Possible solutions to improve the 2026 Engine Regulations

[karana]

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.

It might be good to keep in mind that the increased superclipping has nothing to do with safety, but to ensure that the drivers can push into the corners, particularly in qulifying due to not having to do LiCo. Bearman even said that that's the main tweak to the regulations he wants:

"I would like to get rid of lift and coast. I think that would be great if we can harvest this at minus 350 kW, which is what we can't do right now on full throttle," he said, when asked what his main tweak would be.

"We can only do negative 250. They can get rid of lift and coast in qualifying laps and even in the race as well. Lift and coast in quali is one of the most counterintuitive aspects and features of these new regulations.

Source: https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/olli ... /10813932/

About the zones with reduced deployment: According to Andrew Benson it is outside the SM zones:

Cars will be allowed to deploy the full 350kw (470bhp) of electrical power in acceleration zones out of corners, but will be limited to 250kw at other parts of the lap.

This means that in areas defined as "straight-line mode" zones, where the front and rear wings are open to increase speed, power will be at 350kw, but elsewhere maximum deployment will not be allowed.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/arti ... 84xd25wg9o

[michl420]

About this 250 kw zones. I think they will be mostly at places where teams deploy not full anyway. Maybe they do it to prevent big speed differents and not for electrical energy reasons.

[FrukostScones]

What a Yoke!

[eyelid]

Instead of having 250kw superclipping, now we're having 350kw superclipping to make the speed differences bigger. Now we can have a deadly accident!

[JordanMugen]

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.

It's not great, but it could be worse. WEC has secret BOP now.

[WardenOfTheNorth]

Not sure how Silverstone is supposed to rate for energy recovery, but I was stood at Stowe and Woodcote today and it certainly didn't sound like Max was lifting or dropping revs before breaking at the end of the straights.

[Zynerji]

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.

It might be good to keep in mind that the increased superclipping has nothing to do with safety, but to ensure that the drivers can push into the corners, particularly in qulifying due to not having to do LiCo. Bearman even said that that's the main tweak to the regulations he wants:

"I would like to get rid of lift and coast. I think that would be great if we can harvest this at minus 350 kW, which is what we can't do right now on full throttle," he said, when asked what his main tweak would be.

"We can only do negative 250. They can get rid of lift and coast in qualifying laps and even in the race as well. Lift and coast in quali is one of the most counterintuitive aspects and features of these new regulations.

Source: https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/olli ... /10813932/

About the zones with reduced deployment: According to Andrew Benson it is outside the SM zones:

Cars will be allowed to deploy the full 350kw (470bhp) of electrical power in acceleration zones out of corners, but will be limited to 250kw at other parts of the lap.

This means that in areas defined as "straight-line mode" zones, where the front and rear wings are open to increase speed, power will be at 350kw, but elsewhere maximum deployment will not be allowed.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/arti ... 84xd25wg9o

They should reverse these zones.. We don't need that 350 where they CAN use it, we need it where they CANT. That would expose the driver skill in a way these regulations completely miss.

[PlatinumZealot]

Not while car companies care about their image.

Also it is science, not politics.

The race fuel contributes not even 0.1% of the total carbon foot print of an F1 race. So many people in the paddock fly in and out on individual private planes. Let alone the spectators and all that. However, its just marketing for car companies so they will pretend for optics.

Doesn't matter because it's the cars that people see on TV. So the aim is to showcase and help proliferate green car technology.

[PlatinumZealot]

Lol at big displacement V8s being considered an image problem! Every super and hypercar manufacturer is doing a 180 on small displacement hybrids and I4s/V6s and restarting big engine lines. All you need to do is look up the used values of V6 Ferrari 296 GTBs (objectively a better car) vs used older Ferrari F8 tributos. The performance car market has spoken up on efficiency and shot it in the head.

Easier to meet emmissions with large dispalcment engines than small engines for a given horsepower.

In fact the formula 1 engines while low on carbon emsmissions are very nasty when it come to NOx and other nasty combustion byproducts.

The only way F1 would be truly clean with ICE engines is either with some sort of big heavy catalyst or a proper hydrogen engine. Or simply large displacement engines with less aggressive combustion.

[PlatinumZealot]

What a Yoke!

Feels too artifical. This is indeed Mario Kart. The zones are basically the boost strips painted over the track. What is this? The engines have gps that tell them to go slow in certain zones of a RACE TRACK?! This is one rule I can't agree with. I could live with the partial clipping - its a car and you lifing to save energy- but this zone control thing is soo artificial now.

[peewon]

Doesn't matter because it's the cars that people see on TV. So the aim is to showcase and help proliferate green car technology.

Thats the problem. Its okay for it to be a technology showcase and marketing platform as long as those aspects are built on top of it being a sport. Right now its not a sport so the priority order has gone completely wrong. Also, the idea that they have to use heavily electrified power units is hogwash. There are synthetic fuels as well. Formula E is a separate series that exists. F1 cannot legally go full electric. So they are doing this frankenstein regulation which still involves an ICE. The longer you think about it the less sense it makes. F1 will not be the first thing to be ruined by greed and not the last.

[PlatinumZealot]

It's still a sport by definition....

Meaning of sport in English
sport
noun
uk

a game, competition, or activity needing physical effort and skill that is played or done according to rules, for enjoyment and/or as a job:

Physical effort and skill needed has reduced but they are still there... but is it still the sport of motor racing?? Technically, yes. Is it tarnished? definitely yes!

[peewon]

It's still a sport by definition....

Meaning of sport in English
sport
noun
uk

a game, competition, or activity needing physical effort and skill that is played or done according to rules, for enjoyment and/or as a job:

Physical effort and skill needed has reduced but they are still there... but is it still the sport of motor racing?? Technically, yes. Is it tarnished? definitely yes!

I think its a growing sentiment amongst the older, more traditional fanbase that when overtakes happen accidentally then something is fundamentally broken. The fact that 50% of power deployment is being by computers and their taking corners at speeds which Alonso described as "the team chef could manage", that its not a sport. Not in the literal sense, but in the sense of how motorsport fans define motor racing to be a sport.

[De Wet]

After 45 years of not missing a single F1 race, I have already missed one this year and are enjoying Indycar more than F1. Most probably will enjoy F2 more as well until the FIA screw that up too.

Corporations Destroys Everything.

[FrukostScones]

After 45 years of not missing a single F1 race, I have already missed one this year and are enjoying Indycar more than F1. Most probably will enjoy F2 more as well until the FIA screw that up too.

Corporations Destroys Everything.

cause they have to act like psychopaths.

but I actually enjoy 2026 a lot and what I hate more than toxic behavior are knee-jerk reactions just because it is the times of the cry-babies.