The FIA has confirmed it has rejected a proposal to cut power to Formula 1‘s much-maligned 2026 power units ahead of this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix.
The 2026 power units continue to divide fans and drivers alike, with a raft of technical changes being brought in for the Miami GP.
Concerns over superclipping and excessive energy management are central to the changes, as the sport heads into the unknown in the Sunshine State.
Increasing the superclipping limit from 250kW to 350kW is just one of the changes introduced, allowing for drivers to drive further flat out than charging the battery.
FIA single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis admitted the 50:50 split has caused more issues than originally intended.
“First of all, it is true that when you have a percentage of electrical to internal combustion energy and power of that ratio, that the whole energy management becomes more challenging,” Tombazis said on Monday.
FIA believe “compromises” crucial to new F1 regulations
But the FIA has revealed that cutting power to the new power units was discussed prior to their introduction, but this was rejected by all parties.
Detailing the rationale, Tombazis confirmed the rejected proposal cut could have lessened reliance on energy deployment.
“We knew that from day one of these regulations, and I think we’ve worked to mitigate a lot of these compromises.
“One of the reasons it hasn’t been right there from the start, is that the cars are going a bit faster, have found a bit more downforce than we were expecting, and therefore their energy recovered during braking is a bit lower than it would normally be, so we have a bit more of a challenge than we would have liked to have.
“We did propose the reduction of power about a year ago, and it was rejected. The point there was that we were going to wait for the first few races, which is what we did.
“Now, is that the final time we talk about it? I don’t think so. We will continue monitoring whether there will be extra additions that would have to be further discussed.
“That is not something we could do on the base of safety, and certainly wasn’t something we could do for Miami or for this year. So therefore, we decided to just have a bit of a look-see, to see the current changes, how they’ve coped, and then to review the matter.”
The FIA and F1 will be crossing their fingers that the rule modifications made for Miami work. The confirmation that a cut in electrical energy deployment was on the table but rejected is a stark revelation.
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