The Federation has avoided taking radical countermeasures in the face of concerns for the inaugural race. The Melbourne circuit is one of the most critical from an energy perspective, full of straights that increase consumption and lacking heavy braking zones to recharge the battery, a mix that will force management techniques even in qualifying. The FIA has therefore limited the energy recoverable on a flying lap on Saturday, but without going to the maximum that the regulations would have allowed.
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The numbers
The FIA has finally published the document with the energy constraints for the Australian Grand Prix, parameters that, by regulation, teams receive at least four weeks before the event. For free practice, no restrictions are planned, allowing for recharging up to 8.5 MJ of energy every lap. In the race, however, the number is reduced to 8 MJ, except for scenarios where overtake mode can be used. During duels, those within 1 second of the car ahead will be able to recharge an extra half Megajoule of energy each lap, to be spent during the attack phase to exploit the greater electrical power allowed beyond 290 km/h.
The situation changes for qualifying, for which the Federation has limited the rechargeable energy per lap, to avoid drivers having to do too much management outside of braking. The FIA has set the energy recoverable on a flying lap on Saturday at 7 MJ, without going as far as the 5 MJ that the regulations allow to be imposed for up to 8 Grands Prix in a season. Finally, the out-lap from the pits is an exception, in which the battery can be recharged up to 8.5 MJ to have it ready for the timed lap.
| Rechargeable energy per lap | |
| Free practice | 8.5 MJ |
| Qualifying, out-lap | 8.5 MJ |
| Qualifying | 7.0 MJ |
| Race, base mode | 8.0 MJ |
| Race, overtake mode | 8.5 MJ |
Power constraints
Another theme of the new cars is the reduction of electrical power on the straight by the control unit to save energy, a practice limited by the regulations. For Australia, the FIA has decided not to impose further constraints, mandating a maximum reduction in electrical power of 150 kW at the start of each straight and then another 50 kW every second. The only exception is the slowest part of the third sector between turns 11 and 13, where all 350 kW of electrical power can be suddenly cut.
