The unintended benefit that F1's new engine rules era will deliver

Formula 1 has always faced a juggling act in balancing the need to interest teams and big manufacturers, with the requirement to ensure that fans are thrilled by the action too. A lot of the time, the championship can keep both camps pretty happy, and there is a set of rules that secures full-on commitment from the competitors as well as a great spectacle for those watching.

There are occasions, though, where teams mould rules to suit their own interests, and the end result is something that annoys the paying spectator.

So far, F1’s 2022 move in going for ground-effect cars, allied to a cost cap to keep budgets under control, appears to be working – even though there is some short-term pain for the show in terms of Red Bull running away with the championship.

But as F1 looks down the road towards the new engine rules for 2026, it is clear that they'll make amends for current regulations that leaned too much towards what the competitors wanted and ignored some of the core elements that kept fans happy. Rewinding back to the changes made for 2014, it's widely accepted that the series made some wrong steps in its framing of the turbo-hybrid regulations. As a result of listening to what teams and manufacturers wanted, F1 ended up with expensive and overly complex power units that drew little interest in terms of attracting fresh manufacturers.

PLUS: How F1 has tried to avoid repeating its 2014 engine rules mistakes

But, perhaps most crucially, F1 committed a cardinal sin in producing engines that ignored one of the key aspects that attract fans to motor racing: the noise.

The low-revving turbo ICEs, combined with an MGU-H that muffled the exhaust note, served up an immediate reduction in decibels that meant F1 lost a major PR war quite early on. While the situation improved over time as teams refined their designs and the fuel rules opened up a bit, it is quite remarkable to think that at one point F1 looked into adding a special trumpet to the exhausts to try to help lift the noise of the turbos.

Considering the 2026 engines, it is clear that the focus has very much been on framing regulations that attract new manufacturers: with Audi having committed, Porsche remaining a possible and F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali talking about other OEMs quietly sat at the discussion table pondering an entry.

F1's 2026 rules have been designed to attract new manufacturers

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

A core element of the shift that F1 is taking is the move to fully sustainable fuels. This targets the creation of a plug-in fuel that could be used in the billions of internal combustion engines that will remain on the roads for years to come.

As F1 managing director of motorsports Ross Brawn told Autosport recently: “We believe that this is one of the solutions to the environmental challenge. We've mentioned this several times, but there are two billion ICEs on the road. They're not going to disappear.

“But if we can have a plug-in fuel, which is carbon neutral, and we can start to distribute that fuel throughout the world, then we have a solution to the existing engines and also quite frankly a solution for places where the infrastructure for electric cars just doesn't exist and won't be built for a few years. So we're championing an alternative technology. I think the OEMs see the value of it and that is why they are doing F1.”

To get new manufacturers across the line, it was clear that some concessions were needed in terms of moving away from the 2014 concept: particularly for them to feel that they would not begin with an immediate 12-year catch-up in understanding the technology.

"I don't think there is one OEM at the moment who would put money into a V10. That's a different formula actually. It's F2, not F1" Ross Brawn

The mountain Honda faced coming in just one year after the new rules started was a clear example of how brutal it can be if you are behind in your design.

One of the key concessions made was for F1 to get rid of the MGU-H, which had proved to be the most complex element of the hybrid rules and had limited impact in transferring across to the road car industry. The removal of the MGU-H has triggered some consequences: it means a bigger reliance on the MGU-K and the end of one of the noise mufflers. It has also helped open F1 to the need for more power from the ICE, through higher revving and more fuel flow. The current regulations limit power units to 15,000rpm, but manufacturers can find little performance advantage beyond the fuel flow curve below 10,500rpm - which has further exacerbated the noise issue.

From 2026, a change in the way that fuel flow is measured – based on energy rather than mass, should see engines no longer running so limited in their output. And in simple terms, higher-revving engines without an MGU-H muffler should mean the noise ramping up a bit.

The issue of louder F1 engines has surfaced already this year, when Sebastian Vettel’s test run in a fully sustainable Williams FW14B at the British Grand Prix triggered some debate about whether F1 still needed to pursue turbo hybrids at all.

Vettel's Williams FW14B demonstration run on fully sustainable fuels opened up the debate on V10s

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

If the sustainable fuels that are core to F1’s future can power screaming V10 engines, then surely that ticks all the boxes in terms of pleasing the teams/manufacturers and delighting the fans?

But Brawn himself does not buy into that argument. He thinks that would be a case of making spectators happy and turning off the competitors.

“I think we are keen that a number of OEMs supported the philosophy of a very efficient hybrid,” said Brawn. “Because there are other factors here: there is fuel consumption, the type of fuel we are running, the efficiency of the engines. Efficiency is still a big factor. So even if you are running fully sustainable fuels, you still want efficiency. So we're sticking with a hybrid solution.

“It is appealing to the OEMs, the OEMs are putting their backing behind it and funding the research. I don't think there is one OEM at the moment who would put money into a V10. That's a different formula actually. It's F2, not F1.”

F1’s message is clear: the 2026 rules should deliver the right balance in pleasing those in the pits with rules where they can push the technology, and those watching at the track with more spectacular cars whizzing past them. And even for Brawn, who accepts noisier engines will be a ‘nice benefit’ for fans, there are doubts that a return to screaming V10s would actually hold much attraction for the new generation of spectators.

“There is a new demographic out there who think they are a bit of an oddity,” he said about the super screaming V8s and V10s of the past. “People like different things, and there are a huge number of fans out there who probably quite like the idea they can have a chat in the grandstands while the cars go around. It is not so important to them.

“We came from an era where we liked to hear a V12 scream, but it was painful. You forget how loud they really were.”

It has been a while since these were a common sight in F1

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images