2025/2026 Hybrid Powerunit speculation

[wuzak]

The term 'no deployment limit' is a simplification or potentially a misunderstanding of F1 2026 regulations. The system is designed to make energy management a critical strategic element of the racing, not a system with 'unlimited' power available at all times. There is no 'unlimited' deployment in the sense that the car can use maximum electric power at all times. Teams and drivers must carefully manage the available 4 mj battery capacity and the energy they can harvest each lap to optimize performance and prevent the battery from draining completely.

The "no deployment limit" means that there isn't a hard limit to deployment.

The previous rules set a limit of 4MJ deployment from the ES to the MGUK.

In 2026 they may be able to use extra energy for qualifying laps, or for overtaking.

[saviour stivala]

The term 'no deployment limit' is a simplification or potentially a misunderstanding of F1 2026 regulations. The system is designed to make energy management a critical strategic element of the racing, not a system with 'unlimited' power available at all times. There is no 'unlimited' deployment in the sense that the car can use maximum electric power at all times. Teams and drivers must carefully manage the available 4 mj battery capacity and the energy they can harvest each lap to optimize performance and prevent the battery from draining completely.

The "no deployment limit" means that there isn't a hard limit to deployment.

The previous rules set a limit of 4MJ deployment from the ES to the MGUK.

In 2026 they may be able to use extra energy for qualifying laps, or for overtaking.

In 2026 like in 2025 ES store capacity will be the same, which means that what goes to 'K' from ES store will be the same. As for possibility of using extra energy for qualifying or for overtake/defend, such possibilities were also there in 2025. In short, as long as they have sufficient battery charge they can use it like they did up to last year.

[gruntguru]

"Cylinder efficiency or maximum blowdown"
Not sure if they are mutually exclusive. There is probably a runner length that achieves a useful compromise for both (along with packaging of course).

"Why three cylinders?"
Blowdown energy cannot be effectively recovered if more than three cylinders share a manifold. The high pressure blowdown pulse from one cylinder will increase backpressure in the previous cylinder at a disadvantageous time (late in its exhaust phase).

Fewer than three cylinders works OK but will require a smaller turbine which will always be less efficient than a larger one.

Well, the old Renault single turbo engine would be a case of mutually exclusive with inequal lengths to have even spaced pulses.

That might be a case of neither parameter being optimised (possibly at the expense of packaging). "Mutually exclusive" means you can't have both at the same time - ie choose one but that will exclude the other.

BTW what did you mean by "single turbo"? All cars in the current era have a single turbo under the rules. Did you mean the original turbo era?

[wuzak]

The term 'no deployment limit' is a simplification or potentially a misunderstanding of F1 2026 regulations. The system is designed to make energy management a critical strategic element of the racing, not a system with 'unlimited' power available at all times. There is no 'unlimited' deployment in the sense that the car can use maximum electric power at all times. Teams and drivers must carefully manage the available 4 mj battery capacity and the energy they can harvest each lap to optimize performance and prevent the battery from draining completely.

The "no deployment limit" means that there isn't a hard limit to deployment.

The previous rules set a limit of 4MJ deployment from the ES to the MGUK.

In 2026 they may be able to use extra energy for qualifying laps, or for overtaking.

In 2026 like in 2025 ES store capacity will be the same, which means that what goes to 'K' from ES store will be the same. As for possibility of using extra energy for qualifying or for overtake/defend, such possibilities were also there in 2025. In short, as long as they have sufficient battery charge they can use it like they did up to last year.

2025 allowed 2MJ recovery per lap and 4MJ deployment per lap between the ES and MGUK.

It didn't matter what the state of charge of the battery was at the beginning of the lap, the maximum that could be deployed in a lap, including qualifying.

In 2026, there is a maximum 8.5MJ per lap recovery allowed, 9MJ in a race when following another car within 1s.

So while the battery size is the same, the amount of energy that goes in and out of the battery is not.

Theoretically, the 2026 car can start a qualifying lap with a full battery, 4MJ, and recover and deploy 8.5MJ through the lap, for a maximum deployment of 12.5MJ.

In the race, 1s behind another car, potentially deploying 13MJ on a lap.

Practically speaking, in qualifying they will use some of the battery storage to accelerate from the final corner and start the lap as fast as possible.

The strategy may also be to reduce the recovery from full and part throttle, using the full battery at teh start of the lap to compensate.

[saviour stivala]

The "no deployment limit" means that there isn't a hard limit to deployment.

The previous rules set a limit of 4MJ deployment from the ES to the MGUK.

In 2026 they may be able to use extra energy for qualifying laps, or for overtaking.

In 2026 like in 2025 ES store capacity will be the same, which means that what goes to 'K' from ES store will be the same. As for possibility of using extra energy for qualifying or for overtake/defend, such possibilities were also there in 2025. In short, as long as they have sufficient battery charge they can use it like they did up to last year.

2025 allowed 2MJ recovery per lap and 4MJ deployment per lap between the ES and MGUK.

It didn't matter what the state of charge of the battery was at the beginning of the lap, the maximum that could be deployed in a lap, including qualifying.

In 2026, there is a maximum 8.5MJ per lap recovery allowed, 9MJ in a race when following another car within 1s.

So while the battery size is the same, the amount of energy that goes in and out of the battery is not.

Theoretically, the 2026 car can start a qualifying lap with a full battery, 4MJ, and recover and deploy 8.5MJ through the lap, for a maximum deployment of 12.5MJ.

In the race, 1s behind another car, potentially deploying 13MJ on a lap.

Practically speaking, in qualifying they will use some of the battery storage to accelerate from the final corner and start the lap as fast as possible.

The strategy may also be to reduce the recovery from full and part throttle, using the full battery at teh start of the lap to compensate.

As said, ES capacity is the same so what goes to 'K' is the same, as regards ES capacity, no matter if its at start of race, overtake or diffend. In any which case, no more than ES capacity can move from ES TO 'k'. The rest you added was not part of what I wrote.

[BassVirolla]

"Cylinder efficiency or maximum blowdown"
Not sure if they are mutually exclusive. There is probably a runner length that achieves a useful compromise for both (along with packaging of course).

"Why three cylinders?"
Blowdown energy cannot be effectively recovered if more than three cylinders share a manifold. The high pressure blowdown pulse from one cylinder will increase backpressure in the previous cylinder at a disadvantageous time (late in its exhaust phase).

Fewer than three cylinders works OK but will require a smaller turbine which will always be less efficient than a larger one.

Well, the old Renault single turbo engine would be a case of mutually exclusive with inequal lengths to have even spaced pulses.

That might be a case of neither parameter being optimised (possibly at the expense of packaging). "Mutually exclusive" means you can't have both at the same time - ie choose one but that will exclude the other.

BTW what did you mean by "single turbo"? All cars in the current era have a single turbo under the rules. Did you mean the original turbo era?

Yes, I was referring to the first Renault turbo engine (1977 maybe?).

[mzso]

This turbo talk is interesting. But would a twin turbo engine sound better for those loud people who always complain about sound?

[mzso]

As said, ES capacity is the same so what goes to 'K' is the same, as regards ES capacity, no matter if its at start of race, overtake or diffend. In any which case, no more than ES capacity can move from ES TO 'k'. The rest you added was not part of what I wrote.

It seems like explaining it to you twice wasn't enough, you still reiterate your wrongful statement...

[AR3-GP]

The "no deployment limit" means that there isn't a hard limit to deployment.

The previous rules set a limit of 4MJ deployment from the ES to the MGUK.

In 2026 they may be able to use extra energy for qualifying laps, or for overtaking.

In 2026 like in 2025 ES store capacity will be the same, which means that what goes to 'K' from ES store will be the same. As for possibility of using extra energy for qualifying or for overtake/defend, such possibilities were also there in 2025. In short, as long as they have sufficient battery charge they can use it like they did up to last year.

2025 allowed 2MJ recovery per lap and 4MJ deployment per lap between the ES and MGUK.

It didn't matter what the state of charge of the battery was at the beginning of the lap, the maximum that could be deployed in a lap, including qualifying.

In 2026, there is a maximum 8.5MJ per lap recovery allowed, 9MJ in a race when following another car within 1s.

So while the battery size is the same, the amount of energy that goes in and out of the battery is not.

Teams were bypassing the 2MJ limit between the MGU-K and ES by using the MGU-K to spin the MGU-H, and then using MGU-H to send to ES. I don't know if this mean they were collecting 8MJ or more already, but 2MJ is an underestimate.

Therefore, the most significant thing might not be the amount of energy going in and out. It could just be the fact that it goes from 120kW output to 350kW output. However, I don't know what the 2025 MGU-K and MGU-H combined were capable of pushing into the battery at once, so even this could not be changing much in 2026. It's just the increased load on the deployment side that changed.

[wuzak]

Teams were bypassing the 2MJ limit between the MGU-K and ES by using the MGU-K to spin the MGU-H, and then using MGU-H to send to ES. I don't know if this mean they were collecting 8MJ or more already, but 2MJ is an underestimate.

Doubtful that they could get that much more.

At most tracks they struggled to get 2MJ with pure braking, so had to do lift-and-coast and perhaps some part throttle recovery.

At the end of the day, they were still restricted to 4MJ of deployment from ES to MGUK.

[wuzak]

As said, ES capacity is the same so what goes to 'K' is the same, as regards ES capacity, no matter if its at start of race, overtake or diffend. In any which case, no more than ES capacity can move from ES TO 'k'. The rest you added was not part of what I wrote.

It's a funny thing about batteries - they can be recharged.

In 2026, the battery will be discharged and recharged frequently.

[AR3-GP]

Teams were bypassing the 2MJ limit between the MGU-K and ES by using the MGU-K to spin the MGU-H, and then using MGU-H to send to ES. I don't know if this mean they were collecting 8MJ or more already, but 2MJ is an underestimate.

Doubtful that they could get that much more.

At most tracks they struggled to get 2MJ with pure braking, so had to do lift-and-coast and perhaps some part throttle recovery.

I have some interesting articles for you!

Then, toward the middle of the straights, MGU-H mode switches while MGU-K remains in full assist mode, with the MGU-H recovering excess exhaust energy. Toward the end of straights, which have less of an impact on lap times, MGU-K assist is discontinued and MGU-H energy recovery only is employed to restore ES charge levels.

Extra Harvest/Extra Deploy is a control technology fully implemented from the middle of the 2018 season. The maximum amount of energy that can be sent directly from the MGU-K to the ES is 2 MJ per lap, so rather than sending any recovered energy over 2 MJ to the ES, that energy is sent to the MGU-H, which has no restrictions on energy exchanged with the ES. After being used for only a moment to assist the MGU-H, the inertial energy from the rotor is then immediately recovered. Through continuous repetition of this assist-to-recovery cycle at a frequency of 20 Hz or less, the recovered energy is sent to the ES. This is known as Extra Harvest.

Lap time gains have been confirmed at 0.1 to 0.2 seconds on the Hungarian Grand Prix circuit (Hungaroring) and around 0.4 seconds on the Belgian Grand Prix circuit (Spa-Francorchamps), so the control technology has a significant effect.

https://global.honda/en/tech/motorsport ... GU-H_MGU-K

The contribution of the MGU-H was quite a bit and there were circuits that exceeded 2MJ from pure braking. Honda as implied it in their description of the "extra-harvest" mode which was developed to harvest from MGU-K beyond 2MJ. They could also harvest from the MGU-H full time (even at full throttle). It's very likely that it was possible to recover a full 4MJ in a single lap without much lap time loss.

At the end of the day, they were still restricted to 4MJ of deployment from ES to MGUK.

They could exceed 4MJ ES to MGU-K, as described below:

Extra Deploy is like Extra Harvest, but the energy flow is reversed. Because the amount of energy allowed to be sent from the ES to the MGU-K is limited to 4 MJ per lap, energy over this maximum is sent to the MGU-H where it accelerates the rotor for a moment only and then recovers the inertial energy from the rotor. The electrical energy generated as a result is sent directly to the MGU-K as a way of legally exceeding the 4 MJ of energy allowed to assist the MGU-K. Use of this Extra Deploy control technology is expected to achieve lap time gains of 0.2 to 0.3 second

https://global.honda/en/tech/motorsport ... GU-H_MGU-K


With this context, it's possible that the batteries were designed with a higher operating capacity than what is implied by the regulations. Nevertheless, I'm sure the ES from 2025 won't be re-used. The power demand is not only greater but also more frequent.

[gruntguru]

As said, ES capacity is the same so what goes to 'K' is the same, as regards ES capacity, no matter if its at start of race, overtake or diffend. In any which case, no more than ES capacity can move from ES TO 'k'.

"ES capacity" does not define the per-lap deployment. The ES can be charged and discharged many times during a lap.