A decade ago, a new era began in Formula 1. High-revving, naturally-aspirated V8 engines had had their day. Since then, manufacturers no longer talked of engines, but of Power Units. Mercedes High Performance Engines therefore became Mercedes High Performance Powertrains.
In addition to the combustion engine, there was now also a turbocharger with an electric component, the MGU-H, as well as further development of the former KERS, which was now called MGU-K. At 120kW, the Motor Generator Unit-Kinetic, delivered twice as much power as KERS to the crankshaft, with the electrical energy temporarily stockpiled in the 4MJ Energy Store.
The engine manufacturers agreed on these regulations around 15 years ago. Even then, electrification and high-efficiency engines were still magic words in the automotive industry.
However, the Power Unit was not immediately well received in Formula 1. Too complicated, too expensive, too heavy, too quiet, so the critics kept saying. Well, 10 years later, the criticism has fallen almost silent. All manufacturers now have the technology under control and are at a similar performance level. Consequently, the regulations on the powertrain side have remained largely unchanged.
This will all be different in 2026. Years of discussion, negotiation and haggling culminated in version one of the 2026 regulations on 16 August 2022. The negotiations were complicated because the FIA had to take various points of view into account. On the one hand, there were the manufacturers already involved – Mercedes, Ferrari, Renault and Honda. On the other, there were potential newcomers to the series.
So, while the FIA didn’t want to scare off any of the established manufacturers, it also wanted to keep the entry barrier as low as possible for interested parties.
Efficiency compromise
That, in a nutshell, is why the new regulations are a compromise. At first glance, everything looks like it remains the same with the combustion engine and it’s
