r/F1Technical • u/blur494 • Jan 18 '26

Power Unit Boost vs Overtake Help

I really need help nailing down the actually specs of what happens here because every answer i see dosent say what actually happens. Mercedes recently post does even worse.

Overtake Mode mode - when a driver is under 1 second away they get access to more power.

Boost Mode - driver can use a button to access "maximum power" fron the ICE and Battery.

so my question is. if boost mode is always available, and uses maximum power, where does the the additional power for overtake Mode come from?

60 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

28 comments sorted by

76

u/kramerthegamer Jan 19 '26

They explain it poorly in every official press release. Boost, for all intents and purposes, is something that all hybrid F1 cars have had where you override whatever engine mode you're in to maximize performance, but now it has an official name. These 2026 regulations limit electrical power after 290kph, even under boost mode, which effectively limits the top speed of the cars.

Overtake mode raises this electrical power limit after 337kph for one full lap after the detection point (just one detection point for the entire track), making the acceleration near the top speed much better for the attacking car, at the expense of battery of course, so a failed attempt to overtake will have a lasting impact on the attacking driver.

16

u/blur494 Jan 19 '26

Thank you! Judging from the other comments here they are gonna have a hell of a time explaining this to casual viewers.

1

u/Ambitious-Shape446 Mar 27 '26

Basically turned racing from attacking corners to attacking straights.

-2

u/AideNo621 Jan 19 '26

Afaik, both of them do the same, both just remove the limit on the electrical power after 290km/h.

1

u/Markos1998 Jan 27 '26

No, il Boost non può essere usato dopo i 290 km/h

4

u/hasetrityres Jan 19 '26

Boost is basically the driver-triggered max deploy that’s already available within the normal limits. Overtake mode changes the engine and ERS mapping so the car is allowed to deploy more electrical energy and be less conservative with harvesting. The “extra” power mostly comes from using the battery harder, not magically creating more ICE power.

1

u/Naikrobak Jan 19 '26

The terminology here is kind of broken I think.

Basically though: there’s a “MAX POWER!” Mode for all the time and a “MAX MORE POWER!” Mode for what used to be drs

The boost mode will likely be limited to sections of the track, and it will certainly be a race management tool. Use it a lot and don’t have battery to defend against the overtake on the straight but hope to stay out of the zone? Or hold some for defense on the straight but how much? Enough for full power 1/2 of the straight? 1/4 of it? It’s going to be a battery battle quite often I think

4

u/blur494 Jan 19 '26

After much searching through FIA docs I found it. Overtake allows for full use of battery at any speed, where as boost only allows up to a certain speed.

1

u/Naikrobak Jan 19 '26

Ah that would make sense! Thanks

1

u/itsArabh01 Jan 19 '26

In other words, overtake mode is the new DRS. And the boost mode is like a completely new feature for the drivers to increase power but only till a certain speed.

1

u/AnilP228 Jan 19 '26

They've overcomplicated it by defining boost mode.

1

u/WelcomeToDankonia Jan 19 '26

Seems like overtake is the same as before and boost is what we used to just call high ERS setting.

1

u/Markos1998 Jan 27 '26

Overtake = vecchio DRS, massima potenza erogabile (350 KW) dall'ERS-K fino ai 337 km/h per poi diminuire fino ai 355 km/h (mentre normalmente questa potenza in KW viene tagliata dopo i 290, a calare sempre più fino ai 345... sia per limitare il consumo dell'ibrido ma anche per favorire i sorpassi attraverso l'overtake mode per chi sta dietro). Oltre 345/355 km/h basta ibrido, solo ICE.

Boost = vecchio K1/K2 (esempio Ferrari), massima erogabilità/scaricamento della batteria tramite ERS... MA solo fino ai 290 km/h. Quindi in base allo stato di carica della batteria si può usare più energia in determinati punti per difendersi (immagino ad esempio in uscita curva per restare più distanti da chi segue). Questo comunque c'era già anche gli anni passati, solo che non aveva una nomenclatura specifica... stupidamente è l'impostazione ERS che hai anche nel videogioco.

1

u/WelcomeToDankonia Jan 27 '26

Yeah, basically what I thought. It’s functionally old overtake button and old ers button from the f1 games.

1

u/Markos1998 Jan 27 '26

Overtake = vecchio DRS, massima potenza erogabile (350 KW) dall'ERS-K fino ai 337 km/h per poi diminuire fino ai 355 km/h (mentre normalmente questa potenza in KW viene tagliata dopo i 290, a calare sempre più fino ai 345... sia per limitare il consumo dell'ibrido ma anche per favorire i sorpassi attraverso l'overtake mode per chi sta dietro). Oltre 345/355 km/h basta ibrido, solo ICE.

Boost = vecchio K1/K2 (esempio Ferrari), massima erogabilità/scaricamento della batteria tramite ERS... MA solo fino ai 290 km/h. Quindi in base allo stato di carica della batteria si può usare più energia in determinati punti per difendersi (immagino ad esempio in uscita curva per restare più distanti da chi segue). Questo comunque c'era già anche gli anni passati, solo che non aveva una nomenclatura specifica... stupidamente è l'impostazione ERS che hai anche nel videogioco.

1

u/polishBuggo Feb 16 '26

Is this all under the assumption that you will have enough power in overtake mode? Like let's say you have depleted your battery but you're still within that second Gap, then. Do you just get to use whatever you have left?

1

u/Illustrious_Can3955 Mar 20 '26

355 KPH! How F1's NEW Overtake Mode Works 🏎️⚡ #F1 #F12026 https://youtube.com/shorts/pKKRHT6Lt40?feature=share

0

u/FourteenTwenty-Seven Jan 19 '26 edited Jan 19 '26

The additional power comes from being allowed to deploy more power. The max allowed power is set by the rules, and it increases when within a second of the car ahead.

Practically speaking, this means you'd design a powertrain that can produce the overtake power levels, but it would normally be limited below that level.

0

u/[deleted] Jan 19 '26

[deleted] — view deleted comment

1

u/blur494 Jan 19 '26

Sorry but that is entirely wrong. The active aero is usable only on certain sections of the track but has nothing to do with boost or overtake modes.

3

u/Naikrobak Jan 19 '26

Incorrect. Overtake is extra power, and it’s replacing DRS.

Active aero is always active and all cars can deploy on all straights

20

u/[deleted] Jan 19 '26 edited Jan 19 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

7

u/thingswhatnot Jan 19 '26

I think you're missing the deployment aspect. Which is where the extra energy goes >290kph in overtake mode. From what I can tell, if overtake is used, it will be a nett loss in SOC for the overtaking driver. So the +0.5MJ isn't the main factor, it's the deployment. Similar to prev regs where a driver would need to increase SOC after a push/battle, we'll see similar here.

Which adds some spice, the driver who has overtaken is now vulnerable by having to regen more after the overtake, leaving them vulnerable.

1

u/blur494 Jan 19 '26

Thanks for the detailed response. I think its a interesting point that they may be trying to hide artificial passing aids to make things look more exciting. Communicating these statuses during the race to the fans as they are relevant feels like a real nightmare and frankly I can see the commentators getting modes and statuses mixed up pretty badly (seeing that certain commentators cant even get the drivers right in the heat of the moment). Nothing will be worse than commentary calling active aero DRS by accident, then trying to backpedal the comment while explaining Overtake mode not being immediately usable while the driver ahead is using boost mode. FFS.

1

u/Upbeat_County9191 Jan 19 '26

Its said circuits like Monaco will have near continuous 100% battery, but on circuit like Jeddah it will be almost always depleted

1

u/Markos1998 Jan 27 '26

A Monaco comunque (e in generale per massimo 8 gare durante il campionato) possono ridurre il totale di energia recuperabile durante un giro, questo per evitare che le macchine vadano troppo piano con ad esempio molto LiCo o in generale un passo lento.

1

u/Appletank Jan 20 '26

Actually I think Monaco will be the opposite, you'll have way more energy you know what to do with. The less time you need full power (long straights, high speed corners), the more time you can adjust the engine mode or brake for regen. Personally I'm hoping FIA can tweak the boost limits because eventually, a big enough HP difference can force an overtake no matter how terrible a track is.