Answer in brief
In F1 2026, Boost, Overtake Mode and Active Aero are three different systems. Boost depends on charge and the driver's decision, race Overtake depends on distance to a rival, and Active Aero depends on marked track zones.
Three systems replace the single DRS switch
In the 2026 season, a Formula 1 driver does not operate a single DRS switch — the term simply no longer appears in the text of the regulations. In its place, at least three systems with different logic now govern the power unit and the aerodynamics. The Boost button adds power-unit power at almost any moment of the lap — the decision rests entirely with the driver, provided that they have stored enough charge for it. Overtake Mode, by contrast, is available in the race and the sprint only near a rival — the regulations enable it only when the driver was close enough to the car ahead at a predetermined point on the track; in essence, this is the old DRS logic, carried over from the wing to the power unit. The third system, Active Aero (officially called Driver Adjustable Bodywork, DAB, in the regulations), changes the position of the front and rear wings, but does so according to zones marked out on a specific track, rather than according to the distance to a rival. The difference between these logics is not an abstraction: at the Japanese Grand Prix on 29 March 2026, Oliver Bearman lost control of his car shortly after activating Boost, and ahead of the Miami Grand Prix on 20 April 2026, FIA adjusted the energy limits of these systems; both episodes are examined below. What follows is what stands behind each name, how they differ from one another, and what happened in Japan, when the speed difference — caused by different energy-usage tactics and an activated Boost — grew so large that the driver could not control the car.
Chassis, mass and fuel: the fixed frame the three systems operate in
Before looking at what the driver switches themselves, it is worth understanding the frame of the car that stays fixed for the whole season. Under the regulations, the wheelbase does not exceed 3400 mm, and the maximum body width is 1900 mm. The minimum mass of the car is 724 kg plus the nominal mass of the tyre set outside qualifying and sprint qualifying, and 726 kg plus tyre mass in those two sessions: the nominal tyre mass is added in both cases, and the only difference is the base figure. Fuel for the 2026 power units must consist entirely of Advanced Sustainable components — of certified origin, not from food-grade feedstock, but from waste or non-biological renewable feedstock, with a calculated reduction in CO2 emissions relative to conventional petrol under the methodology of the EU renewable energy directive. These figures are not switched by the driver and do not change from lap to lap — they form the backdrop against which Boost, Overtake and Active Aero operate.
Boost: independent of a rival, but limited by charge and FIA caps
Boost is the simplest of the three systems in terms of activation logic, but not the most unconditional in terms of power. The regulations define it as a mode that the driver activates themselves and that sustains or increases the power draw of the power unit's ERS-K. Formula1.com describes Boost as a button that can be pressed at any point on the lap — with no requirement on distance to a rival, unlike Overtake Mode, but on condition that the driver has managed to store sufficient charge for it. There is no detector and no activation zone here: the decision on when to press it rests entirely with the driver. Boost does still have limits, and they bear directly on overtaking attempts. In Low Grip Conditions, the regulations allow Boost only to keep power from dropping, not to increase it. According to Autosport, under the revisions FIA announced on 20 April 2026 ahead of the Miami Grand Prix, the maximum power increase from Boost in the race was limited to +150 kW. The same change also limited the MGU-K's overall power output around the lap: 350 kW was retained only in what are called the “key acceleration zones,” with 250 kW for the rest of the lap. Whether these specific figures remained unchanged at later rounds of the season has not been verified against the available sources: the regulations expressly allow FIA to change such limits ahead of each round. It was the activation of Boost that served as the trigger in the episode with Bearman's crash in Japan (below) — but, as the sources show, not because the system behaved unpredictably, but because the driver misjudged the resulting speed difference.
Overtake Mode: DRS logic carried over into the power unit
Overtake Mode is a direct functional replacement for DRS's proximity requirement, but it works not with the wing, but with electrical power, and the rival condition does not always apply. In the race and the sprint, the regulations set three reference points on the track for it: the Detection Line, where the distance to the car ahead is recorded; the Activation Line, where activation becomes available; and the Detection Gap, the permitted time deficit beyond which the system will not activate on that lap. In addition, in the race and the sprint, Overtake is disabled under the Safety Car and in low-grip conditions, and also until the race leader crosses the Detection Line for the first time (Article B7.2.2 of the sporting regulations). In practice and qualifying, the condition is different: there, Overtake is active the whole time it is enabled by the regulations in principle — with no link at all to the distance to a rival. Formula1.com describes the race condition more simply for fans: Overtake is available if the driver ended up within a second of the car ahead at the detection point (“within a second of the car in front at the detection point”). With Overtake Mode active, the power unit switches to a different speed-versus-maximum-power curve, with a higher cutoff threshold than without it. In the race and the sprint, an activated Overtake also grants the right to additional Recharge — up to 0.5 MJ per lap on top of the usual limit, under the technical regulations as currently in force (5 August 2026). In any case, the absolute power ceiling of the ERS-K unit does not exceed 350 kW.
Active Aero (DAB): the wings switch, but not because of a rival
Active Aero is what the regulations call Driver Adjustable Bodywork: the front and rear wings, each with two fixed positions, Corner Mode and Straight Mode. The switch is carried out by a standard FIA onboard unit on the driver's command, and the entire transition between positions takes no more than 400 ms. Full activation is when both wings are in Straight Mode; partial activation is when only the front wing moves to Straight Mode while the rear stays in Corner Mode — a mode provided specifically for low-grip conditions. The key difference from Overtake and from the old DRS is that activating DAB does not require a rival nearby: the system is active wherever an Activation Zone or Low Grip Activation Zone is marked out on a given track; FIA provides all competitors with the boundaries of these zones no later than four weeks before the round, and the start of each zone on the track is marked with signs. Formula1.com explains this difference in simple terms for fans: the wings open on the straights in roughly the same way DRS used to open, but, unlike DRS, this does not require being within a second of the car ahead.
The Monaco Grand Prix: where Active Aero is switched off, but Overtake is not
The layout of a track decides which of the systems are even available on a given weekend. In its preview ahead of the 2026 Monaco Grand Prix, Formula1.com reported that FIA had decided to lock Active Aero in Corner Mode for the entire weekend for safety reasons: the Monaco circuit, with its tight corners and almost no straights, is built exactly that way, the source explains. Among the factors FIA takes into account at all when marking out activation zones, the outlet separately names a minimum zone duration of more than three seconds, a margin of grip, and control of speed on the approach to the next corner — but the outlet itself does not state that the Monaco circuit fails specifically on these criteria; this is presented as a separate list of general factors. At the same time, Overtake Mode at Monaco was not disabled — it remains available, but with a restrictive engine map, “Rev 1,” which lowers the MGU-K power-deployment threshold starting from 200 km/h instead of the usual roughly 290 km/h. Exactly how this decision played out over the course of the actual race was not verified within this piece — only Formula1.com's pre-race announcement was used. The case still illustrates the main point well: aerodynamics and the power unit are governed by different rules and can be switched on and off independently on one and the same track.
The Japan crash: what happens when closing speed grows too fast
On 29 March 2026, at the Japanese Grand Prix, on the approach to Turn 13 of the Suzuka circuit (Spoon Curve), Oliver Bearman lost control of his car at a speed of 308 km/h. According to Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu, the speed difference between his car and Franco Colapinto's car at that point on the lap was already about 20 km/h — because of the two teams' different energy-usage tactics; once Bearman activated Boost, the gap grew and, according to data FIA subsequently confirmed, reached 45 km/h. Komatsu himself commented on the moment with the words: “The closing speed was massive, and he just misjudged it.” The broadcast footage of the episode itself was not examined for this piece — only the speed data published by Motorsport.com and the team representative's quote are relayed here, without describing how it looked on the broadcast footage. Autosport writes that after the 20 April meeting, FIA's statement singled out safety and links this to the role of closing speed in Bearman's crash; FIA itself, as quoted in the same article, explains the revisions as an effort to reduce excessive closing speed while preserving overtaking opportunities.
What FIA changed ahead of the Miami Grand Prix
On 20 April 2026, three weeks after the crash in Japan, FIA announced revisions to the energy limits ahead of the Miami Grand Prix, in a statement cited by Autosport. Formula1.com classes super clipping as a method of energy recovery: part of the energy is harvested at the end of a straight, while the driver is still holding full throttle. Ahead of Miami, the super clipping level was raised from 250 to a maximum of 350 kW. As Autosport explains, this lets drivers recover more energy without lifting off the throttle, while FIA, as quoted in the same article, wants to cut this mode down to roughly 2-4 seconds per lap. At the same time, the energy-recovery limit in qualifying sessions was reduced from 8 to 7 MJ, and the maximum power increase from the Boost button in the race was capped at +150 kW. FIA also announced that, starting from the Miami Grand Prix, it would begin testing a “poor start” detection system with automatic forcing of the MGU-K unit — as of the date of Autosport's report, this was a testing plan, not something already carried out. These revisions did not touch the absolute electrical power ceiling of the ERS-K unit, 350 kW: it remains the same under the technical regulations currently in force (5 August 2026). The term “super clipping” itself does not appear in the text of the regulations, but FIA uses it in its own statements. The specific figures for these limits should not be considered fixed for the whole season — the regulations expressly allow FIA to change them further, right up to the start of or during a round.
One overtaking attempt on a single lap: what happens and when
Following the logic of the regulations, rather than a specific onboard episode that was reviewed, the order of the systems on a lap in a race or sprint looks like this. If a section of the track is marked as an Activation Zone, the driver can move the wings into Straight Mode regardless of whether a rival is nearby — this reduces drag on the straight. If, at the same time, the distance to the car ahead at the preceding Detection Line was less than the permitted Detection Gap, Overtake Mode becomes available at the Activation Line — the power unit switches to a power curve with a higher cutoff threshold. Boost remains available at any moment in that same section, independently of the first two conditions, but only if the driver has stored charge for it. The difference between the systems lies precisely in what each activation depends on: DAB depends on track marking, Overtake in the race and sprint depends on distance to a rival, and Boost depends on the driver's own decision and their charge. It is exactly the fact that these three systems have different activation logic that is the reason to look at them separately, rather than lumping everything together under the old label “DRS.”
Practical checklist
- Boost is a button that can be pressed at almost any point on the lap with no rival condition, but it needs stored charge; per Autosport's report of 20 April 2026, the race power increase from it was capped at +150 kW.
- Overtake Mode activates at the Activation Line in the race and sprint if the driver was closer to a rival than the permitted Detection Gap at the preceding Detection Line; in practice and qualifying it works the whole time without that condition.
- Active Aero (DAB) switches the wings according to pre-marked zones on a specific track, not according to distance to a rival.
- The absolute ERS-K power ceiling is 350 kW, and this figure has not changed since the start of the season; per Autosport's report of 20 April 2026, FIA's pre-Miami revisions touched other limits instead: the super clipping threshold (250→350 kW), the qualifying recovery limit (8→7 MJ), the race Boost increase (+150 kW), and MGU-K output around the lap itself (350 kW only in the “key acceleration zones,” 250 kW for the rest of the lap).
- MGU-H is not used in 2026-spec cars: the regulations permit only the internal combustion engine and the ERS-K unit for propulsion and energy recovery.
Questions and answers
Was DRS simply renamed Overtake Mode for 2026?
No. The term DRS has disappeared from the regulations entirely, and the “must be near a rival” logic moved not into the wing, but into the power unit — that is Overtake Mode, and this condition applies only in the race and the sprint. Aerodynamics, meanwhile, is switched by a separate system, Active Aero, which is not tied to a rival at all.
Does the MGU-H remain in the 2026 power units?
No. The regulations expressly permit only the internal combustion engine and the ERS-K unit to be used for propelling the car and for energy recovery; the term “MGU-H” does not appear even once in the text of the technical regulations in the 5 August 2026 edition.
How long did it take FIA to change the energy limits after the crash in Japan?
About three weeks: the crash happened on 29 March 2026, and FIA announced the limit revisions on 20 April 2026, ahead of the Miami Grand Prix.
Who decides which section of a track Active Aero can be used on?
FIA sets the boundaries of the Activation Zone and the Low Grip Activation Zone for each track and provides them to all competitors no later than four weeks before the round; the start of each zone on the track is marked with signs.