Active aero latest 2026 F1 car rule to be panned: ‘It’s really dangerous’

Williams Formula 1 driver Carlos Sainz has slammed active aero on the 2026 cars for creating “really dangerous” opening laps to races.

The new-for-2026 cars have not won favour with many fans and drivers following the Australian Grand Prix, particularly the amount of energy harvesting required now with the power units.

Another new element to these cars that has now drawn criticism is the active aero, which can be used in specific ‘straight mode’ zones, similar to how DRS was operated.

The front and rear wings open in these zones to reduce drag, which has largely become a necessity for drivers to have in order to counteract the extreme battery charge deployment taking place across a lap.

Opening laps ‘don’t seem very safe’

Carlos Sainz says active aero created “sketchy” driving conditions when used in a pack at the start of races through SLM zones that weren’t fully straight.

“I think the biggest worry for me about the race is lap one,” he told the media, including Crash.net, on Sunday in Melbourne.

“It felt like it was really sketchy with SLM on [for] everyone on the back straight.

“It felt really dangerous and really difficult to control the car in the slipstream and SLM.

“And then when racing someone else, the same. If it’s a straight line, it’s not bad, because it’s like DRS last year.

“But when there’s a bit of cornerning and both cars are using SLM, like cornering at Turns 7/8 on that back straight, it feels sketchy.

“So, I think the SLM is the plaster on top of the engine to protect a bit the deployment issues we have.

“But, for sure, lap one and overtaking doesn’t seem to be very safe at the minute with the SM open.”

One of the SLM zones was removed on Saturday morning from operation on safety grounds, following a heated drivers’ briefing on Friday evening, where some expressed similar comments to Sainz.

However, this was quickly reversed after teams complained, owing to their data on energy deployment in that zone being effectively nullified.

Sainz reiterated that active aero is a temporary fix to a wider issue, which is why, despite the danger, the drivers need to continue to have it.

“We should not need to have active aero for racing, in my opinion,” he added.

“The active aero and the SM is a plaster on the issue of the engine.

“And when you come to circuits like this, where you are energy-starved, you end up having to use SLM in places that you shouldn’t to protect the deployment.

“So, in the end, you end up having a dangerous situation like we had in lap one and racing in general.

“So, the issue is not the SLM. We need it; if not, you guys saw we were doing lift-and-coast like crazy in qualifying.

“All teams, if you now remove SLM, we could not even race with the deployment we have.

“So, we kind of need SLM. But it’s a plaster to a solution to an engine formula that, for me, just doesn’t seem to work very well right now.”