AERODYNAMIC WORKBENCH / 2025 → 2026
SHAPE THE AIR.
FIND THE LAP.
A physical aero and lap-time sandbox for the final ground-effect cars and the first active-aero generation. Pick a chassis, move the wing, drop the floor — then see what the clock says.
LIVE AERO MAP
Z-MODE · WINGS CLOSED
FRONT WING
FLOOR / VENTURI
REAR WING
DOWNFORCE738KG
DRAG202KG
L/D3.65
BALANCE45.1% F
AIRSPEED250KM/H
02 / AERODYNAMIC MAP
Every km/h has a cost.
Load grows with the square of speed. The useful question is how much drag buys how much downforce — and where the floor stops working.
A—01
FORCE SWEEP
Downforce vs drag
GROUND EFFECT
PEAK 40 MM
Floor height sensitivity
DOWNFORCE @ 250
1,206 kg
+5.8% vs reference
PRESSURE CENTRE
Balance window
45.1% FRONT
43SETUP WINDOW47
Balanced. The front axle is carrying 45.1% of the aerodynamic load.
MODEL READOUT
Low drag trim rewards Monza's straights. The floor is near its efficient window.
DF @ 2501,206 kg
DRAG @ 250312 kg
TOP SPEED342 km/h
APEX // AERO MODEL v2.6
03 / LAP SIMULATION
One lap. No excuses.
A quasi-steady qualifying lap from the circuit's racing line: aero load, tyre grip, power-limited acceleration, braking and energy deployment all in the same loop.
B—02
CIRCUIT / IT
Autodromo Nazionale Monza
24°C1.20 kg/m³
LIVE
250KM/H
G5
DRS
GPS RACING LINE
Temple of speed. Long straights, heavy braking, minimum wing.
SIMULATED QUALIFYING LAP
1:19.4502025
MCL40 · LOW WING · MONZA
V-MAX329km/h
V-MIN79km/h
AVG261km/h
FULL THROTTLE73%
MAX LAT4.0g
SPEED
THROTTLE
BRAKE
DRS
ERS DEPLOYED 4.01 / 4.0 MJ
A low-drag Monza trim. The model brakes from 329 km/h into the Rettifilo chicane and deploys its full 4.0 MJ of recovered energy on corner exits.
Lap computed
04 / REGULATION SPLIT
Two rulebooks. One clock.
Same circuit, same fuel load, same modelled driver. Put a 2025 ground-effect car against a 2026 active-aero concept and see where each generation gives time back.
C—03
2025
2026
2025McLaren
MCL39
1:19.450LAP
V-MAX329
DF @2501,206 kg
L/D3.10
DELTA
+0.372
2026 FASTER
2026McLaren
MCL40
1:19.822LAP
V-MAX346
DF @250842 kg
L/D3.12
SPEED TRACE / SAME DISTANCEMONZA · 5.793 KM
MCL39 2025MCL40 2026
SECTOR20252026Δ
S1———
S2———
S3———
The 2026 car carries more speed at the end of the straight but gives time back in the high-load corners.
BALANCED TRIM · QUALIFYING FUEL · NO OVERRIDE
05 / METHOD & REGULATIONS
Fast, not fiction.
The model is deliberately transparent. It is a point-mass engineering toy, not a wind tunnel, a CFD solve, or a prediction of the 2026 championship.
D—04
Ground effect
THE LAST DRS GENERATION- Minimum mass
- 798 kg
- Wheelbase / width
- 3,600 / 2,000 mm
- Active aero
- DRS rear wing
- Power unit
- ~550 kW ICE + 120 kW MGU-K
- Energy recovery
- ~4 MJ / lap, 120 kW MGU-K
- Floor
- Full ground-effect venturi
- Aero target
- High downforce, DRS straight-line trim
Active aero
THE X / Z GENERATION- Minimum mass
- 768 kg
- Wheelbase / width
- 3,400 / 1,900 mm
- Active aero
- Front + rear X / Z modes
- Power unit
- 400 kW ICE + 350 kW electric
- Energy recovery
- 8.5 MJ / lap
- Floor
- Partially flat floor, lower-power diffuser
- Aero target
- -30% downforce, -55% drag target
THE MODEL
What the numbers do
Each lap samples the racing line at 620 points and solves a forward/backward speed profile.
SOLVED
- Downforce and drag from a speed- and trim-dependent aero map.
- Load-sensitive tyre grip, including aero-load corner speed.
- Power-limited acceleration, friction braking, rolling and aero drag.
- DRS or X-mode activation on detected straights.
- Per-lap electric energy budget, deployment window and tapering.
- Circuit altitude, air density, length and racing-line curvature.
NOT CLAIMED
- CFD, transient aero, yaw, roll, heave or tyre transient behaviour.
- Published team aero coefficients. Team deltas are calibrated estimates.
- Race strategy, traffic, dirty air, DRS trains or driver skill differences.
- 2026 race results. The 2026 cars are pre-season engineering concepts.
- Exact real-world lap times. Use it to explore relationships, not to set a grid.
POINT-MASS LAP620 SAMPLES / LAPQUALIFYING FUELENERGY-MANAGED ERSNO CFD
REGULATION SOURCES
Formula 1 · 2026 aero explained ↗
Silverstone · 2025 vs 2026 specs ↗
Formula 1 · 2026 power unit explained ↗
TUMFTM · racetrack-database (LGPL-3.0) ↗
2025 team profiles are an interpretation of the published grid, not official competitor data. The 2026 grid uses pre-season concepts and regulation-level targets; every 2026 lap is a scenario, not a forecast. See the project README for full assumptions and the licence for circuit geometry.