F1 News & Discussions > General F1 Discussion
Will F1 26 engine rules get big tweak to avoid coasting on long straights?
John S:
F1 commission to meet next week to discuss potential shortcomings of Battery recharge rate on the 50/50 power split on 26 PU. A change to 64/36 is mooted in favour of ICE.
Whilst red Bull are the only ones to put their heads above the parapet to comment on the subject there must be others who are having doubts for the commission to discuss it.
Red Bull, although allied with Ford in the engine project, are the only non road car company in this equation so perhaps they are able to put into the open what others don't wish to admit.
Merc on the other hand may not have cracked the problem either & are putting on a brave face. - If rules changed by majority they can always say we just go with flow. - If rules not changed & it's disastrous for all next year they can blame the poorly conceived Regs with no damage to reputation.
Of course it's possible Merc have the edge and want to stop rule change by any means possible, seems unlikely though as only rear wheels can be used for re-gen unlike WEC cars using both axles.
https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-could-ditch-a-core-part-of-its-2026-engine-plan/
John S:
Now we start getting to the heart of the matter, Fred Vasseur at Ferrari says he's open to discussing next year's engine & battery combo.
He's not taking the Merc stance of nothings wrong then. ;)
https://racingnews365.com/ferrari-reveals-stance-on-controversial-potential-f1-rule-change
Jericoke:
From what I've seen, the proposed change isn't so much a technology one, but more a tweak, akin to the fuel flow sensors a few years ago that (allegedly) caught Ferrari out.
Basically the cars will use less electric power at a time to allow the battery to last the entire lap. Essentially the cars will have less power all the time, instead of being at full power for half the lap, and then half power at the end of the straights.
I wish that the FIA would take restrictions off the electrical system. I know that F1 cars aren't meant to be 'electric cars', but there's a limit to how much power they can generate set by the rules instead of innovation. If someone can figure out how to get the battery to last the entire lap at full power, why shouldn't they be allowed to do that? The combustion engine is limited by specifications (Formula!!!), not actual output. Do the same for the electrical.
John S:
Ah but there's the rub so to speak Jeri, if only one manufacturer can get the battery to perform as you say & others can't we'll be into a period of dominance again for maybe 3 years or more as these PUs will be homologated before season starts with no changes for several years. It'll be another slam dunk championship win each year like when Merc was able to lap most of the field each race after the last big engine upheaval.
I'm not sure it's really a battery thing alone, it's more connected to how much kinetic energy can be recovered by only the rear wheels throughout a lap, no energy is being recovered from front brakes or wheels, F1 is a rear only drive system.
my understanding is these new rules require nearly 3 times the amount of kinetic energy to be collected to what we have at present, MGU-H contributes about a third of battery power at present, but crucially that's been binned. The other issue is MGU-H has a reverse function, along with the compressor, namely to spool up the turbo under acceleration to avoid turbo lag without taking power out of battery. In the new set up battery power generated from the MGU-K will need to run up the turbo.
They seem to be discussing reducing the reliance on the battery by a third for the whole season, it makes sense to make the change across the board rather than race by race, we have enough trouble with post race checks throwing up anomalies without having to check all software & PUs for misuse of battery power too. :crazy:
WEC/Sportscars cope better because they collect kinetic energy from both axles as 4 wheel drive is allowed, they also have BoP, that's balance of power rules, that can limit or open up certain parameters from time to time on power delivery to try to keep the field as competitive as possible.
Jericoke:
--- Quote from: John S on April 24, 2025, 06:10:00 PM ---Ah but there's the rub so to speak Jeri, if only one manufacturer can get the battery to perform as you say & others can't we'll be into a period of dominance again for maybe 3 years or more as these PUs will be homologated before season starts with no changes for several years. It'll be another slam dunk championship win each year like when Merc was able to lap most of the field each race after the last big engine upheaval.
--- End quote ---
The engine limits are a cost savings measure, stopping Ferrari in specific spending a billion dollars to build better engines race over race. Now that cost caps are in place, you don't need cost savings measures. If someone wants to blow their cap on battery R&D why not?
Even though the primary goal of f1 isn't 'road relevant technology', surely building a better hybrid system is the most transferrable thing F1 offers to manufacturers?
At the end of the day I appreciate that F1's goal is to provide spectacle to fans, and if that means enforced powertrain parity, I understand. F1 can't be everything to everyone. But we can ask for it!
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