By Carlo Platella
One of the main concerns that accompanied the drafting of the new regulations for 2026 was to avoid a repeat of the 2014 situation, when an engine manufacturer – Mercedes at the time – enjoyed such an advantage that it killed the competition for years to come. All this with an approach that for cost reasons will limit updates, with the possibility of introducing only one new engine specification every two years. The FIA has thus thought of a system of concessionsnow revealing more details on the criteria for awarding extra development hours.
On-track measurements
Already in the first version of the 2026 sporting regulation, article 3.7.c provided for the possibility of assigning hours on the bench and extra updates to manufacturers who paid a deficit of at least fifteen horsepower compared to the reference engine: “To any driver whose combustion engine power is more than 3% lower than the highest power registered among all the motorists, additional development and updating opportunities (ADUO) will be guaranteed”. In detail, we are talking about approximately 30% more hours that can be spent at the counter.
Last season though the Alpine case highlighted the critical issues of such a system. The French engineer in fact asked for a derogation from the freezing of the current power units to fill the power gap with Ferrari, Mercedes and Honda, but the various parties did not agree on the actual extent of the delay. The issue highlighted the lack of measurement standards with which to ascertain the performance of the power units, with estimates made externally being subject to various unknowns.
In 2026 however the Federation will use torque sensors installed directly on the cars’ half-shafts, so as to measure the actual power of each unit on the track and in real time. This is a system already used in the WEC, where the race direction uses it to monitor compliance with the maximum power allowed by the BoP for individual cars. The news was given by the director of the FIA single-seater department Nikolas Tombazisinterviewed by FormulaPassion: “To measure power, we will use much more accurate and sensitive torque sensors that are applied to the half-shafts of the cars. This will allow us to be very sure of what is being measured.”
Not just power
Always at FormulaPassion Tombazis then announces that development concessions will also be based on other parameters: “The criterion is based on the difference in power. However, we want to work with the engine manufacturers to better define these criteria and possibly extend the criteria to other parameters”. Among the factors that need to be taken into consideration are the cooling needs of the individual engines, which impact the aerodynamic efficiency of the single-seaters. However, this is an aspect that, like power, will require an equal evaluation standard for all.
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