Why F1’s future power unit regulations are already being discussed before 2026

The FIA’s Nikolas Tombazis has explained why exploratory talks about potential future engine regulations for F1 have already begun following the postponement of a critical meeting in London this week.

A meeting between the power unit manufacturers and the FIA was scheduled to be held on Thursday September 11, but was postponed until a later date as the plan is now for the F1 2026 hybrid power units to see out the full five-year regulation cycle as originally scheduled.

Crucial F1 V8 power unit meeting postponed

During the Italian Grand Prix, PlanetF1.com learned that the scheduled meeting to discuss a potential switch to an alternative power unit before the planned end of the new regulation cycle had been postponed.

F1 is set to introduce a new hybrid power unit next year, retaining the 1.6-litre V6 architecture currently used while introducing sustainable fuels and significantly increasing the power output generated by the electrical systems.

The prescribing of the new power units, which sees their power ratio almost at 50/50 between the internal combustion engine (ICE) and electricity, has meant the chassis and aero regulations have been written around the characteristics of the power unit – the first time in F1’s history this has happened.

It’s led to the introduction of active aerodynamics to ensure car performance isn’t significantly down on the current regulations.

Against the backdrop of the uncertainty over the new regulations, FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem took a public position on wanting to assess a return to a lighter and simpler engine formula by way of the establishment of a working group earlier this year.

Given that F1 is moving away from fossil fuels anyway, initial discussions with the power unit manufacturers in Bahrain concentrated on discussing a range of options and timelines over future regulations, with Ben Sulayem positing a cost-effective return to naturally-aspirated engines – even before the end of the planned five-year cycle for the new hybrid engines.

The proposed discussion was set to focus on whether a switch for 2029 or ’30 was feasible, bringing forward the end of the upcoming regulations by a year or two.

It’s understood Audi and Honda, of the five power unit manufacturers on the grid in 2026, have been the most vocal about wanting to ensure the full cycle was upheld as originally planned, having made it clear that the increased electrification of the 2026 power units is in fitting with their general automotive and technological ethos.

The other three power unit manufacturers, Ford/RBPT, Mercedes, and Ferrari – as well as General Motors, which arrives as a manufacturer in 2029 – were more open to the idea of a naturally aspirated V8 with a much reduced electrical component.

Against the backdrop of this lack of a supermajority, as would be needed to push through such a seismic rule change, the FIA called off the meeting in London this week.

This means that a change to a V8, or another alternative, won’t happen until, at the earliest, 2031 – as was originally planned.

Discussions are still planned to go ahead at a later, currently undetermined, time, with the focus being on what the power unit regulations from 2031 will be.

“The regulations are a five-year cycle and, therefore, I think it means that any changes to that have to receive a very broad consensus,” Nikolas Tombazis, the FIA’s single-seater director, explained to PlanetF1.com following the confirmation of the meeting’s postponement.

“Yes, there have been discussions about potential changes for ’29, and those have involved the PU manufacturers.

“The reason the meeting was postponed is that it became apparent that there wasn’t going to be enough consensus, and, clearly, it would be wrong to strong-arm a situation when people have made significant investments in a certain cycle of regulations.

“That said, the discussion about what the future will be is still open, of course.”

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The optics of such discussions being held even before the new power units run on track for the first time may suggest a lack of confidence in the strength of the product once the F1 2026 season rolls around.

But Tombazis explained that it’s more down to how long it can take to develop a regulatory framework that the FIA was eager to hold such discussions as quickly as it had been.

Asked why it was felt to be important to discuss such regulatory ideas at such an early stage, Tombazis said: “Because the design of a power unit is a very lengthy process and very time-consuming.

“That is not, in any way, to say that ’26 isn’t what it needs to be or whatever, but what we are going to be having in the future is something that has to be put on the table quite early on in order to then allow people to plan their investments.

“Don’t forget, we also have a cost cap. We have a limit on the resources and how much money people spend.

“So any discussion about anything changing in the future has to also factor in all of these very long-term investments people make.

“So the time for discussing future regulation isn’t something you can postpone for very long, and that’s why it gives the impression of discussing a change before it even starts. That’s purely for time reasons.”

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the plan is now that the upcoming regulations will be in place until the end of 2030, with the next opportunity to simplify the engine formula coming in ’31.

With the engine formula, in theory, being a blank slate, does the same apply to the chassis regulation set that will go hand-in-hand with it?

With more straightforward engines, will F1 still need complications such as active aerodynamics?

What will be the philosophy taken to designing the chassis regulations to match the new engines – might there be a return to ground-effect or the more ‘normal’ overbody downforce generation last used in 2021?

It’s simply too early to tell, Tombazis said, although he hinted at a similar ethos of simplification being a high priority.

“I don’t want to prejudge future cars, because engines plus chassis have to be done in the same sort of batch of philosophical setting of objectives and performance targets,” he said.

“So I don’t want to prejudge that, but the objective is that Formula 1 needs to continue the cost reduction across the board.

“We can’t rest on our laurels or assume it’s always that we can always have costs. We need to come down this road anyway.”

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