Thursday night in Detroit marked the world’s first official look at the 2026 Formula 1 season, as Red Bull Racing revealed that images of the V-6 Ford hybrid helped it develop from the ground up at the purpose-built facility with the RBR racing team. Red Bull’s project has already been in the news because, along with Mercedes, the new company has discovered a loophole that allows it to run a higher compression ratio on track than the 16:1 mandated by regulations. The advantage exists because compression is measured at ambient temperature. Ferrari, Honda and Audi are not happy and the matter will be discussed further at a meeting next week.
The controversy is a reflection of how big a role power units (combined internal combustion and hybrid power generation systems, commonly called PUs in F1) will now play both this year and in the future. The previous generation has been in use since 2014 and development was halted a few years ago to allow manufacturers to focus on 2026. There was very little performance differentiation between the four manufacturers during that time, with the exception of Renault lagging slightly behind the others. PUs haven’t really been a key topic of conversation these years; the focus was all on aerodynamics and tires. That will now change dramatically.
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We have five manufacturers on the grid in 2026 as Renault depart and Mercedes, Ferrari and Honda are joined by newcomers Audi and Red Bull/Ford. The latter two both face a big task given that they are not carrying over from a previous project and benefit from years of experience with F1 hybrid engines. That said, Audi has gained a lot of hybrid knowledge in sports car racing, while key people at RBP come from other F1 manufacturers, notably Mercedes.
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Much is new in 2026, even for established F1 suppliers. “We have to pack a completely new power unit into a tighter and more compact chassis,” says Hywel Thomas, head of Mercedes HPP. “While still managing cooling, power flow and mass distribution. Nothing is transferred. Every component—hardware, software, fuel—has to be reevaluated.”
The basis of the power unit remains an internal combustion V-6, although it now runs on sustainable fuel. Although it comes from a different source, it’s closer in fuel-pumping specs than what was used by the 2025. The V-6’s contribution dropped from 738–751 hp to 536 hp, while the electric contribution nearly tripled, from 161 hp to 469 hp. The amount of energy that can be recovered when braking is doubled, up to a total recoverable energy of 8.5 MJ per lap. The rules state that the precise power numbers can be adjusted, but “only if the FIA deems it necessary for the sole purpose of ensuring that the car’s top speed remains compatible with the design and construction of the relevant circuit”.
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The biggest change facing manufacturers is the removal of the MGU-H, the heat output recovery system used in the last set of rules. “That means there will be some turbo lag to deal with,” says Honda F1 boss Koji Watanabe. “The other challenge is tripling the power of the electric motor while leaving the energy storage capacity almost unchanged. The key factor here will be making energy management more efficient. It is the most difficult technical challenge in the new regulations.”
PU manufacturers need to optimize several parameters. “I think there are probably three elements,” says Thomas. “I would say crank power will always be important. We are PU engineers. We like crank power and this will be one of them.”
Outside of this conventional objective, the power unit problem becomes more complex. “I think the efficiency of the electrical system [will matter]. I think the more efficient you are with your electrical system, the longer you can hold it and the faster you can hold it means you go faster. I think that will be part of…”
“But I think the third element is, how does it all work together? How do you transiently use all that energy? How do you transiently use the power? How do you interact with a whole new car? How do you interact with the driver?”
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And then there’s reliability. As before, there is a strict limit to the number of PU elements a driver can use during a season before costly grid penalties are applied. For 2026, the numbers are three internal combustion V-6s, three turbochargers, three exhaust kits, two power tanks, two control electronics and two MGU-Ks.
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It is likely that in the first year of the new regulations meeting these limits will not be easy for both reliability and performance reasons as manufacturers update their original pre-season specifications. These numbers are subject to change, however, as the rules state that “the FIA may, at its sole discretion, increase the number of permitted components … in the event of a genuine reliability issue that makes it impossible to cover the championship season with the originally specified number of components”.
Crucially, for the first time, everything must be done within the financial regulations of the AIF. A new PU cost cap of $130 million must cover all design, manufacturing and supply costs. It means manufacturers can help justify their involvement in F1 by having a cap on what could otherwise be a black hole of spending, but staying within that cap won’t be easy. “It’s a very serious topic and a significant change in how a PSU supplier will operate,” says Watanabe. “And it comes at a time of these major technical changes.”
One item that’s easy to overlook is that the cars’ overall minimum weight has dropped by 66 pounds, and there’s a minimum weight for PUs that isn’t easy to reach. And weight reduction is usually expensive.
“It’s definitely going to be a challenge, especially at first,” says Thomas. “Anytime there’s a weight adjustment, in the early races, you’re never quite sure where you are. PU has a minimum mass, and that’s a challenging mass, especially on the electric side. It’s really the battery and the power electronics… a big part of the competition is getting as close to that minimum mass as you can.”
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