2025/2026 Hybrid Powerunit speculation

[Cs98]

New PU manufacturers will get a total of 25 million extra over the first 3 years in terms of spending. No extra test bench hours. Instead from 2026, they've implemented a "special-ed" program for PU manufacturers whose ICE is more than 3% down in power compared to the class of the field, called "ADUO" (additional development and upgrade opportunities). This new program will allow 30% more ICE development time for those qualified and they will not have to follow the prescribed "update schedule". The update schedule essentially manages when PU manufacturers are allowed to upgrade their ICE. Unlike previously where you could basically bring upgrades anytime you wanted, from 2026 it will be prescribed exactly which years you are allowed to upgrade ICE components, and always at the start of the season. Certain components are not allowed to be upgraded at all during certain years, unless you qualify for ADUO (in which case every year is upgrade year).

As an example: The following components will only be allowed to be upgraded at the start of (2026), 2027 and 2029 (engine regs go to 2030).
-Main ICE assembly comprising Combustion chamber surface and pre-chamber detail within cylinder heads, piston, connecting rod, cam lobes, intake and exhaust ports, air valve regulators, trumpets, Throttle system.
-TC
-Exhaust system.

ADUO will be determined by the FIA during the first 5 races of each season, when they control the relative performance of each manufacturers ICE. Sandbaggers who pretend their ICE is weaker than it really is can be penalized and ADUO withdrawn if their power suddenly spikes after 5 races.

No doubt the push to equal out ICE performance is very strong. The development war will most likely be centered around the ERS systems.

[henry]

There must be a reason why they set the allowed regen as high as 9MJ. No reason to have it that high if you can't even get 4MJ/lap.

And the 4MJ SoC delta isn't that bad if you account for the increased regen during the lap.

Having been following this electrical side, but, front wheels?

Doubt it, just maximizing regen at the rear, basically no rear brakes.

There will be rear brakes. With current mass and aero rear brake power at 310kph is about 800kW.

[Cs98]

Having been following this electrical side, but, front wheels?

Doubt it, just maximizing regen at the rear, basically no rear brakes.

There will be rear brakes. With current mass and aero rear brake power at 310kph is about 800kW.

Yes I agree, they will keep them in a reduced capacity. I was more getting at the balance between brakes vs regen will be much more heavily skewed towards regen. Especially in the race when these cars shouldn't get close to 310kph (no end of straight deployment).

[Nork4]

Hi. First post here.

Brembo has an YouTube video that shows the time the cars are braking per lap for each track we have been to so far in 2022. It's NOT accurate, but I've assumed you can get a max of 350KW for that number of braking seconds.



Looking at the 2 extremes (for Qualifying ONLY):
-In Miami you could regen a max of 2.8MJ per lap and deploy 6.8MJ (4MJ + 2.8MJ) in a qualification lap.
-In Azerbaijan you could regen a max of 7MJ per lap and deploy 11MJ (4MJ + 7MJ) in a qualification lap.

4MJ is 11.4 secs of 350KW deployment.
6.8MJ is 19.4 x secs of 350KW deployment.
11MJ is 31.4 secs of 350KW deployment.
13MJ (the max possible by regulation - 4MJ starting charge + 9MJ regen) is 37.1 secs of 350KW deployment.

So how much energy you can harvest in regen is a very very big deal to your lap time.

[wuzak]

Having been following this electrical side, but, front wheels?

Doubt it, just maximizing regen at the rear, basically no rear brakes.

There will be rear brakes. With current mass and aero rear brake power at 310kph is about 800kW.

Yes, and total braking time for most circuits is between 10 and 20 seconds, and more in the 10-15s range.

And maybe half that they use the full braking capacity.

[wuzak]

Power for MGUK is regulated with respect to speed.

P = 1850 - 5 * S
S = Speed in km/h.

At 340km/h the maximum allowed power of the MGUK is 1850 - 5 * 340 = 150kW. MAximum power of 350kW only available to 300km/h.

Engine set at 90° and exhaust on outside of bank.

[chrisc90]

From looking at 2022 energy flow diagram there is a increase of 3MJ between the '22-'25 ruleset to the '26 onwards ones. Thats half as much again and the removal of the MGU-H which previously allowed for a unlimited amount of energy transfer to the ES.



So, where and how is the extra 3MJ going to come from?

It all looks a bit complicated, to me, as never really looked into it and understood it at depth, but these rules do seem a bit of a backwards step, especially with a lower PU output meaning your relying more on the battery for power and energy recovery.

Could it ever get to the stage where teams rely solely on energy recovery for braking? (as someone said AWD to aid recovery)

[wuzak]

From looking at 2022 energy flow diagram there is a increase of 3MJ between the '22-'25 ruleset to the '26 onwards ones. Thats half as much again and the removal of the MGU-H which previously allowed for a unlimited amount of energy transfer to the ES.

https://i.redd.it/21rbr2lvrrs61.jpg

So, where and how is the extra 3MJ going to come from?

It all looks a bit complicated, to me, as never really looked into it and understood it at depth, but these rules do seem a bit of a backwards step, especially with a lower PU output meaning your relying more on the battery for power and energy recovery.

Could it ever get to the stage where teams rely solely on energy recovery for braking? (as someone said AWD to aid recovery)

The energy flow into the ES from the MGUK is capped at 2MJ/lap under the current rules. That means an additional 7MJ for 2026.

The MGUK power is increasing from 120kW to 350kW, which means that the equivalent recovery would b:

2MJ * 350/120 = 5.83MJ. Which is similar to the number you came up with.

We do know that recovering 2MJ per lap on most circuits has been difficult. Not because of available braking power, but because of recovery limits. Similarly I would expect the 5.8MJ to be tough to get, let alone 9MJ, unless they do a lot of lifting and coasting.

[saviour stivala]

''Unlimited amount of energy transferred to the ES''. But what is the ES maximum SOC allowed. So goes to the unlimited to the K as regards to its allowed output per lap.

[wuzak]

''Unlimited amount of energy transferred to the ES''. But what is the ES maximum SOC allowed. So goes to the unlimited to the K as regards to its allowed output per lap.

9 MJ recovery allowed.
Unlimited energy deployment.
Storage is maximum 4MJ (maximum SOC - minimum SOC)

[johnny comelately]

What is the capture on the LMP cars?

[wuzak]

What is the capture on the LMP cars?

Current LMh regulations? Unlimited.

Maximum power is 500kW (+/- 20kW for BOP) at 95% maximum rpm.

There is a power curve defined for power units. Power is defined for points from 55% to 102.5% of maximum rpm.

[johnny comelately]

What is the capture on the LMP cars?

Current LMh regulations? Unlimited.

Maximum power is 500kW (+/- 20kW for BOP) at 95% maximum rpm.

There is a power curve defined for power units. Power is defined for points from 55% to 102.5% of maximum rpm.

I meant electrical harvest.
, my apologies

[wuzak]

What is the capture on the LMP cars?

Current LMh regulations? Unlimited.

Maximum power is 500kW (+/- 20kW for BOP) at 95% maximum rpm.

There is a power curve defined for power units. Power is defined for points from 55% to 102.5% of maximum rpm.

I meant electrical harvest.
, my apologies

200kW MGUK.

[chrisc90]

From looking at 2022 energy flow diagram there is a increase of 3MJ between the '22-'25 ruleset to the '26 onwards ones. Thats half as much again and the removal of the MGU-H which previously allowed for a unlimited amount of energy transfer to the ES.

https://i.redd.it/21rbr2lvrrs61.jpg

So, where and how is the extra 3MJ going to come from?

It all looks a bit complicated, to me, as never really looked into it and understood it at depth, but these rules do seem a bit of a backwards step, especially with a lower PU output meaning your relying more on the battery for power and energy recovery.

Could it ever get to the stage where teams rely solely on energy recovery for braking? (as someone said AWD to aid recovery)

The energy flow into the ES from the MGUK is capped at 2MJ/lap under the current rules. That means an additional 7MJ for 2026.

The MGUK power is increasing from 120kW to 350kW, which means that the equivalent recovery would b:

2MJ * 350/120 = 5.83MJ. Which is similar to the number you came up with.

We do know that recovering 2MJ per lap on most circuits has been difficult. Not because of available braking power, but because of recovery limits. Similarly I would expect the 5.8MJ to be tough to get, let alone 9MJ, unless they do a lot of lifting and coasting.

Thanks. Does anyone know how much power the MGU-H typically puts back into the ES? I cant see it being a massive amount as this would have an effect on the turbo shaft speeds due to the recovery along it. It does say unlimited, but that's clearly not possible.

I do wonder if we will be seeing cars doing multiple out laps on qualifying sims to get battery charged up to allow for the most energy deployment throughout a lap. As Nork4 pointed out, you could do a max regen giving you 37.1seconds of energy deployment. Given most tracks thats still probably only 1/3 of a lap total deployment of 350kW.

I wonder if we will end up seeing ES with huge amounts of storage, unless there is a cap on how much they can store.

Is there any rulings yet on whether you could potentially harvest energy from the front axle in replacement of smaller brakes? I can see there being another weight increase aswell with all this additional batteries and storage.