Energy recovery and the battery
An F1 car's battery is charged on track, not plugged in. The electric motor (the MGU-K) works as a generator when the car is slowing down, turning the car's movement into electricity. That stored energy is then spent to add power when the driver accelerates.
In 2026 the electric motor is so strong that managing this energy has a big effect on lap times and racing. Fans hear words like harvesting, deploying and superclipping all weekend, and this page explains what they mean.
Harvesting and deploying
Harvesting (the FIA calls it recharge) is collecting energy. Deploying is spending it.
The battery only holds a small amount of energy, and the rules limit how much the car can harvest on each lap. A driver who uses the full 350 kW of the MGU-K can drain the battery in a matter of seconds on a long straight. So the car can't deploy full electric power everywhere. It has to choose.
Most of the time the car's control software makes those choices automatically, based on maps the team prepares for each circuit. The driver can step in by using boost, or by lifting off the throttle early.
Ways to recharge
Energy is collected in a few different ways:
- Braking. The MGU-K slows the rear wheels and generates electricity. This is the main source.
- Part throttle. When the driver isn't using full power, the engine can drive the MGU-K as a generator.
- Lift and coast. The driver lifts off the throttle before the braking zone and lets the car coast. The car harvests during that time. This is the only kind of recharge the driver controls directly.
- Superclipping. At full throttle, near the end of a straight, the engine keeps producing power but some of it is diverted into the MGU-K to charge the battery rather than drive the wheels. The car slows its acceleration, or even its speed, while the driver is still flat out.
Why cars slow down on the straights
If you watch onboard footage from 2026, you'll often see a car's speed level off or drop before the braking point, even with the throttle wide open. That's either the battery running low (deployment is being cut back) or the car superclipping to recharge.
This caused a lot of debate in the first part of the season. Drivers complained that qualifying laps were spoiled by long stretches of harvesting, and the big speed differences between cars that were deploying and cars that were harvesting led to some very high closing speeds. Oliver Bearman's heavy crash at the Japanese Grand Prix was the incident most often mentioned.
The changes made from Miami
The FIA, the teams and the power unit manufacturers agreed a package of changes that came in from the Miami Grand Prix in May 2026:
- The maximum energy that can be harvested on a qualifying lap was cut from 8 MJ to 7 MJ, and the FIA can set lower limits at up to 12 circuits.
- The peak power allowed while superclipping went up from 250 kW to 350 kW, so cars recharge faster and spend less time doing it. The target is roughly 2 to 4 seconds of superclipping per lap.
- In races, the MGU-K can deploy its full 350 kW only in key acceleration zones (from a corner exit to the next braking point). Elsewhere it's limited to 250 kW.
- Boost was capped at an extra 150 kW on top of whatever power the car is already producing.
Power limits are also reduced in wet conditions, to make the cars easier to control on a slippery track.
The rules on energy can be adjusted circuit by circuit, so the exact numbers vary through the season. The principles above stay the same.
Safety lights
Because the car carries a high-voltage battery, marshals and mechanics need to know whether it's safe to touch. Lights on the car show the state of the electrical system, and a car that has stopped with an electrical fault is treated with extra care until it's confirmed safe. See safety features on the car.