FIA Slows Monaco With Special 2026 Power Limits

The FIA will run the 2026 Monaco Grand Prix under a Monaco-only power restriction, banning straight mode and mandating a special "Rev 1" engine map to cut straight-line speed on safety grounds.

The change is aimed directly at the risk created by the new cars on Monaco’s wall-lined layout. With short straights, heavy braking zones and slow corners, the circuit makes energy harvesting relatively easy, which means drivers could otherwise have too much electrical power available and arrive at corner entries far faster than the track safely allows.

Under the required Rev 1 setting, MGU-K deployment starts tapering from its 350kW cap at 200km/h. In the standard Base mode used elsewhere, that reduction does not begin until 290km/h. At Monaco, that means cars will not be allowed to use battery deployment once they reach 300km/h.

Overtake mode will still be available, but it is also restricted. Even with that mode active, drivers will have 150kW left at 300km/h before deployment tapers to zero by 310km/h.

The significance of the change is sharpened by Monaco’s place on the 2026 calendar. It has the shortest power-limited distance of the season at 1,388 metres, compared with 1,885m at the Hungaroring and 2,278m at Interlagos, so it is the track where the FIA has judged the new rules most in need of speed control.

Drivers expect the restriction to make Monaco less awkward than some of the early races run under the 2026 package. Oliver Bearman, Haas driver, said it could feel "a bit more like last year, where we can just drive how we want, use the gears that we want, and not have to do any silly lift-and-coast and these things." He added: "I'm actually quite looking forward to it. It should be good."

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari driver, also expects Monaco to suit the new formula better than many other venues. "I think Monaco is actually going to be one of those races where these cars might be very good," he said. Leclerc pointed to the lighter cars as a benefit on the street circuit and said "the electric side is going to be a lot less big in Monaco" because the lap offers so many opportunities to recharge.

So while Monaco will be the first clear case of Formula 1 deliberately slowing the 2026 cars, the expectation in the paddock is that the restriction could also produce one of the cleanest early demonstrations of what the new rules are supposed to look like.