The proposed alteration to shorten the races by 15km in 2027 to reflect the next season's anticipated power unit regulations has been approved by the Formula 1 Commission.

On Monday, the F1 Commission in London confirmed that it would cut the standard grand prix length from 305km to 290km (with FIA approval via the World Motor Sport Council) in order to make it cheaper to accommodate chassis changes to accept the revised output from the new engine components.

They already knew that for 2027 the focus was going to be on the internal combustion engine increase the output and reduce the electrical output to rebalance the formula and cut back on superclipping and energy harvesting during the race.

Meanwhile, the ICE will be upscaled to 420kW (564 horsepower), with the maximum power delivered by the MGU-K decreased to 300kW – while overtaking power will stay at 350kW. In order to scale up the engine, the flow of fuel to the engine was increased by five percent to provide the desired increase in power.

Rather than grow the volume of fuel tanks to accommodate the higher flow rate of fuel, the FIA and FOM has decided to cut the length of races next year in an attempt to make sure the drivers don't find themselves out of fuel at the end of the race. That will shave a maximum of three laps from most of the tracks.

It is uncertain whether the races will stay shortened for 2028, as the powertrain regulations will be updated once more that year. During 2028 the ICE power will once again increase to 450kW and fuel flow rate overall will grow by 13% to deliver the 60/40 split of combustion to electric power delivery, which will require a larger fuel tank.

Written by

Tanu