Power Modes
VerifiedHow a 2026 driver manages and deploys stored electrical power across a lap, including a manual boost for attack or defence.
2026 cars give the driver control over how stored electrical energy is deployed across a lap, balancing it against what's been harvested under braking. Spend too freely too early and there's less left when it matters later.
On top of that base deployment, a manual override, sometimes called overtake mode, hands the driver a short burst of extra electrical power to help an attack or a defence, echoing the role DRS used to play before 2026.
It pairs with the aero side of the 2026 rules: a driver switching to the low-drag 'straight' mode on a straight is a separate, aero call, covered under DRS & Active Aero. Power modes are the energy-deployment half of that same 2026 story.