The FIA has changed the Formula 1 hybrid deployment rules for the Madrid Grand Prix after the opening day at the new Madring circuit exposed an unusual energy-management problem. The layout’s combination of technical corners and partial-throttle sections meant drivers could paradoxically be penalised for pushing harder, prompting race control to revise the electrical power-unit prescriptions before the rest of the weekend.
The new Madring has made a positive impression with the variety of its corners and the driving challenges it presents, but those same characteristics have also created complications. In several sections, drivers need to modulate the throttle rather than remain completely flat, and with the current generation of Formula 1 power units that can upset the energy-management strategy across an entire lap.
Why the Madring created a problem for F1 hybrid deployment
The issue comes from the way the current power-unit regulations govern electrical deployment. Whenever a car exceeds 210 km/h and the driver applies full throttle, the rules require the electric motor to operate at a minimum of 200 kW of power for one second before the control electronics can progressively reduce that output. In race conditions, the corresponding figure is 100 kW.
As drivers have pointed out on several occasions, this becomes problematic when they are searching for the limit. If a driver has to lift or modulate the accelerator through a fast corner, returning to full throttle can trigger significant battery usage. That can disrupt the planned energy management over the remainder of the lap.
The consequence is counter-intuitive. A driver who takes more risk and tries to gain time through a corner can end up consuming more electrical energy and then losing an even greater amount of time on the following straight. In those circumstances, consistency with the throttle can effectively be rewarded more than outright commitment.
The issue is particularly relevant given the wider importance of electrical deployment in the current Formula 1 power-unit formula. Ferrari has already experienced how energy management can influence performance, with previous analysis of the SF-26’s battery and energy deployment highlighting how much lap-time potential can depend on when electrical power is available.
Madrid circuit amplifies the energy-management problem
The design of the Madring magnifies this effect. Several corners place the cars close to the boundary between being taken flat-out and requiring the driver to partially lift the throttle. The spectacular Monumental section is one of the clearest examples, with cars operating close to the limit between full-throttle commitment and the need for accelerator modulation.
That creates an unusual challenge because even a small lift can have consequences beyond the corner itself. The driver may gain control or carry more confidence through the technical section, only for the power unit’s electrical deployment requirements to affect the energy available later in the lap.
The regulations, however, allow the FIA to identify specific sections of a circuit in its event notes where power units are exempted from the usual hybrid deployment requirements. Race control used that possibility in Madrid after analysing what happened during Friday practice.
The intervention adds another technical dimension to a weekend in which Ferrari and Mercedes have already been refining contrasting Madrid set-ups, with the unusual characteristics of the new circuit requiring teams to optimise more than conventional aerodynamic and mechanical balance.
FIA adds new hybrid exceptions after Friday practice
The document issued on Friday evening contains several changes compared with the version prepared before the Spanish Grand Prix. One of the main revisions increases the number of locations where the control electronics are permitted to cut all electrical power immediately when the driver returns to the throttle.
In those designated sections, the system no longer has to wait for the electric motor to operate for one second at a minimum of 200 kW before reducing the power, as would normally be required by the regulations.
More specifically, the FIA has added Turns 7-8 and Turns 10-11 to the list of exceptions. The double sequence at Turns 15-16 had already been included in the original document, while the exemption covering Turns 18-19 has now been extended as far as Turn 21.
These changes are designed to give the power-unit control strategy greater flexibility in parts of the circuit where throttle modulation would otherwise create an unnecessary energy penalty. For further technical background on Ferrari’s power-unit behaviour and electrical deployment, ScuderiaFans’ ADUO2 power and energy analysis explains why deployment characteristics can be as important as outright engine performance.
Higher speed thresholds introduced at Monumental and other corners
Race control has also identified sections where a higher speed threshold will apply before the mandatory one-second period of electric-motor usage is triggered. Under normal circumstances, that threshold is 210 km/h, but the figure has now been raised at three specific corners around the Madring.
At Turn 12, the Monumental, the minimum threshold has been increased to 260 km/h. At Turn 14 it has been raised to 250 km/h, while at Turn 16 the threshold is now 240 km/h.
The purpose is to prevent the electrical deployment obligation from being activated too easily in sections where cars may repeatedly move between full and partial throttle while travelling at very high speed. The revised thresholds should therefore reduce the risk of drivers consuming energy simply because they briefly return to full throttle while negotiating these demanding sequences.
FIA also allows electric power reset at Turns 12 and 19
A final change concerns Turns 12 and 19. At those points, teams will be permitted to reset electrical power after it has been reduced, potentially restoring it to its maximum value if required.
Taken together, the modifications relax several of the restrictions governing power-unit use in Madrid. The intention is to make energy management more flexible and avoid a situation in which drivers are discouraged from attacking the circuit because a small throttle adjustment could create a disproportionate battery penalty later in the lap.
The development is especially relevant at a venue where energy deployment was already expected to play an important role. Ferrari’s broader technical analysis throughout the 2026 season has repeatedly shown how hybrid management, aerodynamic efficiency and driver inputs can combine to influence the usable performance of the SF-26.
The FIA’s intervention therefore does not remove the technical challenge of managing electrical energy around Madring, but it should give the drivers more freedom to search for the limit through the circuit’s most demanding sections without being excessively penalised by the hybrid deployment rules. The hope is that the revised prescriptions will allow the cars to be driven more naturally while preserving the intended energy-management framework of the 2026 power units.
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