Formula 1’s new Overtake Mode may not make overtaking as easy as the Drag Reduction System it is replacing, says Mercedes’ technical director James Allison.

However he expects other new features of the 2026 technical regulations will create opportunities for overtaking.

F1 cars will continue to use adjustable rear wings in 2026, and front wings will also be moveable. However drivers will now be able to exploit these at all times, within designated zones, regardless of whether they are within a second of another car.

The new Overtake Mode will allow drivers to harvest and deploy extra electrical energy when they are close to a rival. But Allison expects this will be less powerful than DRS was, and will also depend on whether a car is capable of generating the extra energy.

“The way in which it’s different is it doesn’t have anything to do with aerodynamics and it has instead everything to do with the hybrid system and the energy management within the hybrid system,” said Allison. “So it gifts you the opportunity, if your car is capable of it, of harvesting a bit more electrical energy each lap. And, because that electrical energy is then harvested, it can be used, and it can be used on the straights to help you a bit in terms of chasing down someone who is in front of you.

“Not only does it let you harvest a bit more electrical energy in the lap, it also lets you put that power down on the straights in a way that is a bit more advantageous to the trailing car than the leading car.

“Now, that is a useful thing for overtaking. [But] it’s not quite as powerful as DRS used to be.”

However Allison expects drivers will find ways to use the new Boost Mode available from the more powerful electric motors to attack their rivals.

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“There’s also a thing called the boost button where if the driver presses it then it just cancels all the automated electrical scheduling in the car and just gives it ‘full whack’. For as long as the battery is capable of doing so, you get the full might of that 350-kilowatt electric motor alongside everything that the petrol side of the internal combustion engine is capable of delivering.

“That is a fairly fearsome amount of power for as long as it’s capable of providing it. Of course you then might have to pay a price for that later on in the lap because you may have emptied your batteries, got past someone, only to find that they have hung onto a bit of their energy to maybe squirt by you later on. But it’s going to definitely mix things up as drivers learn how to juggle these opportunities that the scheduling of power and energy around the lap provide in this new regulation.”

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