F1 bosses agree to engine design change for 2027

Formula 1 bosses have agreed a change to engine design for the 2027 season in response to criticisms of the new power units introduced this year.

Drivers have complained that the near 50-50 split between internal combustion and electrical power and need for energy management has diminished the challenge in qualifying.

It was agreed in principle in a meeting of teams, commercial rights holder F1 and governing body the FIA on Friday to increase the proportion of total power coming from the internal combustion engine by 50kW (67bhp) and reduce the electrical power by the same amount.

This effect of this should be for drivers to be able to drive in a more conventional way in qualifying.

The change will mean that the need for harvesting will be decreased because less energy will need to be recovered.

At the moment, the cars require energy management techniques such as recovering energy while on full throttle, which leads to a speed drop-off before corners and through some fast curves.

The expectation is that the change will almost entirely eliminate this, other than at the most energy-starved circuits.

A statement from the FIA said the meeting had agreed unanimously on the changes.

The details will be discussed in technical groups involving teams and power-unit manufacturers before a final package is agreed.

These groups will also discuss other measures that could be adopted towards achieving the same aim of making harvesting either less important or easier.

There are various potential methods available for addressing that fundamental conundrum.

The changes will require development to existing engines but a senior insider said: “Everybody is in the mood for a challenge.”

There are technical constraints that need to be resolved, for example that some teams want to carry over the chassis into 2027 to reduce cost, so increasing the size of their fuel tanks would be difficult.

The meeting also echoed the F1 drivers’ views that changes to the operation of the engines for last weekend’s race in Miami had been “a step in the right direction”.

The drivers almost unanimously expressed the same view over the weekend in Miami.

McLaren’s world champion Lando Norris said after finishing second in the race on Sunday: “It’s a small step in the right direction, but it’s not to the level that Formula 1 should still be at yet.

“If you go flat out everywhere and you try pushing like you were in previous years, you still just get penalised for it. You still can’t be flat out everywhere. It’s not about being on as early on throttle everywhere.

“You should never get penalised for that kind of thing and you still do.”