By the end of the year, the FIA and Formula 1 will define the 2026 aerodynamic regulations, which will go hand in hand with those on engines published last summer. The next generation of power units will see a reduction in the performance of the internal combustion engine and an increase in the power of the electric part, which will triple. The MGU-H, the electric motor generator that has been recharging the battery since 2014 by converting the residual thermal energy in the exhaust gases, put into rotation directly by the turbine, will also disappear. Precisely in this area the new regulations provide for an important innovation, which will lead to the ban of one of the most popular solutions of the hybrid era
Goodbye to split-turbo architecture
The new engine regulations will give great leeway on experimenting with alternative fuels and researching batteries and electric motors. The heat engine, on the other hand, will be subject to strict geometric constraints, even more invasive than the current ones. The turbocharger assembly is no exception. In fact, the 2026 regulation imposes a diameter for the compressor between 100 and 110 mm, while the turbine will have an external diameter between 95 and 105 mm. Most importantly, however, it is sanctioned a maximum distance between the turbine and compressor wheelsequal to 175 mm.
Considering how the internal combustion engine is much longer than 17 cm, the new regulation effectively bans the architecture of the split-turbo. First introduced by Mercedes and then gradually taken up by the competition, the solution provides for the spacing of the turbine and compressor, no longer conceived as a single block. The two elements are connected by a rotating shaft housed in the middle of the thermal banks and among them there is also the MGU-H. Although the second electric motor will disappear from 2026, the split-turbo would have guaranteed important advantages in the compromise between aerodynamic dimensions and combustion engine performance. In fact, with the compressor separated from the turbine, the fresh air directed to the engine absorbs less heat from the hot exhaust ducts, maintaining itself at a lower temperature.
Similar benefits ensured the popularity of the split-turbo in the first era of hybrid power units in Formula 1, a solution inspired by helicopter turbines. In 2026, on the other hand, engine manufacturers will no longer be able to separate turbine and compressor, or at least not with the same distances exploited so far. Nothing prevents the manufacturers from continuing to distance the two elements as far as possible, but they will no longer be able to do so between the cylinder banks, provided they do not increase the overall height.
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