The Formula 1 rulebook will have a whole new section in F1 2026, the FIA has confirmed at its final WMSC meeting of 2024.

The final meeting of the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) was held in Kigali in Rwanda on Wednesday, ahead of the FIA’s Prizegiving Gala next week, with the meeting chaired by FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem.

FIA approves rulebook change for F1 2026

From 2026, a new set of regulations will be added to the existing rulebooks.

Alongside the FIA’s International Sporting Code, which applies to all of its series, the F1 regulations are made up of the Sporting, Technical, and Financial Regulations.

A new rulebook, Operational Regulations, will come into effect alongside the sweeping technical changes being made for the F1 2026 season.

The WMSC approved the introduction of a new section called the Operational Regulations, with a statement saying these will “regulate certain F1 team activities that take place away from the race weekend.

“For this initial version of these regulations, certain elements that have historically been included in the Sporting Regulations have been transferred, such as limitations to aerodynamic testing, power unit testing, and mandatory shutdown periods.”

Limitations of these types have been introduced and regulated in order to place caps on team spending and resources, as well as ensuring staff wellbeing through enforced shutdowns such as the mandatory two-week winter factory closure, and a similar gap during the summer break.

These shutdowns have become even more important in light of the F1 calendar swelling to 24 races in 2024.

Alongside this change, the FIA has also started the process of changing its rulebook terminologies to gender-neutral language, following in the footsteps of changes made to the F2 and F3 rulebooks.

While there are not yet any female competitors in Formula 1, the wide use of he/him in the Regulations has been swapped out for a gender-neutral “driver” classification.

Other changes were approved for next year’s rules including ‘heat hazard’ rules that will require drivers to wear cooling equipment in extreme weather conditions.

The Financial Regulations for 2025 and 2026 have also been updated to exclude certain activities from the budget cap, citing sustainability reasons.

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