About F1

Tyre and energy management

Watching a race on TV, it's easy to assume every driver is pushing as hard as possible on every lap. Usually they aren't. For most of a Grand Prix, drivers are driving a little below the limit to look after the tyres, the battery, the fuel and the car's temperatures. The skill is in losing as little time as possible while doing it, and knowing when to stop saving and attack.

Managing the tyres

Tyres lose grip faster when they're pushed hard, especially when they overheat. A driver who is a few tenths slower per lap can often make a set last many more laps, which might save a whole pit stop. See tyre wear and degradation for what's going on inside the tyre.

Ways drivers look after their tyres include:

  • being gentle on the throttle out of slow corners, so the rear tyres don't spin and overheat,
  • avoiding locking a wheel under braking,
  • taking fast corners a little more smoothly so the tyres slide less, and
  • dropping back from the car in front to get out of the dirty air, which makes the tyres slide more.

Engineers will often give their driver a target lap time, called a delta, and ask them to stick to it. The driver might hear "target 1:34.5" and drive to that, even if the car could go faster.

Managing energy in 2026

The 2026 cars get roughly half of their power from the electrical side of the power unit. The battery can store only a small amount of energy compared with how much the car uses in a lap, so the driver and the car's software are constantly deciding when to use energy and when to recover it.

Energy goes back into the battery mainly under braking, when the motor on the rear axle acts as a generator. The FIA sets a limit on how much energy can be recovered per lap at each circuit. Some tracks have few heavy braking zones, so the cars struggle to recover as much as they'd like.

That leads to a few habits you'll hear about:

  • Lift and coast. The driver lifts off the throttle a little before the normal braking point and lets the car roll. It costs a tiny amount of time but saves fuel and gives the system a chance to recover energy. It's been part of F1 for years, but it's more common with the new cars.
  • Clipping. If the battery runs low before the end of a straight, the electric power cuts back and the car stops accelerating, or even slows, before the braking zone. Drivers and engineers try to plan energy use so this happens as little as possible, and especially not on the straight where they're trying to pass or defend.
  • Choosing where to spend it. Using energy on the straight before a good overtaking spot is worth more than using it elsewhere. A driver under attack may save energy on one part of the lap so they can defend on another.

Drivers also have a boost button that lets them use extra stored energy when they choose, and the overtake mode gives a driver close behind another car more energy to work with. Both are part of the tactical picture: a driver who uses everything to make a pass may be left short on the next straight, and an opponent who saved energy can then fight back. The details of how the electrical system works are on the energy recovery and the battery page.

Managing fuel

There's been no refuelling during races since 2010, so every car starts with all the fuel it needs to finish. Teams don't want to carry more than necessary because extra weight makes the car slower, so they often start with slightly less fuel than a flat-out race would need and plan for the driver to save some along the way. Safety car periods help, since the cars burn much less fuel when they're going slowly.

Lift and coast is the main way to save fuel, as well as using engine settings that use less of it. You'll sometimes hear an engineer give a driver a fuel target for a lap. Read more on the fuel page.

Managing temperatures

Engines and brakes need cooling, and a car stuck behind another one gets less clean air through its radiators and brake ducts. On hot days, a driver following closely may be told to drop back a little to let temperatures come down. If they don't, the team may have to turn the engine down, which costs more time than backing off would have.

Knowing when to push

Management only works if the driver still has something left when it counts. Common moments to push are:

  • the laps just before a pit stop (the in lap) and just after it (the out lap), when the undercut or overcut is being decided,
  • after a safety car restart, and
  • the final laps, when there's nothing left to save for.

A team will often say "push now" or "no more management" on the radio. That's the cue that the race is on.

Why fans sometimes find it frustrating

There's a long-running argument about how much management is too much. Some fans and drivers feel that races where everyone is saving tyres or energy don't show drivers at their best. Others point out that managing a car over a race distance has always been part of motor racing. The sport adjusts the rules from time to time to try to strike a balance.