FIA Just CONFIRMED a HUGE 2027 Regulation CHANGE After F1's FAILED 50/50 ENGINE SPLIT!

Added: 2026-05-10

[00:00:00]Formula 1 has just made a massive admission. After months of defending the new 2026 engine regulations, the FIA and Formula 1 bosses have finally agreed to change them. The highly controversial 50/50 power split between the internal combustion engine and the electrical battery is being scrapped. [music] Instead, starting in 2027, the sport will move to a 60/40 split in favor of the combustion engine. This is a huge victory for the drivers, who have been complaining about the new cars for months. Max Verstappen warned everyone about this back in 2023, calling the new regulations Formula E on steroids, and comparing the driving experience to Mario Kart. He raised these concerns [music] after early simulator runs, long before the first race of 2026 had even been driven. He was dismissed at the time. Now, it seems the sport's leaders have finally listened.

[00:00:45]>> [music] >> And the fact that it took only four races into the new era for the FIA to agree to a fundamental hardware change tells you everything about how serious the problems were.

[00:00:55]But why did Formula 1 get it so wrong in the first place? And what exactly is changing for 2027? To understand why this is such a big deal, we need to look at the core problem with the 2026 [music] cars: energy starvation and a dangerous phenomenon known as super clipping. When the 2026 regulations were first drafted, the goal was clear.

[00:01:12]Formula 1 wanted to attract new engine manufacturers like Audi and Ford, and they wanted to push the sport towards a more sustainable future. To do this, they decided to rely heavily on electrical power. The rules mandated a roughly 50/50 split. The internal combustion engine, or ICE, would produce around 400 kilowatts, which is about 535 horsepower. The electrical motor, the MGU-K, would produce 350 kilowatts, or roughly 470 horsepower. On paper, this sounded like a great step forward for hybrid technology. But when the teams started running these numbers in their simulators, a massive problem emerged.

[00:01:48]The car simply could not harvest enough electrical energy over a single lap to maintain that 350 kilowatts consistently. The battery would drain too quickly, leaving the cars starved [music] of energy. To combat this energy starvation, teams had to resort to extreme measures. The most controversial of these was super clipping. Normally, cars harvest energy under braking, but with the 2026 rules, that wasn't enough. Teams realized they had to harvest energy while the driver was on full throttle on the straight.

[00:02:14]Imagine driving down a long straight, your foot flat to the floor, but instead of all the engine's power going to the rear wheels, a huge chunk of it is being sucked away to charge the battery. That is super clipping. The result was massive drops in top [music] speed. In early simulator runs, cars were losing up to 30 km/h at the end of long straights. [music] Fernando Alonso even joked that the Aston Martin team chef could drive the cars because they were so slow on the straights. But super clipping wasn't just making the cars look slow. It was making them dangerous. If one car is deploying electrical energy to overtake, and the car [music] ahead is suddenly super clipping and harvesting energy, the speed difference between the two [music] cars is massive. We saw this danger become a reality at the Japanese Grand Prix when Haas driver Oliver Bearman had to take evasive action to avoid the Alpine of Franco Colapinto entering the fast Spoon curve. The closing speeds were simply too high. The drivers were not happy. They complained that the cars felt unnatural and unintuitive to drive. Instead of pushing flat out and racing each other, they were constantly managing battery deployment and harvesting zones. It wasn't the pure racing experience that Formula 1 is supposed to be. The pressure on the FIA began to mount.

[00:03:21]Ahead of the Miami Grand Prix, the FIA introduced some software tweaks to adjust the harvesting and deployment levels. These changes helped slightly, and the drivers acknowledged it was a step in the right direction. But they also made it clear that software patches were not enough. The fundamental hardware of the engines needed [music] to change. This led to a crucial online meeting between the FIA, Formula 1 management, all 11 team principals, and the five power unit manufacturers: Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull Powertrains, Audi, and Honda. During this meeting, an agreement was reached in principle to fast-track hardware changes for the [music] 2027 season. The solution they agreed upon is the 60/40 split. The FIA announced that there will be a nominal increase in the power of the [music] internal combustion engine by approximately 50 kilowatts. This will be achieved by increasing the allowed fuel flow rate. At the same time, there will be a nominal reduction in the electrical deployment power from the energy [music] recovery system by approximately 50 kilowatts. This creates a 100 kilowatt swing. The internal combustion engine will now produce around 450 kilowatts, while the electrical output drops to 300 kilowatts. The balance of power shifts from 50/50 to roughly 60/40 in favor of the V6 combustion engine. Why is this such a game-changer? First and foremost, it drastically reduces the reliance on the battery. With the electrical output reduced by 50 kilowatts, the battery will drain slower. This means teams won't have to rely as heavily on extreme super clipping on the straights to keep the battery charged. For the drivers, this means a return to more intuitive driving. They will be able to push the cars harder and more naturally, relying on the combustion engine rather than constantly managing complex energy deployment strategies. The dangerous speed differentials caused by cars suddenly harvesting energy on straights will be significantly mitigated, making the racing safer and fairer. The FIA statement made it clear that these changes are designed to make competition safer, fairer, and more intuitive for drivers and teams. They also noted that the changes agreed in principle for 2027 [music] will require further detailed discussion in technical groups before the final package is decided. You might be wondering, if everyone agrees 50/50 split is flawed, why wait until 2027 to fix it? Why not change it for 2026? The answer comes down to lead times and hardware design. The 2026 engines have been in development for years. Changing the fundamental architecture of the power unit, increasing the fuel flow, and potentially tweaking the chassis to accommodate larger fuel tanks requires significant engineering work. There simply isn't enough time to make these hardware changes robust and reliable mid-season. The FIA also out that increasing the fuel flow means the cars will need slightly larger fuel tanks, which requires changes to the chassis itself. That is not something you can bolt on overnight. There is also an important competitive dimension to consider. Not all manufacturers are equally affected by the 50/50 split.

[00:06:03]Some power unit suppliers [music] have done a better job managing energy harvesting than others. Any change to the rules shifts the competitive balance, which is why the FIA wanted unanimous agreement from all five manufacturers before moving forward.

[00:06:16]Getting Mercedes, Ferrari, [music] Red Bull Powertrains, Audi, and Honda to all agree on the same package was no small achievement. And it is a sign of how serious the situation had become that they were all willing to sign off on it. So, for 2026, the sport will have to rely on the software tweaks introduced in Miami >> [music] >> and potentially further adjustments as the season progresses. The FIA has not closed the door on further short-term changes, either. Improvements to the visual signaling measures, which help drivers and fans understand what mode the cars are in, are being evaluated for the Canadian Grand Prix. Start safety revisions and measures to improve safety in wet conditions are also being worked on. So, while the big hardware fix waits until 2027, the FIA is committed to making the 2026 season as good as it can be in the meantime.

[00:07:00]>> [music] >> This announcement is a massive win for the drivers and the fans. It shows that Formula 1 and the FIA [music] are willing to listen to criticism and act to protect the quality of the racing.

[00:07:09]Max Verstappen's early warnings have been entirely vindicated. The sport tried to push too far, too fast with the electrical component of the hybrid engines, and they have now realized they need to dial it back. The move to a 60/40 split ensures that the internal combustion engine remains the dominant force in Formula 1. It preserves the traditional racing dynamics that fans love, while still maintaining a significant hybrid element to satisfy the manufacturers and sustainability goals. The next step for these regulations is to go through the formal governance process. The proposals will be evaluated in detail by technical groups, then passed through the F1 commission, the power unit advisory committee, and finally the FIA's World Motorsport Council for a formal vote.

[00:07:48]But with unanimous commitment from the teams and manufacturers, this process is expected to be a formality. Formula 1 dodged a bullet here. If they had stubbornly stuck to the 50/50 split, we could have been looking at a 2026 season defined by energy management, slow straight-line speeds, and dangerous closing differentials. Instead, by acknowledging the problem and agreeing to the 60/40 split for 2027, they have taken a crucial step to ensure the new era of Formula 1 delivers the flat-out intuitive racing that the sport is famous for. But what do you think? Is the new 60/40 split the right move for Formula 1, or should they reduce the electrical power [music] even more? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.