2026 Hybrid Powerunits

[Brahmal]

I think ICE days are numbered. I'm sure the ICE cars already out there will continue to exist for years to come, but ICE sales will keep dropping. The current price of gas—and how it got there—is already accelerating the shift, and it will continue to accelerate as battery technologies improve, allowing for faster charging and higher energy density. Cars with a range of 1,000 km are right around the corner. ICE can't compete with LNG or hydrogen for generating electricity, especially when those can be combined with free electricity from solar, hydro, nuclear, and wind, making overall efficiency approach 80%.

ICE will eventually become nothing more than a niche product of course, but there will still be a place for it for a long time to come. If-and-when sustainable fuels start being produced at scale will release some of the negative pressure on ICE applications as well. Whether that will be enough to hold manufacturer's interest in an ICE-based Formula 1 is certainly debatable, but I bet there are a lot of people in the car industry who agree with some of the folks at Mazda that a true sports-car experience must involve an ICE engine directly powering the wheels through a transmission, hybrid or not. Perhaps that is an anachronistic way of thinking, but I'm definitely not the only person that agrees with it.

"Always" is a strong word. With come concentrated effort it could have already been superseeded in most/all applications.
For long haul trucking and aviation, fuel cells would be more efficient. Propfans would be more efficient for starters and electric motors are well suited for that.
Burning costly hydrogen or biofuel is big waste of precious energy.

"Undeveloped countries" is not really an application, just a lack of ability/opportunity.

"Always" was a poor choice of words, edited. I am not aware of the latest news with fuel-cells, but it appears that development and adoption has stalled after a brief flurry a few years ago. Manufacturers seem to have chosen battery electric over fuel cell in a direct competition for R&D resources. ICE has the advantage of already existing and not requiring new infrastructure, and if (big if) sustainable fuels can eventually be scaled up I'm not sure what the business case for fuel-cells in the automotive industry would be. It depends on what time frame we are considering as well: I'm not sure we can be looking beyond the next 10 or 15 years. It feels that lately we can't look beyond the next 10 or 15 weeks.

[Ferry]

I think ICE days are numbered. I'm sure the ICE cars already out there will continue to exist for years to come, but ICE sales will keep dropping.

We still race horses today. Some ICE-cars will always be there. But sales are dropping yes. Even banning of ICE-vehicles in some regions. Like Ethiopia did in 2024. It makes sense if you have a lot of electricity, and have to import fuel. https://newmobility.news/en/2026/02/23/ ... aying-off/
It's near ICE-ban in the EU from 2035.

[JordanMugen]

Honda did say they came back because of F1's road relevance. Which means they wouldn't if F1 wouldn't keep being relevant. Honda doesn't need to spend 170 Million of it's 7 or 8 billion of R&D on F1.

Conversely, if it was a simple V12, the engine development cost cap wouldn't need to be that high. It could be lowered to the level (say $20m per annum?) that even Cosworth could build a competitive engine, perhaps?

I am not a Mercedes fan, far from it, but the Star Wars analogies do not convince me that they are Darth Vader and the Emperor combined. And we all know how that story ended!

To be honest, I still haven't got around to watching Episode 9, so I still don't know how it ends! [I assume a cliffhanger as Disney fancies Episodes 10-12 at some point...]

[diffuser]

I think ICE days are numbered. I'm sure the ICE cars already out there will continue to exist for years to come, but ICE sales will keep dropping.

We still race horses today. Some ICE-cars will always be there. But sales are dropping yes. Even banning of ICE-vehicles in some regions. Like Ethiopia did in 2024. It makes sense if you have a lot of electricity, and have to import fuel. https://newmobility.news/en/2026/02/23/ ... aying-off/
It's near ICE-ban in the EU from 2035.

Right. This approach becomes even more advantageous under fuel-constrained conditions. Electrical generation can be centralized in high-efficiency systems, such as combined-cycle power plants. In these systems, natural gas is combusted in a gas turbine (essentially a jet engine) to generate electricity. The high-temperature exhaust gases are then captured and used to produce steam, which drives a secondary steam turbine to generate additional electricity. This combined-cycle process can achieve thermal efficiencies in the high 60% range. When integrated with renewable energy sources such as solar and wind, the overall system efficiency and resource utilization can be further improved, potentially approaching 80% under optimal conditions.

So if there is a near ban of ICE in the birth place of F1, how can F1 continue with the ICE?

[Tommy Cookers]

the 2025 F1 engine has a TE of 52% (equal to the best open cycle gas turbines)
so combined with the BMW Turbosteamer concept F1 could get a TE of 65% ....

but what matters according to law is the greenhouse gas emission regardless of anything else .....
ie a generating plant with 100% TE is legally deemed bad as it emits GHGs
but eg a geothermal generator that is 5% efficient is legally deemed good .....
though it emits (dumps) as much waste heat as the worst GHG emitters that are soon to be by law removed from existence

excess heat is what makes things (eg climates) hotter than desired ....
excess is excess whether by greenhousing or directly

even solar panels are logic-exempt (as the above-mentioned)
they can be eg 95% energy-absorbent .....(though still electrically only 25% efficient)
so heating the air and producing convective inflow of moist air from the sea

[Tommy Cookers]

. . exhaust-driven supercharging was adopted only for convenience . .

No efficiency benefit?
At low boost levels there is little efficiency benefit but adding an exhaust turbine recovers lost energy even if recovery is limited to that required to run the supercharger.
Efficiency benefits of turbocharging over supercharging increase with pressure ratio (boost) and AFR (eg diesel and F1) - see below.
Pressure ratio. As PR increases, the contribution of positive pumping work (during the intake stroke) to brake power also increases. The corresponding increase in exhaust back pressure does not create a proportional increase in negative pumping work during the exhaust stroke.
AFR. As AFR increases, the PR must increase to produce the additional airflow required. (see Pressure Ratio above)

well the (geometric) CR must be lowered with supercharging (unless we give it help that we deny to the NA)
hence the traditional view that 'efficiency' will be less
and turbocharged engines always seem to have earlier EVO

regarding F1 the use of Miller cycle reduces the positive pumping work (or worse ?)
maybe why the electric supercharge mode was so attractive ?

[diffuser]

the 2025 F1 engine has a TE of 52% (equal to the best open cycle gas turbines)
so combined with the BMW Turbosteamer concept F1 could get a TE of 65% ....

but what matters according to law is the greenhouse gas emission regardless of anything else .....
ie a generating plant with 100% TE is legally deemed bad as it emits GHGs
but eg a geothermal generator that is 5% efficient is legally deemed good .....
though it emits (dumps) as much waste heat as the worst greenhousers that soon to be by law removed from existence

excess heat is what makes things (eg climates) hotter than desired ....
excess is excess whether by greenhousing or directly

even solar panels are logic-exempt (as the above-mentioned)
they can be eg 95% energy-absorbent .....(though electrically only 25% efficient)
so heating the air and producing convective inflow of moist air from the sea

ie a generating plant with 100% TE is legally deemed bad until you turn it off and it turns out the lights, heating, internet etc at the court house!

[Ferry]

excess heat is what makes things (eg climates) hotter than desired ....

So getting rid of this heat is very important. Which means radiation into space. Wrapping earth in a CO2-blanket is far worse than producing a bit of heat from fossil fuels. Heating from sunlight is orders of magnitude bigger.