DRS is gone in 2026: active aero and Overtake are separate systems.
Published
Every driver may command the front and rear wings into their lower-incidence Straight Mode where the FIA enables the relevant activation zone. In a Sprint or Race, only a car inside the FIA-set Detection Gap at the Detection Line receives the separate electrical Overtake facility from the Activation Line. The current rules do not prescribe a universal one-second gap.
Quick ruling: under FIA 2026 Formula 1 Sporting Regulations Section B, Issue 08 (5 August 2026), Article B7, passing the Detection Line close enough affects Overtake eligibility; it does not decide whether the car may use active aero. Active aero is zone- and control-electronics-dependent under B7.1. Overtake is an ERS-K deployment permission under B7.2.
This page covers the 2026 FIA Formula One World Championship. It was checked on 26 August 2026 against FIA Formula 1 Regulations Section B (Sporting), Issue 08, and Section C (Technical), Issue 20, both published 5 August 2026. The controlling provisions are Sporting Article B7 and Technical Articles C3.10.10, C3.11.6 and C5.2.
The FIA gives competitors circuit-specific activation zones, the Detection Gap, the Detection Line, the Activation Line and energy limits before each Competition. Those event values supplement the season rules, and B7.2.1 allows exceptional changes before or during a Competition for its safe and orderly conduct. A television graphic or older explainer cannot establish the value for a particular weekend by itself.
Terminology
“Overtake” is the current regulatory name
Earlier 2026 material used terms such as “Manual Override Mode” or “Override Mode.” Issue 08 now labels B7.2.2–B7.2.4 simply Overtake. This page uses that current term.
“Active aero” is a useful description, but the sporting rules call the moving wings Driver Adjustable Bodywork. Keeping those names separate matters: Driver Adjustable Bodywork changes wing incidence; Overtake changes the permitted ERS-K deployment curve.
Active aero
What Straight Mode actually changes
The 2026 system adjusts both ends of the car, not only a rear-wing slot.
Corner Mode
The normal high-incidence state
Both the adjustable Front Wing Profiles and the rear-wing flap are in their defined Corner Mode positions. Sporting B7.1.1 calls the Driver Adjustable Bodywork deactivated in this state.
Full activation
Both wings enter Straight Mode
After the driver's command, the adjustable front-wing profiles and rear-wing flap move to fixed lower-incidence positions. The Technical Regulations allow no continuously variable choice between Corner and Straight Mode, apart from the transition or a failure.
Partial activation
Front wing only
Partial activation means the front wing is in Straight Mode while the rear wing remains in Corner Mode. In FIA-defined Low Grip Conditions, B7.1.2 permits only this partial state and only in the associated Low Grip Activation Zones.
Where and when
A driver still needs an enabled activation zone
The FIA supplies the activation-zone information for each circuit no less than four weeks before the Competition and marks the start of each zone with trackside signage. Under B7.1.2, a driver may command full or partial activation only after the control electronics says it is enabled.
Technical C3.10.10(w) and C3.11.6(j) add a physical boundary: the relevant wing may be in a State of Deployment only while the car is stationary or fully inside an Activation Zone. The front- and rear-wing systems must return to Corner Mode if their adjuster system fails. Each transition between the two fixed positions must take no more than 400 milliseconds.
Not proximity-based
The car ahead does not unlock Straight Mode
Unlike race DRS through 2025, 2026 Driver Adjustable Bodywork is not awarded only to a close-following car. If the FIA electronics enables the zone, a leader, attacker or defender may use the permitted aero state there.
Do not merge the lines: an active-aero Activation Zone and Overtake's Detection Line and Activation Line perform different jobs. Being close at the Overtake Detection Line is not the test for opening the wings.
Electrical aid
How Overtake eligibility works
Sporting B7.2 uses different logic for lap-time sessions and total-time sessions.
Practice and qualifying
Available without a following-gap test
In a Lap Time Classified Session (LTCS), which includes practice and qualifying sessions, Overtake is activated whenever it is enabled. B7.2.3(b) then permits the driver to use it at any time while both enabled and activated.
Sprint and Race
The Detection Line fixes eligibility
In a Total Time Classified Session (TTCS), Overtake activates at the Activation Line if the car was less than the event's Detection Gap behind another F1 car when it crossed the Detection Line. If the measured gap is greater at the next Detection Line, Overtake is deactivated when the car next crosses the Activation Line. The later gap at the Activation Line does not rewrite the detection result.
Event-specific
Do not assume one second
B7.2.1 requires the FIA to specify the time value of the Detection Gap and both line positions for the Competition. The rules do not set one season-wide value. B7.2.3 says “less than” for activation but “greater than” for deactivation, so the published article does not expressly resolve an exactly equal measured interval; the FIA timing/control implementation and event instructions matter at that boundary. The Detection Line is marked by a solid yellow line across the circuit and adjacent signage.
What the aid supplies
Overtake extends electrical deployment at high speed
Overtake is not a second rear-wing setting and it does not raise the absolute ERS-K electrical limit above 350kW. Instead, Technical C5.2.8 gives an eligible car a less restrictive high-speed deployment curve. B7 does not confine this electrical facility to the active-aero Activation Zones; the control-electronics enabled and activated status is the legal gate.
Before any circuit-specific FIA adjustment, the C5.2.8 baseline without Overtake falls to 100kW at 340km/h and zero at 345km/h. With Overtake active, the curve permits up to 300kW at 340km/h, 200kW at 345km/h and 100kW at 350km/h, reaching zero at 355km/h. These are regulatory ceilings, not promised output: available stored energy, the car's actual speed and the team's legal deployment strategy still affect what the driver receives.
Who may benefit
It is not limited to the car making the pass
The TTCS test is whether the car is within the Detection Gap of another F1 car. It does not require that the driver be attacking that car for position. A driver who is defending while also close to a car ahead can therefore qualify, and several consecutive cars may each qualify. The familiar “train” effect can remain, even though the assistance is now electrical rather than DRS.
Conversely, a faster car outside the Detection Gap receives no TTCS Overtake permission merely because it is visibly catching the car ahead after the Detection Line.
Starts and interruptions
When Overtake is disabled
Start or resumption of a Sprint or Race: Overtake begins disabled. It is enabled when the leader first crosses the Detection Line after that start or resumption.
Safety Car: deployment disables Overtake. It is re-enabled only after every F1 car has crossed the Line following the Safety Car's return to the Pit Entry Road.
Low Grip Conditions: Overtake is disabled. This differs from active aero, for which partial front-wing-only activation may remain available in defined low-grip zones.
Safety discretion: the Race Director may disable Overtake at any time and later re-enable it when considered safe.
System failure
Manual operation needs permission
If the notification system fails, B7.2.4 allows the competitor to ask the Race Director for permission to operate Overtake manually. Permission is not automatic. If granted, the team must ensure the driver uses it only while enabled and, in a Sprint or Race, only when the car met the Detection Gap at the Detection Line. Manual operation must stop once the fault is remedied.
Article B7 does not attach one automatic, fixed sporting penalty to every misuse. The FIA can verify ERS power and energy through mandatory sensors under C5.2.14; an apparent breach is a compliance matter for the officials and stewards under the applicable regulations and facts. It is therefore unsafe to predict a time penalty or disqualification from the television picture alone.
Decision path
How to check a 2026 straight-line-speed claim
Name the session. Practice and qualifying use LTCS Overtake logic; Sprint and Race use TTCS detection logic.
Separate aero from energy. A wing-state graphic shows Driver Adjustable Bodywork; an Overtake graphic concerns ERS-K deployment permission.
For active aero, locate the car. Was it fully inside the FIA-defined Activation Zone, and was full or only partial activation enabled?
For Sprint or Race Overtake, freeze the Detection Line. Compare the official timing gap there with that Competition's published Detection Gap.
Check system status. Start, resumption, Safety Car, Low Grip Conditions or a Race Director instruction may disable Overtake.
Do not equate permission with performance. Slipstream, battery state, harvesting, speed and driver demand can change the result even when the system is legally available.
Worked case 1
A leader opens both wings
Situation: the leader enters a normal full-activation zone and the control electronics reports Driver Adjustable Bodywork enabled.
FIA 2026 ruling: the leader may command both front and rear wings into Straight Mode. No following-car gap is required for B7.1 active aero. This says nothing about whether the leader has Overtake under B7.2.
Worked case 2
The gap changes after detection
Situation: in a Race, Car B is inside the weekend's Detection Gap behind Car A at the Detection Line, but loses time before the Activation Line.
FIA 2026 ruling: B qualifies when Overtake activates at the Activation Line. The decisive fact is the measured gap at the Detection Line, not the later on-screen interval.
Worked case 3
A defender also follows another car
Situation: Car B is defending from Car C but is itself inside the Detection Gap behind Car A at detection.
FIA 2026 ruling: B may qualify for Overtake. B7.2.3 requires proximity to another F1 car; it does not require B to be the immediate attacker in a battle for position.
Worked case 4
Low grip changes the two systems differently
Situation: the FIA declares Low Grip Conditions and identifies Low Grip Activation Zones.
FIA 2026 ruling: Overtake is disabled under B7.2.2(d). In the designated zones, only partial Driver Adjustable Bodywork activation is allowed: front wing in Straight Mode, rear wing in Corner Mode.
Historical boundary
How FIA race DRS worked through 2025
Under the FIA 2025 Formula 1 Sporting Regulations, Issue 5, Article 22, the permitted driver-adjustable bodywork was the rear-wing DRS. In a Sprint or Race, a driver could use it in predetermined activation zones only after completing one lap following the start or a Safety Car period, and only after the control electronics confirmed the car was less than one second behind another car at a detection point. The FIA could adjust that proximity and the Race Director could disable the system.
Once opened, the control electronics disabled DRS the first time the driver braked. In practice and qualifying the race proximity test did not apply, although use remained limited to the predetermined zones and the system could be disabled. Those are 2025 rules for older footage, not the 2026 ruling.
Common misconception
2026 Overtake is not “DRS with battery power”
DRS changed one rear-wing element; 2026 full active aero changes defined front- and rear-wing elements.
Race DRS eligibility unlocked the wing; 2026 proximity unlocks the separate electrical Overtake facility.
DRS used a nominal one-second rule; 2026 B7 requires an event-specific Detection Gap.
The 2026 defender also has active aero; the eligible following car's distinct advantage is the Overtake deployment curve.
Checked against the FIA issues current on 26 August 2026. Circuit-specific FIA Competition information supplies the activation zones, Detection Gap, line positions and energy limitations and may change the application for an individual weekend. This page does not substitute an event's official documents or decisions.
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