Formula 1’s on-track racing might look a bit different in 2026 than it did in 2006 or 1986, but it’s reassuring to know that the sport’s off-track action remains as engrossing as ever. Right now, that involves F1’s stakeholders trying to get out of a corner they painted themselves into with the introduction of new V6 hybrid power units for 2026. We saw the first stab of that in Miami, with small tweaks meant to return some of the spectacle to qualifying, which succeeded. But it seems the sport is in a proactive mood, and further changes are coming to the power balance for 2027. But as we’ll see, trade-offs remain.
F1’s current technical regulations, which came into effect at the beginning of this year, have been in the works for a while. As far back as 2022, we knew there would be a greater emphasis on the electric side, a near-50:50 split with an all-new, supposedly less complex V6 turbo powered by carbon-neutral fuels, and active aerodynamics to cut drag. Two years later, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (which organizes the sport) published the final regulations.
A greater emphasis on the electrical side of the hybrid system was put in place as a sop to the auto industry, and it indeed succeeded in attracting new OEMs. But there were early concerns that the battery capacity would be too small to feed the powerful electric motor for most of a lap. And because there can only be an electric motor at the rear axle, not the front—supposedly out of fear that new entrant Audi would have too much of an advantage—cars could regenerate just a fraction of the total energy possible under braking.
The electric motor can siphon power from the V6 to recharge the battery (a process called super clipping), but any power that goes that route can’t drive the rear wheels, which could create dangerous speed differentials on track, we were told.
Sadly, those warnings proved mostly correct, as was all too clear at the Japanese Grand Prix in March. Refreshingly, there appears to be no defensiveness on the part of the FIA or other stakeholders but rather a desire to respond to the complaints.
2027
The FIA, the teams, the power unit manufacturers, and F1 Management (which controls the commercial side) have agreed—although technically only on principle so far—that for next year, the V6 will become more powerful by 50 kW (67 hp) and the electric motor will be able to deploy 50 kW less, rebalancing the power split to 450 kW (603 hp) from the V6 and 300 kW (402 hp) from the motor-generator unit. The increase in V6 power will be achieved by increasing the engine’s fuel flow.
With less electrical power to deploy, the cars should maintain a higher state of charge throughout a lap. And if the power unit does require some super clipping, the additional V6 output leaves more power available to keep the car driving, reducing those speed differentials. Some other changes are apparently still in discussion. The amount that the electric motor can harvest from the V6 could increase above 350 kW, and the battery capacity could be increased from 4 MJ to 5 MJ.
There are still tradeoffs, though. Absent all of the synthetic fuel partners finding an extra 10 percent energy density in their fuels in the next few months, more powerful V6s with greater fuel flow will either need larger fuel tanks or shorter races. Larger fuel tanks would be preferable; if the races are shorter, everyone from F1TV subscribers to team sponsors might start wondering where their 10 percent refund is. But a larger fuel tank means a redesigned chassis that will now also be bigger and heavier—a trend the 2026 rules finally managed to reverse.
A larger-capacity battery pack would also necessitate a chassis redesign; both the fuel tank and hybrid battery are sandwiched in the middle of the car, behind the driver, ahead of the engine, and as low as possible. Redesigning the chassis takes time and money, and teams will now need to relocate resources under the sport’s tight cost cap to make that happen, particularly the teams that were planning to carry over this year’s carbon-fiber tub into next year.
What’s this about V8s?
Longtime F1 fans will know we haven’t been guaranteed that many exciting grands prix during a season. The cars were light and fast and noisy, but they couldn’t follow each other closely through the corners, and overtaking was so rare that the FIA first reintroduced refueling and then mandatory tire stops to artificially inject some strategy into races.
But many still derived entertainment from the frequent outbreak of hostilities between the teams, the FIA, and the commercial rights holder (then Bernie Ecclestone; now Liberty Media). FIA presidents have almost always been controversial; Jean-Marie Balestre spent much of his time at war with Ecclestone and even precipitated a driver’s strike at the 1982 South African Grand Prix, and Max Mosley’s desire to teach the teams a lesson was responsible for the fiasco that was the 2005 US Grand Prix.
In that context, current FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem’s statements that the sport will move to simpler power units by 2031 don’t seem particularly objectionable. I agreed with the idea when he discussed it in 2025. At the time, it was naturally aspirated V10s, still running on synthetic carbon-neutral fuels. Now the call is for V8s, which have a little more relevance to the auto industry.
Ben Sulayem is known to have the ear of the F1 drivers, who are increasingly dismayed with the highly computerized nature of their new power units. Too often, the power units behave unpredictably; the wrong gust of wind here or too much wheelspin there can convince their electronic brains to do something different than they did at that point in prior laps. And even drivers with as much talent as Max Verstappen have been caught out by a car sending all 350 kW of hybrid power when they weren’t expecting it. One thing I haven’t heard discussed for the 2027 changes is returning more control to the driver rather than relying on opaque algorithms.
Ben Sulayem’s vision is a much smaller hybrid system and a much more powerful naturally aspirated engine. “You get the sound, less complexity, light weight. You will hear about it very soon, and it will be with a very, very minor electrification,” he said, adding that the change is happening in 2030 if manufacturers agree and 2031 if they don’t.
“I’m positive they want it to happen. But let’s say the manufacturers don’t approve it… The next year, it will happen. In 2031, it’s done anyway. It will be done. V8 is coming,” he said.
A move back to naturally aspirated engines will be a welcome acknowledgment that F1 is not and should not be about road-relevant technology. Concrete examples of technology transfer from racing cars to road cars are rare enough these days in the world of endurance racing or Formula E; instead, the value of participating in F1 comes from training your people to work in new ways under the relentless pressure of a race schedule, and that will continue.
