F1’s Safety Overhaul: What to Expect

By Erin Malik

Formula 1 has introduced a multitude of intense regulation changes for the upcoming 2026 season, beginning on 8th March, and new safety features make up a key component of these adaptations.

Including more rigorous testing processes and differences in the car structures, the FIA has made many changes to the sport’s safety regulations to ensure that driver safety remains a priority in the sport’s advancements.

Foremost, the driver’s survival cell must be subject to more rigorous testing than it has in previous years. Teams must now supply calculations to prove that there would be no failure to the driver or fuel cell if a load of 110kN was applied, increased from the previous 80kN requirement. This overhaul has led to teams improving the side intrusion protection to better safeguard both of the cells.

In addition to this, the roll hoop has been strengthened to take 23% more load; there has been a compulsory upgrade from 16G to 20G, which is the weight of nine family cars. This rule comes as a direct result of Zhou Guanyu’s dramatic 2022 Silverstone crash, in which the roll hoop detached from the car upon impact. The Alfa Romeo Ferrari driver was taken away unconscious in an ambulance after his car flipped over the tyre wall in the opening lap.

Further safety developments have been made by introducing two-stage front impact structures. This ensures that, in the event of a crash, the front impact structures of the 2026 cars will separate in two stages to provide greater protections to drivers in big crashes which have secondary impacts after the initial contact. To improve and manage post-crash risks by alerting drivers and marshalls more effectively, the cars now also have mandatory Energy Recovery System (ERS) status lights.

In 2024, FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem stated that: “the key features of the 2026 F1 regulations are advanced sustainability, technology, and safety. Our aim, together with Formula 1, was to produce a car that was right for the future and of the sport’s elite category. We believe we have achieved that goal.”