Sadly, it’s all true, and we’ve reached this level: Method 1 is making ready for a radical change beginning in 2026, with the introduction of latest rules geared toward enhancing the spectacle on the monitor by means of the implementation of an “override” system. Basically, a BoP. The objective is to create a efficiency balancing system (Stability of Efficiency or BoP) to create a synthetic efficiency hole between the automobiles, thus facilitating overtaking and conserving competitors alive.
It goes with out saying, nonetheless, that this choice has already sparked differing opinions amongst business specialists and followers. The intention is to align Method 1 with new sustainability and leisure wants, however the value to pay is clearly a contest distorted in its essence.
The guts of the change can be a single ECU managed by the FIA, which can management the ability and gasoline consumption of each the thermal and electrical engines of every automobile. The ECU will set a most energy restrict: 400 kW for the thermal engine and 350 kW for the electrical one. By the override command, the system will be capable to briefly cut back the ability of the main car, permitting the chasing driver to keep up excessive energy ranges for prolonged durations, thus creating velocity variations particularly designed for overtakes.
The adoption of the BoP in Method 1, disguised as a device to favor overtakes, represents a historic change, probably second solely to the whole electrification that additionally threatened to reach within the highest class of world motorsport (and whose threat will not be but totally dominated out). This technique, in actual fact, establishes an ordinary efficiency restrict, flattening the variations between groups and steering the competitors towards an more and more managed and uniform administration of the automobiles. In case you desire, you possibly can simply label it as a real manipulation of technical values.
This maneuver will even cut back engineering creativity and the individuality (already very restricted) of the automobiles, limiting the area for technical innovation in favor of a Method 1 pushed by electronics and computing.
Allow us to keep in mind that, as established in earlier months, from 2026, there can be an actual revolution (already decided) concerning the ability models. The brand new rules, additionally specializing in sustainability, will introduce substantial modifications in vitality administration and gasoline utilization. The electrical engine energy will enhance to 350 kW, with a battery regeneration capability rising from 2 to 9 MJ per lap.
On the identical time, the thermal engine will endure an influence discount, dropping from 550 kW to 400 kW, whereas gasoline consumption can be restricted by even stricter rules. Moreover, the turbocharging system can be diminished, with a turbo strain restrict set at 4.8 bar.
The brand new energy models will even must adapt to lively aerodynamics (the third main novelty of the 2026 rules), which can enable real-time changes to the automobile’s aerodynamic setup to optimize traction and vitality effectivity, however this will even be managed by means of centralized software program that may restrict the design freedom of the groups.
The conclusions and feedback on these choices might sound superfluous. For individuals who love motorsport, all of that is bordering on miserable. The times when on-track battles had been genuine and the values of the drivers could possibly be matched with the technical designs of the automobiles in a clear and engaging struggle on the monitor are virtually extinct. Definitely, all this additionally is available in response to the necessity to cut back environmental impression, an more and more central theme in motorsport. Nevertheless, it’s reliable to ask whether or not manipulating the values on the monitor is actually important for the said sustainability objective, or whether or not it’s extra of a advertising technique to keep up public curiosity.
Method 1 (which now solely carries the identify of the game we bear in mind) is more and more turning into a problem of software program and digital administration. And maybe this step (which comes after the architectural restrictions of engines in 1995, the ban on in-season testing in 2009, the introduction of DRS in 2012, and the arrival of energy models in 2014) marks the definitive farewell to the game we as soon as knew.
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