2025/2026 Hybrid Powerunit speculation

[djos]

The sim racing crowd are already making 2026 mods to simulate performance.

This video has some interesting deployment experiments with the new PU Config.

[hsg]

Is it true that driver will must brake earlier on straights to fill the battery, in short, is it possible they need to drive "slower" because of this stupid electric engines, and at the end make better lap time?

[Tommy Cookers]

Is it true that driver will must brake earlier on straights to fill the battery, in short, is it possible they need to drive "slower" because of this stupid electric engines, and at the end make better lap time?

well ....
they will be braking earlier because the aero downforce is less so grip is less
so usefully more time is available for regeneration at 350 kW (though grip and regen power will fall as the car slows)

[diffuser]

Is it true that driver will must brake earlier on straights to fill the battery, in short, is it possible they need to drive "slower" because of this stupid electric engines, and at the end make better lap time?

Electric devices don't make these decisions. The regs are the way they are because someone chose to make the regs this way. Really all the stopping early stuff is because they removed the MGU-H, the other way we had to charge the battery.

[BorisTheBlade]

Is it true that driver will must brake earlier on straights to fill the battery, in short, is it possible they need to drive "slower" because of this stupid electric engines, and at the end make better lap time?

There are two ways: They could just brake earlier as you mentioned in order the recover 350 kW under braking for longer.
Or they could recover up to 250 kW under full throttle and still have around 150 kW of Powertrain power available for driving the wheels (assuming a power output of 400 kW for the ICE alone).
I guess, the second one is better for the laptime.

[saviour stivala]

Is it true that driver will must brake earlier on straights to fill the battery, in short, is it possible they need to drive "slower" because of this stupid electric engines, and at the end make better lap time?

There are two ways: They could just brake earlier as you mentioned in order the recover 350 kW under braking for longer.
Or they could recover up to 250 kW under full throttle and still have around 150 kW of Powertrain power available for driving the wheels (assuming a power output of 400 kW for the ICE alone).
I guess, the second one is better for the laptime.

It is highly unlikely for a 2026 formula 1 car to recover up to 250 kw under 'full throttle' and still have around 150 kw of powertrain power available simultaneously. Energy recovery primarily occurs during braking phases, not under 'full throttle'.

[BorisTheBlade]

Is it true that driver will must brake earlier on straights to fill the battery, in short, is it possible they need to drive "slower" because of this stupid electric engines, and at the end make better lap time?

There are two ways: They could just brake earlier as you mentioned in order the recover 350 kW under braking for longer.
Or they could recover up to 250 kW under full throttle and still have around 150 kW of Powertrain power available for driving the wheels (assuming a power output of 400 kW for the ICE alone).
I guess, the second one is better for the laptime.

It is highly unlikely for a 2026 formula 1 car to recover up to 250 kw under 'full throttle' and still have around 150 kw of powertrain power available simultaneously. Energy recovery primarily occurs during braking phases, not under 'full throttle'.

I am more and more under the impression that you might be kind of an AI, that simply keeps repeating itself again and again without updating its own model.
The specific rules have already been presented to you again and again in this very thread.

[the EDGE]

I’m a little confused… Would there ever be a time a driver would want to turn his ICE into a generator to store up electrical power?

Surely this would be wholly inefficient, not only would you have to carry more fuel which would obviously increase your lap time, without the MGU-H, you be wasting the vast majority of its energy as you did so

Perhaps this has already been explained further back, it I’d appreciate it if someone could explain, in simple language

[dren]

I’m a little confused… Would there ever be a time a driver would want to turn his ICE into a generator to store up electrical power?

Surely this would be wholly inefficient, not only would you have to carry more fuel which would obviously increase your lap time, without the MGU-H, you be wasting the vast majority of its energy as you did so

Perhaps this has already been explained further back, it I’d appreciate it if someone could explain, in simple language

Yes, you want to be able to use as much power as you have available. You're effectively using fuel to do that.

Or ask yourself this question: Would you rather race with a 200hp engine with 50l of fuel or a 400hp engine with 100l of fuel when the max allowable power is 400hp?

[the EDGE]

I’m a little confused… Would there ever be a time a driver would want to turn his ICE into a generator to store up electrical power?

Surely this would be wholly inefficient, not only would you have to carry more fuel which would obviously increase your lap time, without the MGU-H, you be wasting the vast majority of its energy as you did so

Perhaps this has already been explained further back, it I’d appreciate it if someone could explain, in simple language

Yes, you want to be able to use as much power as you have available. You're effectively using fuel to do that.

Or ask yourself this question: Would you rather race with a 200hp engine with 50l of fuel or a 400hp engine with 100l of fuel when the max allowable power is 400hp?

Well, that would depend on what the math says, but that’s my point, I don’t understand how that would mathematically be possible, surely burning petrol to generate electricity is wholly inefficient. That is What I want explaining

Your example would require 100% Efficiency, and that is not possible

[dren]

I’m a little confused… Would there ever be a time a driver would want to turn his ICE into a generator to store up electrical power?

Surely this would be wholly inefficient, not only would you have to carry more fuel which would obviously increase your lap time, without the MGU-H, you be wasting the vast majority of its energy as you did so

Perhaps this has already been explained further back, it I’d appreciate it if someone could explain, in simple language

Yes, you want to be able to use as much power as you have available. You're effectively using fuel to do that.

Or ask yourself this question: Would you rather race with a 200hp engine with 50l of fuel or a 400hp engine with 100l of fuel when the max allowable power is 400hp?

Well, that would depend on what the math says, but that’s my point, I don’t understand how that would mathematically be possible, surely burning petrol to generate electricity is wholly inefficient. That is What I want explaining

Your example would require 100% Efficiency, and that is not possible

Correct, and it is a stupid idea, but they wanted a stronger MGUK component along with shitcanning the expensive MGUH. So these are the regulations they get to work with.

[Tommy Cookers]

... surely burning petrol to generate electricity is wholly inefficient. That is What I want explaining

F1 is a series of rolling-start drag races
if drag races were energy-limited eg ....
it would be better to do the first 500 ft at 8000 hp and the second 500 ft at 4000 hp (rather than 1000 ft at 6000 hp)

burning for electricity, storing, then re-using it is (in isolation) about 90% as efficient as simultaneous 'burning & turning'
but the ES allows F1 to be run as a series of the above hypothetical drag race so there is a time benefit overall
time benefit in cars built to the mandatory minimum weight of course

[FittingMechanics]

Are you allowed to burn petrol to charge the battery at all? I thought you cannot do this off throttle. If this was allowed (or feasible) why would they talk about turbo lag.

[dren]

Are you allowed to burn petrol to charge the battery at all?

Yes.

[FrukostScones]

Are you allowed to burn petrol to charge the battery at all?

Yes.

I wonder what that will sound like?