Formula 1 looks at 3.0 L V8 turbos and smaller hybrids for 2030

Regenerative braking isn’t the only way to recharge an F1 car’s battery, though. The electric motor can also act as a generator, siphoning power from the V6 to charge the battery—this is called “super clipping.” But any power going to the electric motor is power that isn’t going to the rear wheels.

So sometimes an F1 car will have 1,005 hp (750 KW) and sometimes 536 hp (400 kW) if the battery is empty and only the V6 is powering the car. It sometimes has even less if it’s super clipping, where up to 335 hp (250 KW) is diverted to the electric motor instead of the rear wheels. And most of that is out of the driver’s control. Instead, complex and somewhat opaque algorithms are in charge, and they are supremely sensitive to driving style. More than a few times this season, we’ve seen a driver crash after a sudden torque spike they weren’t expecting.

The varying power outputs created some alarming speed differentials on track, and the sport’s organizers have tweaked the energy deployment rules somewhat for qualifying to ameliorate the problem. However, the fix has slowed the cars even more during the one part of the weekend they’re supposed to be completely flat-out.

Where do we go from here?

Next year, the V6 is being turned up to 563 hp (420 kW), while the electric motor will be turned down from 469 hp (350 kW) to 402 hp (300 kW), except in boost mode. But making the engine more powerful means making it thirstier. Unfortunately, asking teams to redesign their cars for next year to include larger fuel tanks would be prohibitively expensive for most under the current $215 million annual cost cap and would also make the cars even larger and heavier. So this week, the F1 Commission approved a plan to shorten races next year, from 190 miles (305 km) to 180 miles (290 km). In 2028, the power units will be rebalanced again to achieve a 60:40 split.

But by 2031 at the latest, it will all change again. The sport’s stakeholders—the FIA (which is in charge of the rules), FOM (in charge of the commercial rights), the teams, and the engine manufacturers—have come to a preliminary agreement. Instead of 1.6 L V6 turbos, the engines will be 3.0 L V8s, still with turbochargers. Despite a desire by some fans (and perhaps the FIA president) to bring back screaming naturally aspirated engines, it was specifically the noise that rules them out, as many of the new street circuits F1 races on have noise restrictions that would be obliterated by cars that were as loud as they were in the early 2000s.