Formula 1’s governing body, the FIA, has made a tweak to the rules around this weekend’s qualifying session at the Japanese Grand Prix amid concerns drivers would have to focus on energy harvesting on high-speed sections of track.
New power unit regulations for 2026 have increased the emphasis on electrical power this season, impacting the way in which drivers approach qualifying and races.
One notable change has been the need to harvest electrical energy on qualifying laps, resulting in the speed of cars decreasing towards the end of straights despite the driver remaining on full throttle.
New techniques to harvest energy have proven unpopular among drivers, with four-time champion Max Verstappen calling the new generation of F1 cars “Formula E on steroids.”
For each round this season the FIA has set a maximum amount of energy that can be recovered on a qualifying lap, and at Suzuka it was originally nine megajoules of electrical energy.
But during simulations ahead of this weekend’s race, teams noted that having such a high limit encouraged large amounts of lifting and coasting — the process by which a driver lifts off the throttle before braking for a corner — and super clipping — when the V6 engine is partly used as a generator to charge the battery.
In order to minimise such practices — which often appear unnatural to viewers watching onboard footage from the cars — the FIA informed the teams on Wednesday that the limit would be reduced to eight megajoules.
The change equates to four seconds less of super clipping around a lap, and the FIA expects the cars to be roughly 0.5 seconds per lap slower as a result of having less energy to deploy around the lap.
“Following discussions between the FIA, F1 teams and Power Unit Manufacturers, a minor adjustment to the energy management parameters for Qualifying at the Japanese GP has been agreed with the unanimous support of all Power Unit Manufacturers,” an FIA statement said.
“To ensure that the intended balance between energy deployment and driver performance is maintained, the maximum permitted energy recharge for Qualifying this weekend has been reduced from 9.0 MJ to 8.0 MJ.
“This adjustment reflects feedback from drivers and teams, who have emphasised the importance of maintaining Qualifying as a performance challenge.
“The FIA notes that the first events under the 2026 Regulations have been operationally successful, and this targeted refinement is part of the normal process of optimisation as the new regulatory framework is further validated in real-world conditions.
“The FIA, together with F1 teams and Power Unit Manufacturers, continues to embrace evolutions to energy management, with further discussions scheduled in the coming weeks.”
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While most drivers either welcomed the change or said it wouldn’t make an impact, Haas’ Oliver Bearman argued against it.
“I mean it’s just making us even slower,” he argued.
“On one hand we don’t have to do any lift and coast any more, which is probably a bit better for us, but it just means we have to do a lot of… I mean we still have to recharge the energy and we spend a lot of time just with no energy because we’re losing one megajoule compared to what we had on the sim and prior to coming here.
“I think there’s better ways of achieving the same thing. If we could harvest at negative 350 kilowatts while on full throttle, I think it would make everyone’s lives a bit easier. But this is also a solution, I guess.”
