What Replaced DRS in 2026?

For over a decade, overtaking in Formula 1 meant one thing: get within a second, reach the zone, open the rear wing. From 2026, DRS is gone. In its place is a two-part system — active aerodynamics on the wings themselves, and a manual electrical boost called Overtake. Here's what actually changed, and why.

The old Drag Reduction System was always a compromise. It stalled the rear wing to cut drag on the straights, but only in fixed zones and only for a car within one second of the one ahead. It worked — passes went up — but it often felt artificial, a button-press pass in a pre-drawn box rather than a fought-for move. The 2026 rules try to keep the closer racing while dropping the on-rails feel.

What is active aero, and how do X-Mode and Z-Mode work?

The headline change is that both the front and rear wings now move, and every car uses them every lap — not just when attacking. The wings switch between two states:

Z-Mode — high downforce

The cornering setting. Wings run in their high-downforce shape for maximum grip and stability through the turns.

X-Mode — low drag

The straight-line setting. Above a speed threshold the wing elements flatten to shed drag and raise top speed, then return to Z-Mode for braking and the next corner.

The point is efficiency. Rather than one fixed wing that's always a compromise between straight-line speed and cornering grip, a 2026 car can have both — lots of downforce where it needs it and low drag where it doesn't. That matters more than it sounds, because the 2026 power units carry a far larger share of electrical energy, and a slippery car on the straights makes that energy go further. Active aero isn't primarily an overtaking tool; it's how the whole car is made to work.

What is the Overtake button?

Overtaking help now comes from the power unit, not the wing. The system — officially the manual override, branded Overtake — gives a chasing driver extra electrical deployment when they are within one second of the car ahead. Two things make it different from DRS. First, it's power, not aero: a burst of additional battery energy rather than a drag cut. Second, it isn't locked to zones — the boost is available anywhere on the lap the one-second condition is met, so the attacker chooses where to use it rather than waiting for a painted line.

Drivers also have broader control over how their power unit deploys and harvests energy through a boost function, letting them prioritise attack now or recovery for later. It turns overtaking into an energy-management duel: spend your deployment to close a gap and you may have less to defend with two corners later. That's a more interesting fight than a fixed-zone press, at least in theory — the real verdict will come from a season of racing.

Will 2026 racing actually be better?

Honestly, nobody knows yet, and it's worth being sceptical of confident predictions in either direction. The stated aim is cars that follow each other more closely — helped by the new aerodynamic rules reducing the "dirty air" that punishes a trailing car — combined with an overtaking boost that's less mechanical than DRS. The risk critics point to is the opposite: that clever energy management, not wheel-to-wheel bravery, ends up deciding passes. Both things can be true on different circuits. This is exactly the kind of change that's best judged by watching the data rather than the hype.

How do you see it in the telemetry?

The clearest fingerprint is on the speed trace. A car in its low-drag straight-line mode pulls a different top-speed profile than one that can't deploy, and a well-timed power boost shows up as an extra sliver of speed exactly where the attacker chose to spend it. Comparing two drivers' traces down the same straight — one attacking, one defending — is where the 2026 overtaking game becomes legible instead of guesswork.

That's what F1 Live Data is built for. The car telemetry page overlays speed, throttle, brake, gear and RPM for multiple drivers on a shared track- distance axis, so you can line up an attack and a defence and see precisely where the time moved. If you're new to reading traces, start with our telemetry guide.

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