Three incidents ‘triggered’ FIA’s decision to ban Mercedes and Red Bull qualifying trick

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Incidents involving three drivers at the Japanese Grand Prix reportedly led to the FIA banning Mercedes and Red Bull from using the ‘emergency mode’ during qualifying.

Last month, Kimi Antonelli secured back-to-back victories after winning the Japanese Grand Prix ahead of Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc.

Antonelli has now emerged as the favourite to win the 2026 world title as he leads teammate George Russell by nine points in the standings.

Following the race, it was reported that Ferrari asked the FIA to explain how Mercedes and Red Bull can use the engine’s emergency mode for performance.

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Mercedes and Red Bull use ’emergency mode’ for performance gain

It has been noted that Mercedes and Red Bull used the MGU-K emergency shut-off to gain extra speed during qualifying.

The 2026 regulations state that the MGU-K can be switched off at any time, but it comes with the price of having no battery power for the next 60 seconds.

The 60-second cut-off has seen teams refrain from using the mode during a race, but they have managed to use the trick for a speed boost to the start/finish line during qualifying.

On Tuesday, The Race reported that the FIA has now banned the use of the mode unless there is an emergency.

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Incidents involving three drivers led to FIA’s decision to ban ‘qualifying trick’

Journalist Jon Noble stated that three incidents during the Japanese Grand Prix ultimately became the ‘trigger’ for the FIA to take action.

He said on The Race podcast: “In Japan, it was spotted Kimi Antonelli was running very slowly in practice, Max Verstappen had a similar problem, Alex Albon stopped on track.

“It was all a similar problem that you can shut this MGUK down, you activate the mode, the MGUK shuts down, but then you have no extra battery power, and that has consequences.

“If you lose turbo boost pressure, for example, you aren’t on the throttle, you hit the wrong gear. It triggered problems and these implications alerted rival teams and caused some concerns.

“The FIA spoke to both Red Bull and Mercedes in Japan, said we are aware this is happening, we understand it’s within the rules, but you should not have cars stopping on track in qualifying.

“This, in the end, has become the trigger that we understand that the FIA has written to teams.

“It said that the software mode they are exploiting, known as continuous offset, can only be activated for emergency purposes; it cannot be activated for competitive gains”