FIA bans Ferrari exhaust wing for F1 2027

The FIA has formally closed Formula 1’s exhaust-wing loophole for 2027, outlawing the rear-end concept Ferrari pioneered in 2026 while the team was already testing its SF-26 without the device in Austrian Grand Prix practice.

In the 2027 technical regulations ratified by the FIA World Motor Sport Council in Macau and published on Friday, the governing body created a new exclusion zone around the tailpipe and removed the provisions that had allowed teams to exploit the area aerodynamically. Article C2.3.7 now states: “Except for tailpipe, no part of the car may lie within a right circular cylinder which intersects the planes XR = 385 and XDIF = 800, and whose axis is identical to, and diameter 20mm greater than, that of the right circular cylinder defined in C3.9.2(g).” Related revisions to C3.9 also eliminate the route teams had used to fit tailpipe-support winglets.

The move shuts down one of the more inventive aero ideas of the current rules cycle. Ferrari introduced the concept in pre-season testing in Bahrain, placing a small winglet directly behind or atop the exhaust outlet so exhaust flow could be used to generate extra downforce. The device, internally dubbed FTM, was made possible by Ferrari moving the differential as far rearward as possible within its gearbox and rear crash-structure layout on the SF-26.

Because Ferrari had designed its car architecture around that solution from the outset, rivals initially struggled to copy it. But from Miami onward, teams including Mercedes, McLaren and Red Bull found other ways into the same area by turning exhaust-outlet supports or adjacent bodywork into small winglets of their own.

That spread is what pushed the FIA to act. Multiple reports said the governing body regarded the 2026 solutions as legal, but feared the area would develop into a costly technical arms race if it was left alone. After talks with team technical directors, it chose to tighten the 2027 wording rather than wait for designs to become more extreme.

Ferrari was already gathering data on life after the device in Friday practice in Austria. Dino Beganovic ran without the exhaust wing, while Lewis Hamilton was also seen with the winged configuration, in what was described as a comparative test for later races this season.

That matters because the trade-off is not the same at every circuit. The exhaust-wing layout is understood to add drag and create backpressure in the exhaust system, with reports estimating a power loss of around 10kW. On lower-downforce tracks such as Monza, Ferrari’s wingless configuration could yet prove the better option even before the 2027 ban takes effect.