F1's New 2026 Regulations Could Spell Trouble For Codemasters

F1’s new regulations have been announced. From 2026, these new regulations will create closer racing with more action. However, one issue remains: how will they affect Codemasters’ F1 series?

A new dawn

F1 regularly updates its technical regulations to keep competing teams closer together in performance. The last major change was in 2022, with the reintroduction of ground effect, along with larger wheels and wheel brows.

Credit: Formula 1

Despite the promises of closer racing from these regulations, that wasn’t exactly the case. 2023 saw the most dominant season in F1 history, with Max Verstappen winning 19 out of 23 races and Red Bull taking victory in all but one race that season.

The 2026 regulations aim to achieve what 2022 failed to do. New active aerodynamics will replace the current DRS system, while power units will split 50/50 between combustion and electric power.

Hopefully, these regulations will bring the exciting racing action fans have been promised. But how will they impact Codemasters’ F1 series?

Throwing a wrench

Besides the 2022 regulation changes, things have been smooth for Codemasters over the last few years. Car designs may have changed, but the core components remained largely the same. That will all change though with the 2026 regulations.

Losing DRS means Codemasters has to disable a feature seen in the F1 series since 2011. This will significantly change how F1 cars work in the games, and the active aerodynamics will also need a major physics overhaul to work realistically.

The same is true with the power unit. An even split between combustion and electric power will change the way the energy recovery system (ERS) works.

ERS deployment is also being replaced with a new manual override. This gives a driver within a second of the car in front access to extra energy to create more overtaking at any point on the track. It's essentially an electric-powered infinite DRS.

This will all have to be included in the game as accurately as possible to reflect the real-world changes. As a result, significant changes will be needed in F1 26. Codemasters' current contract expires in 2025, with a potential two-year extension.

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With F1 26 guaranteed to feature multiple new additions, where does this leave F1 25?

Delayed upgrades

Many see F1 24 as a stop-gap title. The new handling and overhauled Career Mode are encouraging signs, but the game feels like it's tiding things over until next year. Or at least that was the case.

With F1 26 now looking like the major overhaul title, F1 25 could be another filler game. Codemasters might be tempted to leave all the big changes for one single game, rather than spread them out across two separate years and development teams.

These changes could include new game modes, further handling improvements, and of course, the new game engine fans are desperate for. While the engine has been incrementally upgraded over the years, the current Ego engine will be in its tenth iteration by the time F1 25 is released, and that will also hopefully be the last time it's utilized.

The next edition of Braking Point will likely be fatured in F1 25, as development on that would have started back in 2023. But beyond that, any upgrades might be delayed until the following year.

That means no changes to My Team, no new additions in F1 World, and next to no chance of legacy tracks and cars returning to the series. This is all pure speculation of course. Hopefully, F1 25 will end the current Formula 1 era with a bang rather than a whimper.

Do you think the new 2026 regulations will spell trouble for Codemasters? Let us know in the comments below.

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Do you think the 2026 F1 regs will affect the F1 series? Let us know below!

Join the conversation