Open-wheel racing: single-seaters with the wheels exposed.

What makes a car open-wheel

Wikipedia (secondary) describes single-seater, or open-wheel, cars as having uncovered wheels and using aerofoil wings to generate downforce, the aerodynamic load that presses the car onto the track. IndyCar defines downforce the same way and notes that it improves grip and cornering. Our page on how grip works explains why that matters.

Formula 1

How a Grand Prix weekend runs

Honda's F1 explainer says a Grand Prix normally runs from Friday to Sunday, with free practice, qualifying and then the race. A standard weekend has three one-hour practice sessions, two on Friday and one on Saturday, which teams use for setup, to compare track data with their simulations and to judge tyre wear.

Qualifying is a three-part knockout. According to The Race, with 22 cars in 2026, Q1 (18 minutes) eliminates six cars, Q2 (15 minutes) eliminates six more, and Q3 sets the top 10 and pole position. The sources disagree on how long Q3 is: The Race says 12 minutes and Honda's 2026 explainer says 13.

Some rounds are sprint weekends. Motor Sport says that in 2026 these keep only one practice session, with Sprint Qualifying and a Sprint race of about 100 km taking the places of the other two. The Sprint has no mandatory pit stop.

Points

Grand Prix points go to the top 10 on a 25, 18, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, 1 scale, and Sprint points to the top eight from 8 down to 1, per PlanetF1. Formula 1 says the bonus point for fastest lap was dropped from the 2025 season after an FIA World Motor Sport Council decision in October 2024.

The 2026 cars

New rules took effect in 2026. Formula 1's own summaries of the FIA regulations give these headline changes:

• A maximum wheelbase of 3,400 mm (200 mm shorter), a width of 1,900 mm (100 mm narrower) and a minimum weight of 768 kg.
• FIA targets of 30% less downforce and 55% less drag than the previous generation.
• Power split roughly half and half between the combustion engine and the electrical system, which rises from 120 kW to 350 kW, with the engines running on Advanced Sustainable Fuels.
• Active aerodynamics, with a "Straight Mode" that opens the wing flaps to cut drag and a "Corner Mode" that closes them for downforce.
• DRS replaced by an Overtake Mode, which gives a car within one second of the car ahead at a detection point extra electrical deployment on the next lap.

The 2026 grid has 11 teams and 22 cars. The 2026 season was still in progress as of October 2026; see Formula 1 for the calendar and standings.

The ladder below F1

Below F1 sit spec series where every team uses the same car. All of the following comes from Wikipedia (secondary) unless noted:

• Formula 2 began in 2017 as a rebrand of GP2 and is the last step before F1. Teams run the Dallara F2 2024 chassis with a single-turbo Mecachrome V6, and a standard weekend has a Saturday sprint race and a Sunday feature race.
• Formula 3 uses the Dallara F3 2025 chassis with a 3.4-litre naturally aspirated Mecachrome V6, with a sprint and a feature race at each round.
• F1 Academy is an all-female series that first raced in 2023. Its cars are Tatuus F4-T421 chassis with a 1.4-litre turbo engine.

Reaching F1 requires an FIA Super Licence. FIA Appendix L (2026) lists among the requirements a current Grade A licence, a minimum age of 18 at the first F1 event (17 at the FIA's discretion), a question session on the rules, and, on the main route, at least 40 points from listed championships over the qualifying period.

IndyCar

IndyCar says its cars have no power steering, traction control or anti-lock brakes, and that it uses a spec chassis and regulated engines to keep performance close. Wikipedia (secondary) identifies the chassis as the Dallara DW12. IndyCar's own pages add:

• A 2.2-litre twin-turbo V6 from Honda or Chevrolet producing more than 700 hp, with a hybrid energy recovery unit since 2024.
• Push-to-pass power on road and street courses.
• Three aerodynamic packages: the most downforce on road and street courses, a balanced setup on short ovals, and the least drag on superspeedways, where speeds often top 230 mph and drafting sets up passes.
• Firestone tyres in a harder primary and a softer alternate compound on road and street courses, with both required in each race.
• The aeroscreen, a polycarbonate screen in a titanium frame, introduced in 2020.

IndyCar finishing points run from 50 for a win down to 5 for the lowest places, with bonus points for pole and for leading laps, according to McLaren. The series' biggest race is the Indianapolis 500, which Wikipedia (secondary) describes as 200 laps of the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway with a 33-car field in 11 rows of three. Wikipedia adds that INDYCAR also sanctions Indy NXT, its development series. Results are on our IndyCar page.

Formula E

Formula E races electric single-seaters at street circuits and permanent tracks in major cities, as Formula E describes it, and became an FIA World Championship from 2020-21, per Wikipedia (secondary). Wikipedia gives its Gen3 cars 350 kW in qualifying and 300 kW in races, and says the Gen4 car due for 2026-27 brings permanent all-wheel drive and more power (Formula E itself calls the Gen4 all-wheel drive "active"). Races include Attack Mode and a mandatory Pit Boost charging stop, which Formula E says takes about 30 seconds and adds 10% battery energy; Wikipedia dates Pit Boost to the 2024-25 season. See Formula E.

How amateurs get into formula cars

Wikipedia (secondary) says many top drivers began in karts, and names Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen and Lando Norris among those who started there. See karting.

Adults can drive formula cars through racing schools. As the schools describe their own programs:

• Skip Barber runs one-day and three-day schools in its GT or Formula cars depending on venue, and says graduates of the three-day school are put on the path to an SCCA or USAC licence. Its FAQ says no racing experience is needed, manual-transmission skill is recommended, and helmets, suits, shoes and HANS devices are provided.
• Allen Berg Racing Schools, based at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, runs one-, two- and three-day Formula programs in carbon-fibre-chassis formula cars. It says it is SCCA-accredited and that graduates receive a Certificate of Compliance recommending a licence level.

From there, SCCA's road racing path runs through membership, online Drivers School modules, a medical requirement and a Novice Permit. The steps are on our licences and schools page.