2.7 s to 60 from a typical 2026 race start, by our count. No team publishes one. Half of its roughly 1,000 hp is electric.
No team, the FIA or Formula 1 publishes an official 0-60 mph or quarter-mile time for a current F1 car. Our own count from public 2026 timing telemetry (OpenF1) puts a typical race start at about 2.7 s to 60 mph derived, with pole-sitters at a median 2.82 s across 15 races. On the three tracks where the run to the first corner is longer than a quarter mile, 53 cars covered 402 m in a median 8.93 s at 178 mph derived; the quickest took 8.52 s.
Those are race starts on full fuel, and the rules allow no electric power below 50 km/h at the start (FIA technical regulations). The fastest official speed-trap reading of 2026 is 358.2 km/h (222.6 mph) verified, by Esteban Ocon at Barcelona (FIA timing). The fastest FIA speed-trap reading ever is still 372.5 km/h verified, Valtteri Bottas, Mexico 2016, though Williams calls its own 378 km/h reading of Bottas at Baku that year the F1 record (Williams).
Our race treats it as a generic modern F1 car, and this page describes the 2026 generation: a 1.6-liter V6 turbo of around 400 kW plus a 350 kW electric motor, for what the FIA calls an even split between combustion and electric power (Formula 1). The MGU-H that kept the old turbos spinning is gone, and the fuel is fully sustainable.
The cars are smaller too: 3,400 mm between the axles, 1,900 mm wide and a 768 kg minimum with the driver, down from 800 kg in 2025 verified. FIA technical director Nikolas Tombazis said the goal was cars that are "light, supremely fast and agile." Eleven teams run 22 of them this year.
Every figure carries its label. claimed means a maker, team or the sport said it. recorded is timed on an actual run: an instrumented test, a certified or verified record run, or a maker's own pass on a drag strip's timing system. verified means an official body, here the FIA. reported is press we couldn't trace to a primary source. converted is a maker's 0-100 km/h claim converted to 0-60 mph. derived is our math, and estimate is modeled for our race because no published figure exists. Here's how we label numbers.
Each bar fills at the real speed of that 0-60 time. The race's lineup supplies the named cars; the two telemetry bars are our analysis of 2026 race starts, with no rollout subtracted. Tesla's 1.99 s subtracts the first foot of rollout; Chevrolet's 1.68 s doesn't.
Because from a standstill it is short of grip, not power. It drives only the rear wheels, its downforce barely exists at walking pace, and there is no launch control: the driver feeds in the clutch by hand. In 2026 two rules make it harder. The electric motor may not push the car until it reaches 50 km/h at a standing start, and without the MGU-H the turbo has to be spun up by exhaust alone, so the FIA added a five-second blue-light warning before the start lights so drivers can build revs (Formula 1).
The chart is Pierre Gasly's start from pole at Monza on September 6, 2026. He held about 12,000 rpm for 10 seconds on the grid, and the throttle trace stayed under 60 percent for the first 1.6 seconds after he let go. He reached 60 mph in 2.63 s, 200 km/h in 5.45 s and the quarter mile in 8.80 s at 289 km/h derived. George Russell, starting second, did 2.32 s and 8.52 s.
Studio views are our own generated illustrations, not Formula 1, FIA or team photography or design data. They show a generic car in an invented blue finish with no team livery.
Tap a marker. Figures are from the FIA's 2026 regulations unless noted. Studio views are our own generated illustrations.
The upper front-wing elements drop in Straight Mode zones. In low grip, race control can let only the front wing open.
25 mm narrower than in 2025 on the same 18-inch rims, and with no wheel covers you can see the spokes again.
Boost lets the driver call up stored energy anywhere. Within a second of the car ahead at the detection point, Overtake Mode adds 0.5 MJ for the next lap.
Around 400 kW, Formula 1 says, on fully sustainable fuel, with fuel energy flow capped at 3,000 MJ an hour. With no MGU-H, the turbo has to be spun up by exhaust alone.
The MGU-K drives the rear wheels and recovers energy under braking. Its power tapers on the straights and reaches zero at 355 km/h, and the battery may swing only 4 MJ of charge.
The rear wing's top flap opens in Straight Mode, like DRS used to, but for every car in every marked zone, not only the one chasing.
Over a quarter mile an F1 car is quick but not dominant. Four-wheel-drive electric hypercars hook up harder off the line, and a drag car is in another world: NHRA's Top Fuel record is 3.623 s over 1,000 feet, and Shawn Langdon ran 346.95 mph at that distance in September 2026 verified (NHRA). In carwow's 2023 drag race, Red Bull reserve driver Liam Lawson, launching an F1 car for the first time, ran a 2012 RB8 to 9.5 s while a Rimac Nevera and a McMurtry Spéirling both did 8.4 s (carwow).
Because the battery runs dry on the long straights. The electric motor's 350 kW starts to taper above 290 km/h and reaches zero at 355 km/h, and with only 4 MJ of usable charge, cars recharge at full throttle near the end of long straights, which drivers call super clipping (The Race). At Monza the fastest car through the race speed trap in 2026 did 338.1 km/h; in 2025 the slowest did 338.1 km/h (FIA).
PlanetF1 found the paradox runs the other way on twisty tracks: peak race speed at the Hungaroring jumped from 331 to 357 km/h, while Monza's fell from 365 to 351 km/h. "Monza is, regrettably, no longer the Temple of Speed," it concluded (PlanetF1).
Brembo, whose engineers work with every team, simulates the hardest stop at each track. Into Monza's first chicane in 2026 it expects cars to go from 318 to 87 km/h in 3.22 s over 153 m at 3.8 g, with 111 kg on the pedal; in 2025 the same corner took 337 to 89 km/h in 2.75 s at 4.7 g and 162 kg claimed (Brembo 2026, Brembo 2025). At Silverstone's Turn 3, peak deceleration fell from 4.5 g to 2.9 g and pedal load nearly halved, from 152 kg to 78 kg (Brembo). Less downforce presses the tyres down less, and the electric motor does more of the slowing as it recharges the battery.
The last car of the old rules, the first of the new, and the figures our race uses.
The final year of the 2014 hybrid engines and the 2022 tunnel floors.
Power figures are the FIA's, given when it set the 2026 rules (Formula 1). The trap is Alex Albon's in the 2025 race.
Smaller, lighter and half electric, on fully sustainable fuel.
Electric power is barred below 50 km/h at the start and fades on long straights, so the two halves rarely add up at once.
A generic modern F1 car, because performance varies by team and year.
All three are estimates.
Two years from the FIA's announcement to the first race, then a season of tweaks. Scroll sideways.
The FIA publishes the 2026 car: a 30 kg weight cut (later set at 32 kg), 350 kW electric, moving wings.
At Bahrain testing Max Verstappen calls the new cars "a bit more like Formula E on steroids."
A blue-light pre-start warning is trialed at the second Bahrain test after messy practice starts.
Melbourne. Formation-lap energy limits leave some cars with nearly flat batteries at the start.
Oliver Bearman crashes in Japan after closing on full Boost on a car with no battery assist.
From Miami: a low-power start detector, a 150 kW cap on Boost and faster super clipping.
Esteban Ocon hits 358.2 km/h through the Barcelona speed trap verified.
Brembo's Silverstone figures show peak braking down from 4.5 g to 2.9 g.
Monza's race trap tops out at 338.1 km/h, 26 km/h down on 2025.
Liam Lawson leads the race speed trap at 349.4 km/h verified.
Round 18 of the first season under the new rules, with five races left.
The new cars split opinion four ways. These are opinions, quoted with links.
"[C]ars that are light, supremely fast and agile."Nikolas Tombazis, FIA, 2024, Formula 1
The FIA's pitch was a "nimble car": less weight, less drag and more of the power in the driver's hands.
"It feels a bit more like Formula E on steroids."Max Verstappen, February 2026, ESPN
He added that "the rules are the same for everyone" (ESPN), and Reuters reported that he found the car not much fun to drive (Reuters).
"The turbo speed spinning enough, the battery not too low but not too high, race starts, we've seen our challenge."George Russell, March 2026, Sky Sports
Charles Leclerc was calmer: "When everybody is in their optimal window for the start, there's not that much between the cars."
"Monza is, regrettably, no longer the Temple of Speed."PlanetF1, September 2026, analysis
Its data showed top speeds rising on twisty tracks and falling on the fastest ones.
The consensus: the 2026 cars accelerate hard once they're rolling, but they are slower around a lap, about 3 percent by Formula Dream's count, gentler on the brakes and capped on long straights by how much battery energy they can spend. From a standstill nothing about them is magic: no launch control, no electric help to 50 km/h and narrow rear tyres mean a typical race start reaches 60 mph in about 2.7 s.
Chain Bear · Mar 16, 2026 · 10:51
THE RACE · Feb 16, 2026 · 9:19
THE RACE · Feb 12, 2026 · 9:02
THE RACE · Apr 24, 2026 · 14:11
Brembo · Jul 21, 2026 · 0:51
carwow · Aug 5, 2023 · 14:42
carwow · Jun 26, 2021 · 11:36
At a standing start the MGU-K may only push the car once it reaches 50 km/h, a rule meant to stop teams building in launch control.
Since Miami, a car that barely moves after the clutch drops gets an automatic electric shove and flashing warning lights for the cars behind.
At the first race, energy limits counted the formation lap from the timing line, so cars parked beyond it, like the pole-sitter's, used up charge on burnouts.
Lando Norris topped the 2026 Monza race speed trap at 338.1 km/h, exactly what the slowest car managed through it in 2025.
Peak race speed at the Hungaroring rose 26 km/h, to 357 km/h, because its short straights leave battery to spare.
Williams says its own track team saw Valtteri Bottas reach 378 km/h at Baku in 2016 and calls it the F1 record. The FIA's fastest official reading is his 372.5 km/h at the speed trap in Mexico later that year.
A modified BAR 007 F1 car, with a fin for stability instead of a rear wing, averaged an FIA-confirmed 397.36 km/h at Bonneville in 2006, and hit 400.454 km/h one way.
Brembo expects drivers to press 78 kg on the brake at Silverstone's Turn 3 in 2026, against 152 kg a year earlier.
The full rim covers of 2022 to 2025 were dropped to save weight, so you can see the spokes again.
In our quarter-mile model the F1 car finishes sixth of 21, on estimated figures. The car just quicker and the car just slower:
No team, the FIA or Formula 1 publishes an official 0-60 mph time. Our count from public 2026 race-start telemetry gives about 2.7 seconds for a typical launch and a median of 2.82 seconds for pole-sitters across 15 races, with the quickest launches under 2.4 seconds. Race starts carry full fuel, and the rules allow no electric power until 50 km/h.
No official figure exists. At Monza, Barcelona and Budapest in 2026, where the run to the first corner is longer than a quarter mile, 53 cars covered 402 meters from the grid in a median 8.93 seconds at 287 km/h (178 mph), by our count from timing telemetry. The quickest was 8.52 seconds. In a 2023 carwow drag race, a 2012 Red Bull RB8 ran 9.5 seconds.
The fastest official speed-trap reading of 2026 so far is 358.2 km/h (222.6 mph), by Esteban Ocon in the Barcelona race. Monza's race speed trap topped out at 338.1 km/h, down from 364.1 km/h in 2025, because the cars run short of battery energy on long straights. The fastest FIA speed-trap reading ever is 372.5 km/h, by Valtteri Bottas in Mexico in 2016, though Williams calls its own 378 km/h reading of Bottas at Baku that year the F1 record.
Formula 1 says the 1.6-liter V6 turbo makes around 400 kW, and the rules allow the electric motor 350 kW, about 470 hp. Together that is roughly 750 kW, or about 1,000 hp, but only while the battery has charge: electric power is banned below 50 km/h at the start and tapers off above 290 km/h.
Usually not over a quarter mile. An F1 car drives only its rear wheels and makes little downforce at low speed, so it can't put its power down from a standstill. Rimac reports a Dewesoft-timed 7.90 seconds for the Nevera R and Chevrolet timed 8.675 seconds on its own Corvette ZR1X pass, against 8.5 to 9 seconds from 2026 F1 race starts. The F1 car pulls away at higher speeds and in corners.
The minimum weight fell from 800 kg to 768 kg, the cars are 100 mm narrower and 200 mm shorter between the axles, and the Pirelli tyres are narrower. The MGU-H is gone, the electric motor rose from 120 kW to 350 kW for a roughly 50/50 split with the engine, the fuel is fully sustainable, and both wings now switch between Corner Mode and Straight Mode.
Labels. Claimed: a maker, team, supplier or the sport said it. Recorded: timed on an actual run: an instrumented test, a certified or verified record run, or a maker's own pass on a drag strip's timing system. Converted: a maker's 0-100 km/h (62.1 mph) claim converted to 0-60 mph. Verified: an official body, here the FIA or the NHRA. Reported: press we couldn't trace to a primary source. Derived: our math. Estimate: modeled for our race because no published figure exists, explained in the methodology guide. Race figures come from the lineup in our quarter-mile simulator; see every car on the all-cars page.
About the telemetry numbers. Derived figures on this page are our analysis of public 2026 Formula 1 timing data from OpenF1, which republishes Formula 1's live timing, measured from each race start through the Singapore Grand Prix. They carry roughly 0.2 s of uncertainty either way and aren't official FIA times. The quarter-mile figures come from the three tracks where the run to the first corner is longer than a quarter mile: Monza, Barcelona and Budapest. The Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, run at Sepang near Kuala Lumpur on October 4 after the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian races were cancelled, isn't counted: heavy rain sent it off behind the safety car, with a standing start only on lap 3 (Wikipedia). Spa-Francorchamps counts toward the all-launch figures but not the pole-sitter median, because OpenF1 lists no grid positions for that start, so the pole median covers the other 15 races. Formula Dream, measuring a different way, found a median 3.0 s to 100 km/h for pole-sitters (Formula Dream); our median for the same measure is 2.88 s.
Images. The hero and the studio views are our own generated illustrations of a generic 2026-style car, not Formula 1, FIA or team photography or design data. The finish is invented and carries no team livery or sponsor logos. We repainted the tyre sidewall bands, which the generator drew in a blue that Pirelli uses for wet tyres, in the medium compound's yellow. Only the side views show those bands; the hero, front and rear views draw plain black sidewalls with no compound marking. We checked the shapes against photos of real 2026 cars: no wheel covers, a halo, an airbox with a camera on top and small bargeboards behind the front wheels.
