By Aniela Coughlin
~ 7 minutes
Formula 1 has been given many names. From the “Pinnacle of Motorsport” to the “Motorsport soap opera,” its high stakes and thrilling speeds have earned it many nicknames. Most recently, Formula 1 has also been dubbed a “tech lab on wheels”.1 This nickname is well-deserved, as the innovations brought to F1 in order to make the cars quicker or more efficient often carry over into every-day road vehicles. One example of this is the carbon-fibre monocoque chassis introduced by McLaren in 1981. This light but durable material is now ubiquitous; it is the basis of almost every supercar and is used in everything from spacecraft to golf clubs. This leads us to reflect on just how much Formula 1 has influenced our daily lives, and how different our world would be today without it. For decades, Formula 1 has served as a model for elite performance in road vehicles and has sparked a passion for engineering in many people.
But with this attention comes a great responsibility for Formula 1. It must set the standard toward which the rest of the automobile industry strives. With global warming becoming an increasingly pressing issue in the global community, Formula 1 must find ways to keep racing at high speeds that are also sustainable for our environment. In 2026, Formula 1 seeks to radically change its regulations in order to reach its goal of going 100% carbon neutral by 2030.2 What do these new regulations mean for the sport, and, most importantly, what do they mean for us?
The new 2026 regulations encompass a wide variety of details, from aerodynamics to tyre size, and everything in between. Most of these will not have a tremendous impact on everyday road cars, as these regulations are focused more on getting these supercars to be even more “super”. One major change that does impact standard vehicles, though, is the new fuel regulations. Formula 1 cars use a hybrid of electric and hydrocarbon-fueled energy. Each of the (soon to be) eleven Formula 1 teams outsources their fuel to a third party. Ferrari famously partners with Shell, for instance, and Aston Martin works with Aramco. Throughout 2025, the petrol used in Formula 1 cars had to be ten percent bioethanol, a green alcohol fuel derived from biomass. But this requirement goes away in 2026, when the teams will have to supply their cars with 100% sustainable fuels.3 This means that no fossil carbons may be used, and the teams must produce net-zero carbon cars: they will have to extract carbon from pre-existing sources, instead of adding more into the atmosphere.
What does this look like? Well, air-capture technologies for carbon already exist, but these are inefficient since only 0.04% of the air is carbon dioxide. Teams are instead looking toward non-food bio sources of carbon, such as excess from the wood or paper industries, or municipal waste. A caveat to this, however, is that they cannot compete with existing food sources. In an interview about Formula 1’s sustainable fuel plans, F1’s chief technology officer Pat Symonds explains,
“You can make this fuel out of potato peelings, but not out of potatoes.“
Sustainable fuels are, ironically, still not financially sustainable options for “layman” car manufacturers. 100% sustainable fuel is much more expensive to produce than standard fossil fuels, which cost about $63 per barrel compared with the $300 for the sustainable fuel. Add that to the cost of experimenting with and researching new technologies, and you are looking at a budget that far exceeds what the average car manufacturer can afford. This is why Formula 1 is the optimal test hamster for sustainable technologies: its teams deal with huge budgets, which are designed to be spent on innovative technologies. Plus, in Formula 1, the goal is to produce the most efficient and high-performing car possible, not the cheapest. With some luck, these innovations in the way carbon fuels are sourced in Formula 1 will trickle down into the “real world.”
Another major change to occur in 2026 is the removal of the MGU-H unit. This component is part of the Energy Recovery System on an F1 car, along with the MGU-K and the energy store. The energy store is essentially a large lithium-ion battery that stores energy recovered from breaking or excess exhaust. The MGUs (Motor Generator Units) act as both motors and generators, depending on what the car necessitates. This works because providing energy to the motors causes them to spin, and spinning the motors causes them to generate energy. The MGU-K (Motor Generator Unit Kinetic) works alongside the car’s engine to provide extra power to the car. It harvests excess energy from braking, when the MGU-K is spinning solely due to the rotational energy of the wheels, and the still-rotating magnets inside the motor provide energy to the battery for later use. The MGU-H (Motor Generator Unit Heat), to be removed in 2026, supplies the same energy storage system. It works alongside the turbocharger so that when exhaust gas passes through the generator turbine of the MGU-H, the turbine spins, transforming kinetic energy into electric energy. The MGU-H can also supply electric energy to the turbocharger, and thus eliminate turbo lag in the engine.5
The MGU-H does serve a purpose, but only in the context of Formula 1. Everyday road cars do not travel at fast enough speeds to require a component to diminish turbolag; in fact, most hybrid cars do not have a turbocharger at all. This, coupled with the fact that the MGU-H is incredibly expensive to produce, is why the MGU-H will be removed from F1 cars in 2026.
But with the switch to a 50/50 ICE-electric engine in 2026, F1 cars still need an energy recovery system to boost performance and efficiency. The MGU-K is much more affordable to produce than the MGU-H because it is mechanically simpler. To compensate for the loss of the MGU-H, the MGU-K output nearly triples in 2026, with a jump from 120 kWh to 350 kWh. The impacts of this on the “real” world are that now everyday road cars have a realistic exemplar of what an efficient hybrid car looks like, and can look to F1 cars to minimize their carbon footprint.
Formula 1 is more than just a sport. At the pinnacle of speed, its cars are the role models for the maximized efficiency and performance to which most cars aspire. F1 cars have the responsibility to set the example for others by reducing their carbon footprint, and this is just what the 2026 regulations aim to do. With the implementation of 100% sustainable fuel and increased reliance on electrical power, Formula 1 is pioneering technologies that have the potential to lead the world to a more sustainable future.
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