Possible solutions to improve the 2026 Engine Regulations

[SB15]

Changes being made to the regulations

They just made that Mercedes even faster in my opinion . At least the drivers can "sort of" push flat out however you want to believe.

[Wouter]

https://www.fia.com/news/refinements-20 ... akeholders


Refinements to the 2026 FIA Formula 1 regulations agreed by all stakeholders
20.04.26

A number of refinements to the 2026 FIA Formula One World Championship regulations were agreed today during an online meeting
between the FIA, Team Principals, CEOs of Power Unit Manufacturers and FOM.

[BorisTheBlade]

Changes being made to the regulations

These modifications should help tackle some of the worst shortcomings.

Some thoughts about them:

• The per lap reduction in Qualy from 8 MJ to 7 MJ will cost a bit of lap time - maybe in the 0,5 s category on certain tracks. At the same time, this is 2,8 s less super-clipping at 350 KW - well worth it IMHO.
• While I still do not understand, why Teams seemed to favor LiCo over the old super-clipping, the upped Limit to 350 KW should put this to rest. Regarding closing speeds, this should be significant: At max. super-clipping they have 50 KW power to the wheels and SM enabled. With LiCo they had 0 KW power and SM disabled.
• The reduced Boost will also reduce Closing speeds - hopefully it will still be of help for overtaking.
• Different deployment zones will make the rules even more complicated and intransparent for viewers. OTOH they should reduce starvation, depending on how excessively they might apply the lower limit.
• The MGU-K start assist might be a topic to game the rules and is too artificial for my liking, while the lights are a good idea.

[McL-H]

With the same ICE it means the cars will be even slower right? Also the cars will lose speed on the straight even faster.

[BorisTheBlade]

With the same ICE it means the cars will be even slower right? Also the cars will lose speed on the straight even faster.

Slower in terms of Top Speed? Not necessarily. In terms of laptime, yes, a bit.
Regarding losing speeds on the straights: If they really did a lot of LiCo before, then the situation should improve - but not by much.

[SiLo]

With the same ICE it means the cars will be even slower right? Also the cars will lose speed on the straight even faster.

Slower in terms of Top Speed? Not necessarily. In terms of laptime, yes, a bit.
Regarding losing speeds on the straights: If they really did a lot of LiCo before, then the situation should improve - but not by much.

It's an easy fix really because the cars were getting to top speed stupidly fast. Just easing that off a bit won't have much of an impact on top speed, just on the rate at which they get there.

[gearboxtrouble]

It feels more like a tiny set of tweaks to designed to quiet the criticism from fans and media without actually doing anything to address the very real fundamental issue of an underpowered ICE. I'm not sure the sum total of what was announced would add more than a few extra seconds of deployment time over a lap. Unless there are more foundational changes to the ICE and fuel flow coming for 27, this feels like a purely performative set of actions.

[JordanMugen]

With the same ICE it means the cars will be even slower right? Also the cars will lose speed on the straight even faster.

Slower on the straights. I don't care about cars being slower on the straights, as long as they can push in corners and not drop speed since 2/3rds down the straights!

While not everything cornering fans wanted, it should be a big improvement.

There is still the 350 kW MGU-K deployment on main straights only for the drag racing fans!

A good compromise is when everyone is unhappy?

[Chuckjr]

It feels more like a tiny set of tweaks to designed to quiet the criticism from fans and media without actually doing anything to address the very real fundamental issue of an underpowered ICE. I'm not sure the sum total of what was announced would add more than a few extra seconds of deployment time over a lap. Unless there are more foundational changes to the ICE and fuel flow coming for 27, this feels like a purely performative set of actions.

This is how the FIA works. Slow, too late, to never the appropriate changes. They are only interested in the political interests and public appearance, and money, not true racing. We won't see fundamental changes till the next reg. They will run this power unit's course likely for this year, 2027, and 2028. I don't see any way they let this go before 3 years. I really hope I am wrong and they go for it this offseason or 2028 from continued backlash (which is great to see), but I just don't think they will change soon. They are a stubborn bunch.

[MattLightBlue]

350 kW superclipping is going to make braking even less important, so the skilled drivers will have a bigger disadvantage.
7 MJ is a common value and some track will show energy starving anyway: they needed to calculate that number for each track.

Something is going to change, but fundamental issues will remain evident IMO

[eyelid]

If simulated these reg changes, that won't change what happened to oliver bearman. Still same speed gap.

[Badger]

The increased superclip slightly delays clipping but makes it stronger once you start, which doesn’t sound like a solution. We can still expect huge speed deltas to cars behind who are using boost/overtake at the end of the straight.

Reducing the harvestable energy is lowering the electrification of the vehicle and making it more reliant on the already underpowered ICE, basically a tacit admission that the rules have failed.

250 kW zones mean we have different power available on different parts of the track, which is not convoluted at all and definitely the direction the sport should go down. Add these zones to the SLM zones, the specially designated harvest zones, the invisible overtake mode, the phantom boost mode, and we have a sport that has never been more intuitive and clear to understand for the viewer.

Feels like we are one step away from adding banana peels and water cannons to the equation. They are desperately trying to contort this turd into a usable set of regulations whilst not addressing the root cause, so it’s deemed to fail.

[Martin Keene]

It feels more like a tiny set of tweaks to designed to quiet the criticism from fans and media without actually doing anything to address the very real fundamental issue of an underpowered ICE. I'm not sure the sum total of what was announced would add more than a few extra seconds of deployment time over a lap. Unless there are more foundational changes to the ICE and fuel flow coming for 27, this feels like a purely performative set of actions.

Unless all the teams are running a bigger fuel tank than they need to store the required amount of energy for a race distance, then you cannot increase the power of the ICE for this year, to do that needs more energy flow, which needs more energy storage, which means a bigger fuel tank.

[De Wet]

The Sh*tshow is here for the entire year. Not sure what can be done for 2027 and beyond.

Hope they loose millions & millions of viewers.

[BorisTheBlade]

The increased superclip slightly delays clipping but makes it stronger once you start, which doesn’t sound like a solution. We can still expect huge speed deltas to cars behind who are using boost/overtake at the end of the straight.

Absolutely agree with you. The only answer as to why this should be an improvement is, that Teams indeed chose LiCo over super-clipping on certain occasions. And this was even worse, as it was 0 KW forward power and SM disabled vs. 50 KW forward power and SM enabled for the new super-clipping.