FIA Approves F1 Power Unit Rules for 2026 Season

• The new regulations were built on the idea of maintaining the spectacle (ensuring the performance level is similar to the current Power Unit), environmental sustainability, financial sustainability, and its attractiveness to new PU manufacturers.

• The wording of the regulations will aim to increase the road-relevance of cells, power electronics and MGU-K.

• It has also been outlined that the positioning of key PU components is more restrictive in the 2026 regulations in order to avoid long-term advantages or disadvantages being locked in.

The FIA’s World Motor Sport Council has approved the power unit regulations that will be implemented in Formula 1 from the 2026 season.

Discussions have been ongoing for several years concerning the regulations, which have been sculpted by the FIA, Formula 1, as well as existing and prospective manufacturers. The new rules package has been finalized for weeks but was finally rubber-stamped at Tuesday’s meeting of the WMSC.

The current power unit, introduced into Formula 1 in 2014, has long been the cornerstone of the new-for-2026 regulations, while the FIA outlined four key objectives it was striving to obtain. These were maintaining the spectacle (ensuring the performance level is similar to the current PU), environmental sustainability, financial sustainability, and its attractiveness to new PU manufacturers.

The Internal Combustion Engine will retain the 1.6-liter V6 layout at the same RPM, with a reduced fuel flow rate to aim for a power output of around 400kW, while the complicated and expensive MGU-H, which is understood to have been off-putting to potential entrants, will be removed.

Instead, the Energy Recovery System will be increased in power to 350kW, approximately 50% output, with an emphasis on energy flow management to achieve main objectives of increased hybridization and similar performance to the current PU.

The wording of the regulations will aim to increase the road-relevance of cells, power electronics and MGU-K.