By Carlo Platella
Among the many innovations already announced with the 2026 revolution, the new regulations will introduce another small-big change. Formula 1 returns to free wheel development, after the brief experimentation of the standard supply in recent years. The teams will have to create their own circles independently or with an external partner, which will also be narrower than the current ones, but of the same diameter.
Developable circles
The 2026 regulations will put an end to the standard mono-supply regime for rims, currently in charge of the Japanese BBS Motorsport. The circles will move from being standard components (SSC) to open source (OSC), returning to being developed directly by the teams. Being about open source components however, the projects will be shared and consultable by all the teams, who will be able to take inspiration from them in a similar way to what currently happens with the brakes.
Despite the farewell to standard supply, however, the presence of a reference supplier is not excluded, in a similar manner to the role held by Brembo specifically for the braking system. In fact, all the teams freely chose the Italian company for the co-design of a part or the entire system, with different projects depending on the various teams. A scenario that could also materialize with the rims.
Narrower wheels
In addition to being developable again by the teams, in 2026 the rims will also be narrower than the current ones, with approximately 20 mm less width both front and rear. This is a narrowing that ensures a lightening of the wheel assembly without reducing the diameter of the tyres, as proposed by Pirelli and reported by Mario Isola: “We felt that 16 inch wasn’t the right way to go. We made a proposal for a narrower 18 inches which lightens the wheel system a bit, but still guarantees performance which we believe is in line with those expected” –
