F1 2026 Regulations: What is an airbox?

One of the most distinctive parts of an F1 car is the airbox – but you might not know what it's for.

Not quite sure what the big hole is above the drivers' heads? That's the airbox! And, as the name may imply, it's all about...air.

Specifically, it's about taking air into the car. That big hole leads to a tube, which disappears down into the car before widening out to a horn shape when it meets the air filter.

The filter then does its job by making sure no little bits of debris and nastiness gets in to gunk up the engine (engines hate that sort of thing, and they show their displeasure violently). That clear air (the oxygen being the useful bit) gets into the throttle to mix with the fuel and, eventually, explode. But explode in a useful way that makes the car go fast.

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Why are airboxes the size and shape they are?

Airboxes have been all sorts of shapes and sizes over the years – being put very high on comically tall cars in the previous century before the FIA intervened and placed stricter regulations on the practice.

Interestingly, the airbox is why F1 cars essentially create more power when they're going especially fast. When they're knocking on 200mph, the air pressure hitting the filter is in the region of five per cent higher than the typical baseline, meaning that more air is shovelled into the car and more power is produced. Neat, huh? That's called dynamic pressure.

Of course, airbox design can't only be about maximising air intake. The thing about sticking a big hole in your car is that, well, you have a big hole in your car. Aerodynamicists hate that.

That means there's a constant tradeoff with the size, shape and positioning of airboxes.

One famous airbox design

Alpine infamous had a particularly big airbox when they unveiled their 2021 car, with executive director Marcin Budkowski joking that people were 'body shaming' the car.

"It’s a technical choice," he said at the time. "We found that slimming the sidepods was a positive direction, which is nothing new really.

"So we have repackaged and relocated some of the bulky things in the car and put them behind the air inlet. So yes, it gives a fairly spectacularly bulky shape in the car, but we found it works for us."

It was in 2021 that the team recorded their first and (currently) only race win, so...maybe not so silly after all?

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