The FIA has confirmed multiple Formula One rule changes will come into effect ahead of next month’s Miami Grand Prix.
Formula 1 underwent a major overhaul in the post season that has led to concerns over driver safety.
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Ollie Bearman’s crash at the Japanese Grand Prix alerted F1 chiefs to the potential problems introduced by energy harvesting, which came into play this year.
FIA chiefs acknowledged the accident was caused by the increased closing speed of cars this year, with some drivers harvesting energy while others are going full throttle.
To combat that new rules have been introduced, including measures designed to reduce excessive closing speeds while maintaining overtaking opportunities.
The FIA met with drivers, team principals, CEOs of power unit manufacturers and Formula One Management before the changes were confirmed.
Many big-name stars have been vocal in their criticism of the changes that were made ahead of the 2026 season.
Oscar Piastri had raised safety fears, warning the introduction of two more cars from the new 11th team alongside a reduction in downforce “sounds like a recipe for disaster”.
Reigning champion Lando Norris and Max Verstappen also criticised the new regulations, with the former labelling the overtaking as “artificial”.
“We’ve come from the best cars ever made in Formula One, and the nicest to drive, to probably the worst. It sucks,” Norris said.
“Everyone knows what the issues are. It’s just the fact the engine is a 50-50 split and it just doesn’t work.”
The changes cover qualifying, races, wet conditions and starts and will come into effect ahead of the race in Miami on May 4.
Energy harvesting will be reduced from eight megajoules to seven and the hybrid power unit will be increased from 250kw to 350kw.
That should allow drivers to go at full speed for longer in qualifying.
While the boost button, which contributed to Bearman’s crash, will now be capped at 150kw, “limiting sudden performance differentials”.
The FIA said in a statement: “A number of refinements to the 2026 FIA Formula One World Championship regulations were agreed today during an online meeting between the FIA, Team Principals, CEOs of Power Unit Manufacturers and FOM.
“The final proposals presented during today’s meeting were the result of a series of consultations over the past few weeks between the FIA, technical representatives and extensive input from F1 drivers.
“Discussions around potential adjustments were based on data gathered from the first three events of the 2026 season.
“The 2026 regulations were developed and agreed in close partnership with the FIA, teams, OEMs, Power Unit Manufacturers, and FOM. Changes to the regulations were discussed against the backdrop of this collaboration.
“The proposals agreed today were as follows and will be implemented from Miami apart from the race start changes that will be tested in Miami and adopted following feedback and analysis.”
Piastri said sudden spikes in power was one area he was hoping would be addressed by the tweaks.
“Overall, these cars are very different to anything I have driven before, but we’ve known this would be the case since the new regulations were shared,” Piastri told McLaren’s website.
“It being so different is a new challenge for us as drivers, which isn’t a bad thing.
“These cars are also more unpredictable. You’ll have seen we often gets spikes of power which makes these cars do unexpected things.
“This is just one area of quite a few that needs to be looked at and changed in the imminent future, highlighted further by a few different incidents across the season so far.
“I know we are working closely with the FIA, F1 and other teams to ensure these things are being looked at to ensure safe, but fun and exciting racing for everyone.”
