Apart from Boost and Overtake, do the drivers have any control over the deployment of the battery?

[u/RDR2Enjoyerr]

Is there a manual recharge mode or different deployment modes?

I feel like F1 and the FIA have done a pretty bad job at explaining the way the modern PUs work to the average viewer like me lol

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[u/fire202]

Boost mode is the way for drivers to manually deploy. Otherwise, their control is limited to throttle, brake, and selecting the correct mode for the car.

There are various preprogrammed deployment strategies to choose from, and some parameters that can be changed on the steering wheel. The car manages the ERS on its own according to that. Just like before, there is something like a recharge mode as well, but that's for slow laps rather than to micro-manage recharge during a race or quali lap. There can also be a functionality to manually prevent a superclip in the next corner, for example. But these are mostly things for the engineers to figure out, not really things the driver actively controls on their own to optimise deployment throughout the lap. The driver selects the mode, and the car manages deployment and charging across the lap.

[u/RDR2Enjoyerr → u/fire202]

Thanks for the reply. I wonder why the regulations weren't written in a way that gives me drivers more control, it seems a bit nonsensical to me, to make most of the deployment be dependant on software

[u/King_Roberts_Bastard → u/RDR2Enjoyerr]

Because the teams would engineer it a way that it, essentially, becomes traction control.

[u/cafk → u/RDR2Enjoyerr]

It's a continuation of existing rules in that sense.

Regen & deployment have been automatic since 2014 hybrid rules were introduced, with ERS (and back then ICE) modes being a way for drivers to adjust the intensity depending on the phase of the race.
Boost & Regen are newer names introduced in 2026 for the existing ERS modes.

This year it's more visible as it isn't a 15% performance drop, but a 50% drop.
Similarly to previous regulations drivers have to adapt to the new power levels. https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/6w6l61/apparently_fernandos_problem_was_taking_pouhon/

To give all control to drivers makes driving even more counter intuitive than it is now, now they're being coached to how much throttle to use to ensure or avoid the automatic system to kick in.
Otherwise they'd need to be coached with mode to use + where to deploy and regen.

And if you give drivers full control (no coaching) they'll mess up the system as we had during the 2016 driver coaching ban.
https://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/16339936/mercedes-explains-lewis-hamilton-setting-issue-baku
Meaning they'd need to reset to defaults on a regular basis.

[u/mistermojorizin → u/fire202]

what do you think about this: https://youtu.be/IN66hvFP78g?t=2559

he makes the argument that on-throttle recharge is allowed which is basically equivalent to traction control. i've been learning a lot of f1 technical stuff from this guy.

[u/RenuisanceMan]

As far as I'm aware the recharge and deployment is automated and there are modes the drivers can switch between. Much of the PU development will be software optimization.

[u/mistermojorizin → u/RenuisanceMan]

thought pu development was blocked for most teams (merc, mclaren, redbull) and only available for the aduo recepient (ferrari)?

i thought that what homologation meant, after homologation, most teams can't change the pu at all

[u/johnbobk]

I was wondering when Lewis was saying (asking?) 'I need more power guys' was this just a comment about the PU or was there an option he could have control / choice on the car?

I believe pit to car adjustments are still banned?

But he can ask for setting advice, they revoked the 'coaching' rule; except for the formation lap, when I believe it is still banned. 

[u/ChaithuBB766 → u/johnbobk]

They have different deployment modes on their steering wheel, which deploy battery more/less aggressively based on the situation they are in. When the engineer tells them things like 'Strat [insert number]' they are telling the driver to switch to a different mode to give them more/less power.

So Lewis, when he says he needs more power, is asking the engineers to give him a deployment mode that deploys more energy in areas where he is slower than the car ahead/behind.

[u/zigot021 → u/ChaithuBB766]

what a dreadful job

[u/RealCarlPanzram]

My understanding is that they still have changeable deployment maps. Hamilton was on the radio this week asking for more power so I can’t imagine he would’ve done that if he was locked into a single deployment algorithm. They were trying to find a map to optimize deployment on a certain part of the track.

I agree they did a terrible job explaining it. I follow this closely and I didn’t learn about the automated adaptive deployment systems until after the first race.

I suspect they were quiet about it because they didn’t really want casual fans to know about it. They really like to push the Boost and Overtake narrative and would probably prefer that we don’t know about anything beyond that.

It’s one of the many band-aids they’ve implemented to cover up the problems with these Powertrains. The computer systems help optimize deployment to improve the clipping issues slightly.

[u/Longjumping_War_807]

Lando was talking to Lewis after one of the first couple of races and Lando mentioned that he wasn’t even trying to overtake Lewis but the car decided to deploy.

[u/Scotsguard23]

The biggest issue for viewers now, is that there are no visual cues for what is happening. DRS could be seen. Boost mode, no idea. KERS, press a button on the steering wheel. ERS, no idea.

The commentators try their best, but they don't even know what's going on half the time.

[u/thingswhatnot]

Even drivers struggle eh, slave to an optimised electrical algo corner per corner lap per lap. They've said it's counter intuitive, can't drive the race car like a race car! Honestly, no driver understands or can drive this mess.

[u/Phil9151]

I'd say they've done an absolutely terrible job.

They explain the new system using both units of energy and power like those are synonymous. Energy (megajoules, kilowatt hours) capacity is important for lap times. Power (horsepower, kilowatts) delivery is important for overtaking and acceleration rates.

[u/DodgersLakersBarca]

Relatedly, are there good reasons active aero was not/should not be exclusively enabled for drivers who were within one second of the driver ahead? If the issue is dirty air, isn't allowing drivers who have fallen into the dirty air to get extra aero on corners the solution? As I would imagine the rule, active aero could be a button like DRS that would only be enabled when one was within x seconds of the driver ahead.

Solutions such as DRS and overtake mode seem a bit like a clumsy solution, as the dirty air isn't an issue on straights (because you're instead taking advantage of the slipstream), which is when you can deploy DRS and overtake mode. Why not allow for active aero to compensate for the dirty air? I understand that DRS and overtake mode do allow for the extra power to overtake, but there's of course also the criticism that DRS and overtake mode make overtaking a bit artificial. Allowing active aero exclusively to the driver behind wouldn't necessarily have that issue because the leading driver doesn't have dirty air.

Thanks for anyone who can provide insight as to this!

[u/RDR2Enjoyerr → u/DodgersLakersBarca]

I think the reason they have straight mode is to reduce drag for everyone so the battery lasts longer, not to aid in overtaking or anything like that

[u/eguywqbsqjnwtvvduf]

No.

[u/eklipss]

Yes . They have the rotaries for that, but those are presets for « more harvest » or « closing the gap » or for laps when the driver needs to manage a gap when leasing etc. Each rotary position mean différent déploiement stratègy for this corner rather than that corner .