moment at least on paper, especially in the traction phase, a massive amount of power. We simply were a little bit nervous at going much smaller.”
F1 increased the width of its wheels in 2017. Five years later it made the wheels taller, replacing the 13-inch (330mm) rims with 18-inch (457mm) versions.
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Monchaux confirmed the FIA looked at moving to smaller wheels again. “At some point there were discussions to go to 16-inch [which] could lead to some overheating issues which then would become the only topic people and teams discuss about the start of ’26.”
He conceded “the reduction on the tyres is certainly less than we would have all hoped at some point,” as a result.
“But as I mentioned, we didn’t want a too big departure from the known product, which currently we have and we are fairly happy with. We’ve got already enough changes, if you want, through the power unit, the chassis and also the aero regs, that taking other eventual risks we didn’t feel was the right choice.”
The new tyres for 2026 will therefore only be around 8% narrower than those in used today. “We are not expecting significant difference in those changes being done on the tyres with respect to general mechanical grip,” he said. “It might be a slight reduction because the tyres are smaller but it’s not a departure which is source of real concern for us.”
The FIA will give teams and F1’s official tyre supplier Pirelli additional opportunities to conduct tyre testing ahead of 2026. These will begin in September and continue throughout next year.
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