How F1's current aerodynamic battlegrounds are shaping up - and what's next in 2027

It's often taken for granted that Formula 1 had undergone an entire aerodynamic overhaul for this season, as the divisiveness of the powertrain regulations has rather superseded everything across the court of opinion. The 2026 regulations are either lauded or condemned purely on the basis of the added energy management factor, which is a tad reductive regardless of which side you stand on.

Perhaps it's because the chassis and aero regulations have actually been positively received, and positivity is usually quieter than discontent. Most of the drivers like the fact that the cars aren't quite as planted compared to the previous era, and require a more tactile approach versus the stiffly sprung ground-effect cars of 2022-25. 

But how do you get the best out of them? It's no secret that the 2022-25 cars worked best when operated at the lowest possible ride height, as the underbody suction increased exponentially with each millimetre closer to the ground. The difficulty there is that the underbody aero was incredibly sensitive, and any small flow separations or burst vortices could have dire consequences for the car. These mechanisms led to porpoising and bouncing; the aerodynamicists thus followed a route to maximise the downforce output at higher ride heights as a makeweight, later finding considerable performance gains as the porpoising was ironed out when run closer to the circuit. 

The return to a more conventional aero package has taken some of the potency out of the floor and given more power to the top-body aerodynamics to generate downforce. That's not to say that the floor can't be responsible for generating considerable levels of downforce, and there's still considerable expense spent here to make it work. However, the aerodynamicists have to take a more holistic view of the car rather than designing a floor and then building the rest of the car around keeping it at its optimum working range.

As 2026 continues to take shape, and as teams continue to iterate with their developments across the board, we're starting to see where some of the key battlegrounds lie. The power of aero developments has been quite extensive thus far; there have been great swings in the competitive order that have coincided with a team's introduction of a new package of parts. McLaren, for example, got closest to Mercedes in Miami; Ferrari followed suit in Barcelona, before Red Bull made up ground with its Austria package. 

"I think there's a few technical considerations that we can make," reckons McLaren boss Andrea Stella, who noted that the Woking team had needed to adapt its development course in response to the trends seen around the grid. "The first consideration I would make is that, unlike the previous regulations, the pattern of competitiveness here is quite repeatable, it's quite consistent. Pretty much independent of the track layout, you have Ferrari, Mercedes, and then Red Bull, and McLaren at the current moment in time."

McLaren has upgrades planned for either side of the summer break, with the aim of fully closing the gap to Mercedes

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"So it's not like there's much sensitivity on track layout, corner type, or setup, which is the second consideration. Last year, if you found a way to run as close as possible to the ground, and not have the porpoise, or cope with the stiffness, then you would cash in downforce, and you may elevate the category of your car. I think this year is much more difficult, through setup, to find any sort of opportunity, because the cars are not as sensitive to ride heights as they were last year."

Although the 2026 cars aren't as rigid compared to their previous counterparts, it has also been remarked upon that the pre-2022 cars were even softer with regards to the commonly used range of spring rates. It's apparent that the 2026 cars are not simply a step back to  this era, as the teams are not exploiting factors such as rake to the same degree; in 2021, much of the field was running the front of the floor far closer to the ground and elevating the rear, which effectively turned the leading edge into a means to accelerate flow underneath. 

That said, the 2017-2021 tricks of using slots, cuts, and additions to the edges of the floor have been reprised for this season. There's a lot of detail at the rear corner of the floor ahead of the rear wheels, which helps to shape the airflow ahead of the rear tyres and mitigate the appearance of tyre-influenced flow underneath the car. As such, many of the teams have been exploring the floor edges to assist with strengthening and maintaining energy within the diffuser flow.

"So what is the battleground?," Stella continues. "The battleground is, first of all, the developments themselves. Every team bringing upgrades, they take at least, looking at the top four competitiveness grades, I think everyone has delivered at least two to three tenths for every major upgrade that they have taken.

"The second key battleground is the concepts that, from an aerodynamic point of view, they are not mature yet. I have to say that our technical explanation as to the fact that we are not as competitive as we would have liked is that in some areas of the car, our directions that we took in the initial design of the car, they need revision. And after we have seen some other cars, and after we have done some more work, with concepts you should pursue, we have understood that we should review the concepts in some areas and then there start to iterate.

"So you will see that with some of the upgrades that are coming, we have changed concepts in some areas of the car and hopefully, from there, we will be able to add performance even more rapidly."

Using McLaren as a basis for where the trends lie, it's evident that the team tends to operate some of its aero pieces differently. The MCL40 persists with the downwashing sidepods, something that both Ferrari and Mercedes have moved away from to explore the undercut and the effect of the airflow taking a shorter path around the rear. 

Mercedes and Ferrari pursued inwashing sidepods for 2026, which other teams have adopted later on

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Red Bull by comparison has gone for something of a halfway house, in its continued use of the 'waterslide' channel on the top surface of the sidepods to open up what's known as the 'Coke bottle' region at the rear. Here, you're using the surfaces to draw airflow inwards and allow it to build pressure on the top surface to extend the difference in pressure between the top and bottom surfaces.

Elsewhere, McLaren has taken a different approach with its nose design, approach to the front wing, and with its 'floor boards' which sit behind the front wheels. It's not necessarily the case that the team needs to copy the other teams around it on the grid, but it is interesting that Stella believes that inspiration might need to be taken from the other outfits. Convergence in ideas has been a constant in F1's history; in the early years, Cooper and Lotus pioneered new ideas that others adopted and improved upon, and a more recent example was in the widespread exploration of Red Bull's floor during the previous ground-effect era. 

McLaren has its own Macarena rear wing in the pipeline and will explore it once the team is happy with the design, as the addition of active aero adds another element to the 2026 puzzle that teams are attempting to optimise.

On that subject; one might assume that the use of straight-mode will render the low-drag package obsolete, as the opening of the front and rear wings will naturally contribute to the same drag-cutting exercise as bringing a low-camber rear wing to Monza. Stella reckoned that it would be interesting to see if anyone would come up with a lower-drag version; after all, there's surely plenty of opportunity to cut more drag out of the wing mainplanes, even if the upper elements retract with the application of straight mode.

When you look at the trends so far, it's not a bad idea to look at the recently upgraded Cadillac as an encapsulation of the aerodynamic development seen thus far. F1's newest team has adopted sidepods that align much more closely with those used by Mercedes and Ferrari, pursuing a more pronounced undercut around the rear after losing its ramped sidepod design.

Furthermore, the American squad has adopted the stepped engine cover fin to assist with improving flow to the rear wing, and by using the rear endplate 'creases' to assist with generating an upwash effect to assist the airflow expansion at the rear of the car. It's fascinating to compare the early-season MAC-26 with the current car to see where the biggest areas of progress have been.

Cadillac's aero updates is a good indicator of 2026's development trends so far

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What about 2027?

We've got a few changes on the horizon for next season in an effort to cut back on downforce, as the FIA deemed that the levels of load were much greater than expected - and were potentially a contributing factor to the energy shortage seen at some of the higher-speed circuits. 

In an interview published on Aston Martin's website last week, Adrian Newey noted the changes for 2027 and explained how this would affect the teams' approaches in designing next year's cars.

"On the chassis side, the changes are fewer but still significant," Newey said. "The biggest is to what's often called the 'bib' or 'tea tray' at the front of the floor. The leading edge has been moved by about 300 millimetres, which allows you to run the front of the car lower. That brings a different set of aerodynamic characteristics.

"There's also a slightly shallower rear wing to reduce downforce, some changes to the front of the floor – the 'bear claws' or 'fingers' reducing from five to three – and the removal of various tricks teams have been using around the exhaust and rear wing. The key one for us is that front‑of‑floor change. It gives everyone a different aero challenge to solve."

Aston Martin already runs its car with a bit more rake than the other teams, something of a Newey hallmark given that Red Bull pioneered the idea during the pre-2022 regulations. The new rules, and Newey's assertions thereof, suggest that this could open the door to teams operating with a touch more rake than we currently see; this would expand the diffuser's 'footprint' by enlarging the low-pressure zone at the rear of the car. This contributes to more load at the rear of the car, although this can make the rear end aero a touch more sensitive if the aerodynamicists cannot implement the correct safeguards to protect the diffuser flow.

The exhaust winglet, pioneered by Ferrari and implemented by the other teams as a low-effort update to deliver a smidgen more rear-end downforce, will also be gone. It would not be surprising if the teams found workarounds to recapture the lost downforce from the 'de-powered' floor and shallower rear wing, but it at least keeps the arms race in check to some degree.

Even with a revised platform, however, the progress made in 2026 will inform much of next year's car designs; give it a couple of seasons, and we'll start to see the cars looking a bit more similar than they currently do. The car in front might currently be a Mercedes, but will next year's leader be the real thing - or an imitation? 

Aston Martin hopes its wide-ranging Hungary aero package will help inform its 2027 car

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