Formula One enacted its biggest ever regulation changes for 2026 and the result has been catastrophic. The result was the most hated engines in the history of the sport, much of which was driven by the manufacturers’ desire to use F1 as their R&D laboratories for future road car technology.
The move to engines which receive 50% of their power from an internal combustion engine and the rest from a hybrid electrical unit never made sense when on average an F1 car is on the throttle for around 75% at each of the circuits and braking just 25%.
The result is that the cars cannot produce enough electrical power without resorting to a range of contorted and “anti racing” tricks as Max Verstappen described them. Along the straights when the battery runs dry, the internal combustion engine then acts as both the power source for the car as well as a generator for electrical trial power to the battery.
Cars now visibly slow several hundred metres before the traditional braking points and the drivers are repeatedly caught out by the clever AI algorithms which manage this process. Approaching the final chicane before the start/finish straight in Suzuka, Lando Norris revealed his car had made the decision to pass Lewis Hamilton.
“I didn’t even want to overtake Lewis, it’s just about the battery deploys, and I don’t want it to deploy, but I can’t control it,” said the McLaren driver. Such has been the fallout from the divisive regulations, both the FIA and F1 are calling for a shortened term for the current engines which were due to be replaced in 2031.
Shifting Back to V8 Power Units
Now the rules era could last for just four seasons should the manufacturers agree, with a return to a simpler power unit with a V8 combustion engine, small KERS style battery and a reduced turbo. When the idea of such an engine specification was floated, Toto Wolff was adamant such radical proposals were not required. He spoke of F1 cars having a “mega engine” totalling 1200 BHP with 800 horses coming from the ICE and 400 from electrification.
Yet since then, the Mercedes boss appears to have backed down on the issue in the face of backlash from the drivers and fans alike. Speaking in Baku, Audi F1’s CEO Mattia Binotto stated that for such a timescale to be achieved, the regulations must be broadly agreed by the end of the season.
Targeting a Lighter Future Below 700kg
Yet it’s not just the power units the FIA wishes to overhaul, but the weight of the cars which has been steadily on the rise since the mid-1980s. This year however for the first time since 1983, the FIA did manage to lop off a small amount of the weight of the previous version of the cars reducing them in total by 30kg. However, the target set by the FIA’s director of day to day affairs, Nicolas Tombazis, is far more ambitious for the next regulatory cycle.
F1’s governing body is now stating their target for the total weight of the cars in 2030 will be lighter than 700kg. The current minimum weight without the driver cooling vests is set at 758kg and Tombazis believes another 80kg can be lost.
Speaking to Autosport he admitted the recent reduction in weight did not go far enough. “Now, is that where I would like us to be? No,” he said. “I would like us to be another 80 kilos lighter, and maybe still a bit shorter and a bit smaller in the future.
“That’s the sort of target, that we do another big step from what was possible to do now. I think this is not a bad step, but it’s not like I’m saying, ‘Yes, job done, that’s the target’. We want to go to another step of lightness in the future, and also the weight, a significant step.”
Of course over the years driver safety has increased the weight of the cars with the addition of better impact structures, more robust chassis and the halo. Yet analysis from the FIA now reveals of the 200kg increase in the weight of F1 cars since the turn of the millennium, a mere 40kg of this is directly related to safety improvements.
Some of the weight reduction will come from the power units given that the battery will be much smaller as will be the MGU-K which generates electricity. However, Tombazis now reveals the dimensions of the car will also shrink from the truck-like size they currently possess.
Further, the wheel dimensions are again under review. They were increased from 13 inches to 18 inches in 2022 but this is believed to have added a total weight increase from the rims and the rubber of a whopping 25kg. “They will not be 2021 size,” Tombazis confirms, “so not 13-inch, but we can potentially go down a bit.”
The reduction in weight has a cyclical effect in that the cars do not need many of their components to be so robust and therefore made of a lighter construction. “They will be about two and a half, three seconds faster just by weight,” added the FIA official. “So it means we can reduce aerodynamics and some of the loads, and help the tyres behave in a nicer way, and all for the same lap time.”
“When we do the shopping list and add everything up, we can get quite comfortably below 700kg,” Tombazis confidently asserted. Of course there will be push backs from the manufacturers and teams and the FIA may need to compromise on its entire weight saving plans.
“Now we are conscious that when we discuss things, there will be some kickback in some areas. We’ll have to compromise a bit. There will be concerns about certain costs, but overall our target is to be below 700kg, and I think it will be a significant step to make the cars more exciting,” Tombazis concludes.
Refuelling Debate and Fuel Load Adjustments
At the 2026 British Grand Prix back in July, FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem floated the idea of a return to refuelling cars during an F1 race. “How much you start with, how much you fill, this is what we are studying right now. Of course, if you want to run the whole race, you have to have a bigger tank, or you have to stop. So this is something that we are going to look into,” he said.
But since then there’s been little appetite in the paddock for a return to refuelling, as Tombazis now confirms. “Generally [we are] not keen to go to refuelling and we also know the teams are not keen to go to refuelling,” he said. It adds a level of complexity and risk – but also importantly, it makes the pitstop windows far more defined before the race. So it means that there’s much less flexibility to adapt to your strategy depending on whether you’ve lost positions or not.”
More reliance on the internal combustion engine will mean more fuel for the cars to carry at the start of a Grand Prix. Tombazis reveals the extent of this impact: “We feel that what we are going to save on the rest will certainly outweigh the fuel increase. The cars will maybe have about 20kg more fuel, maybe 25kg, but if they are lighter by say 80kg at the start of the race, it will still be much better. Then, of course, in qualifying you don’t have that problem.”
A Race Against Time for 2030 Approval
If the FIA can get the power unit manufacturers and the teams to broadly agree the next regulation set by the end of the year, then a date for the change in 2030 becomes imminently possible and more difficult for the manufacturers to delay further.
When pressed on whether 2030 was a realistic time for delivery of a new engine and regulations for F1, Ben Sulayem retorted that the teams had just three years from 2022 to deliver the new highly complex 2026 power units. “But this engine is very complex. I’m sorry, you had the MGU-H, then it went to the MGU-K. You have a big battery, and it was the demand of the teams and the PUMs. Here [with the V8], when I say simpler, it will definitely be simpler.”
There are improvements in the pipeline for the current engine regulations, which will shift over the next two years from 50/50 to 60/40 in favour of the combustion engine. Yet the future of electrification in F1 now appears to be limited, with the FIA president promising “very, very little electrification.”
At the time he also questioned whether turbos were really necessary, but it appears that issue has been resolved and smaller less heavy units will be allowed to improve fuel efficiency
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Thank you, M’Lud, for such a cogent summary of this complex issue.
The current base limit for minimum car+driver weight is 768 kg (32 less than last season) & since the powertrain concept will only feature a small battery (even smaller than in the last 12 seasons) & a small turbo alongside the ICE, the overall weight will automatically reduce considerably, & since the car dimensions will be reduced again, I hope the FIA reverts to the 1998-2016 width & the 2010-2013 (or 2010-2016) length range to further magnify overall weight reduction, & I’m happy if the tyre diameter will be reduced to somewhere between the current & the previous diameter dimension to further increase flexibility for lowering the minimum car+driver weight.
Since some electrification will remain, the fuel amounts used for the races in the last 12 seasons should be enough for the same distances & the 2010-2013 amounts even more so; hence, at the very least, the same absolute tank size as in those seasons should be enough, or something in between.