Alongside the more headline-grabbing power unit and aerodynamic changes, the 2026 regulations have also had a meaningful, if less discussed, impact on how teams approach tyre management throughout a race weekend.
Lighter Cars, Different Loads
With minimum car weight reduced compared to previous seasons, tyres are dealing with somewhat different load characteristics than before, which has required both the sport's tyre supplier and individual teams to recalibrate their understanding of degradation patterns on a car that behaves differently through corners than its immediate predecessor.
Active Aero Changes Cornering Loads
Because the new active aerodynamic system shifts between low-drag and high-downforce configurations automatically, the aerodynamic load being placed on the tyres through a given corner can vary in ways that weren't previously possible with a fixed aerodynamic setup, adding a new variable for engineers to account for when predicting tyre wear across a stint.
Energy Management Adds Another Layer
Because drivers must now manage battery deployment much more carefully than under the previous power unit regulations, driving style through a stint, including how aggressively a driver brakes or accelerates out of a corner, has an even more direct relationship to tyre wear than before, tying tyre and energy strategy more closely together than in past seasons.
An Evolving Picture
Teams are still building up a full season's worth of data on exactly how these changes interact across different circuit types, meaning tyre strategy calls in 2026 have, at times, carried more uncertainty than in a typical season under stable regulations. That uncertainty has, in turn, contributed to some of the season's more unpredictable race results.