Sadly, it’s all true, and we’ve reached this level: System 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 way of the implementation of an “override” system. Basically, a BoP. The aim is to create a efficiency balancing system (Steadiness of Efficiency or BoP) to create a man-made efficiency hole between the vehicles, thus facilitating overtaking and holding competitors alive.
It goes with out saying, nonetheless, that this choice has already sparked differing opinions amongst business consultants and followers. The intention is to align System 1 with new sustainability and leisure wants, however the worth to pay is clearly a contest distorted in its essence.
The center of the change will probably be a single ECU managed by the FIA, which is able to management the facility 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. Via the override command, the system will be capable to briefly scale back the facility of the main car, permitting the chasing driver to keep up excessive energy ranges for prolonged intervals, thus creating velocity variations particularly designed for overtakes.
The adoption of the BoP in System 1, disguised as a software to favor overtakes, represents a historic change, probably second solely to the entire electrification that additionally threatened to reach within the highest class of world motorsport (and whose danger just isn’t but solely dominated out). This technique, in truth, 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 vehicles. In case you want, you may simply label it as a real manipulation of technical values.
This maneuver will even scale back engineering creativity and the distinctiveness (already very restricted) of the vehicles, limiting the area for technical innovation in favor of a System 1 pushed by electronics and computing.
Allow us to keep in mind that, as established in earlier months, from 2026, there will probably be an actual revolution (already decided) concerning the facility items. The brand new rules, additionally specializing in sustainability, will introduce substantial modifications in power 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 will probably be restricted by even stricter rules. Moreover, the turbocharging system will probably be decreased, with a turbo stress restrict set at 4.8 bar.
The brand new energy items will even must adapt to energetic aerodynamics (the third main novelty of the 2026 rules), which is able to permit real-time changes to the automobile’s aerodynamic setup to optimize traction and power effectivity, however this will even be managed by way of centralized software program that can restrict the design freedom of the groups.
The conclusions and feedback on these choices may appear superfluous. For many 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 vehicles in a clear and interesting battle on the monitor are nearly extinct. Actually, all this additionally is available in response to the necessity to scale back environmental impression, an more and more central theme in motorsport. Nevertheless, it’s reputable to ask whether or not manipulating the values on the monitor is actually important for the acknowledged sustainability aim, or whether or not it’s extra of a advertising and marketing technique to keep up public curiosity.
System 1 (which now solely carries the title of the game we bear in mind) is more and more changing 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 appearance of energy items in 2014) marks the definitive farewell to the game we as soon as knew.
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