Ferrari exploit F1 loophole with 'beautiful' new feature on 2026 car in Bahrain testing

Former Ferrari F1 race strategist Ruth Buscombe has revealed a clever trick adopted by Ferrari which may allow the team to get ahead of their rivals in 2026.

While new rule changes this year are causing a lot of redesigning following the scrapping of the ground effect era, diffusers remain a vital part of the chassis design, allowing the cars to generate more downforce.

Ferrari have not won a world championship of any kind since a constructors' title in 2008, and they are desperately hoping they can get back to winning ways in the near future, with a star-studded driver lineup of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.

The regulation changes could also help them to fight for regular race victories, with a shake up of the competitive order potentially set to take place as the rules reset takes action.

Now, Buscombe has suggested at the final pre-season testing event of the year in Bahrain that Ferrari may well have found a clever design quirk when it comes to their diffuser.

The F1TV presenter said during commentary on Wednesday that Ferrari's diffuser is connected to their rear winglet, which allows the diffuser to stay planted at all times at the rear of the car, helping the aerodynamic flow of air through the back of the car.

"I want to talk about diffusers, diffuser of the day goes to Charles Leclerc," Buscombe said live on Sky Sports F1 during Wednesday morning's coverage. "The detail on the back of this diffuser is absolutely beautiful.

"Diffusers are still one of the key areas in which we’re generating downforce in 2026, obviously we’ve got rid of all of our ground effect but downforce is still a key area and this solution is absolutely beautiful.

"What they’ve managed to do is connect the rear winglet to the back of the diffuser.

"The four top teams have gone for slightly different solutions with Ferrari pushing the development the furthest with particularly impressive detail.

"What actually they’ve managed to do is to find a bit of a loophole or a clever engineering solution where the winglet is actually connected to the diffuser on the upper tail and it looks like it’s rather helping it stay planted at the rear of the car."

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Who are the favourites for the F1 title in 2026?

Leclerc went on to go fastest on Wednesday morning before handing driving duties back to Hamilton, and while Ferrari have been fast throughout pre-season testing, the team are not necessarily considered the favourites to be challenging for both titles in 2026.

Instead, it is Mercedes who are being tipped as the title contenders, with the Silver Arrows having also uncovered a clever trick in the new rules, and one that could be worth up to 0.3 seconds per lap.

The unique design quirk regards the geometric compression ratios, with it being reported that Mercedes have found a way for the compression ratio to be at the allowed 16:1 when the engine is stationary, but then increase to the previously allowed 18:1 when moving, something that could allow an extra 15 brake horsepower (bhp), although Max Verstappen believes it's worth between 20-30bhp.

However, following an F1 Commission meeting in Bahrain during the second week of pre-season testing, the FIA announced a vote had been submitted to all the power unit manufacturers including Mercedes, with a verdict over whether the compression ratio should be measured at both ambient and representative operating temperatures to come within the next 10 days.

If the vote goes in favour of the change, the new rules would only come in to play on August 1, 2026, meaning Mercedes would have almost six months to change their power unit, and could give themselves an early boost across the first half of the season before switching their power unit concept.

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