About F1

The power unit

An F1 car's engine is called a power unit because it's more than an engine. It combines a petrol engine with an electric motor-generator and a battery, all controlled by electronics. The 2026 power unit gets roughly half of its power from each side.

The parts of a power unit

The FIA counts the power unit as several separate components:

  • The internal combustion engine (ICE). A 1.6-litre V6 with a single turbocharger. On its own it produces around 400 kW, a little over 500 horsepower.
  • The turbocharger. Uses exhaust gas to spin a compressor that forces more air into the engine.
  • The MGU-K (Motor Generator Unit, Kinetic). An electric motor connected to the crankshaft. It drives the rear wheels with up to 350 kW, and works in reverse as a generator to recover energy under braking.
  • The energy store. The battery that holds the recovered energy.
  • The control electronics, which manage how energy moves between the MGU-K and the battery.
  • The exhaust, plus a set of auxiliary parts such as pumps.

Put together, a 2026 car has something like 750 kW available when the battery is deploying at full power. That's around 1,000 horsepower, in a car that weighs less than 800 kg.

What changed in 2026

From 2014 to 2025, the power units had two motor-generators. The MGU-K worked on the crankshaft, and the MGU-H sat on the turbocharger, recovering energy from the exhaust heat and helping the turbo spin up. The MGU-H was very clever and very expensive, and it had almost no use on road cars, so it was removed for 2026. That decision helped bring new manufacturers into the sport.

To make up for it, the MGU-K is much bigger. It went from 120 kW to 350 kW, which takes the electric share of the car's power from about 20% to about 50%.

The engine now runs on 100% sustainable fuel, and the amount it can burn is limited by the energy in the fuel rather than its weight.

Why the electric side matters so much

The battery can only release energy it has collected, and the rules limit how much can be harvested on each lap. With an MGU-K this powerful, a driver can empty the battery quite quickly on a long straight. When that happens the car loses a big chunk of power, which is why you'll hear about cars "running out of battery" or "clipping" near the end of a straight.

So drivers and engineers spend a lot of effort deciding where to harvest energy and where to spend it. That's covered on energy recovery and the battery and overtake mode and boost.

Who makes them

Five manufacturers build power units in 2026: Mercedes, Ferrari, Honda, Red Bull Ford and Audi. Teams that don't make their own buy them from one of those suppliers. See engine manufacturers and customer teams for who supplies whom.

How many each driver can use

Power units are expensive, so each driver gets a limited number of each component for the whole season. Fitting more than the allowance leads to a grid penalty. Because 2026 is the first year of new engines, the FIA gave drivers one extra of most components this year. The details are on grid penalties.