Gearbox homologation will disappear from F1 in 2027. Meeting at the FIA's London offices on Monday 21 September, the F1 Commission voted to scrap it "to preserve supplier development freedom", following consultation with the manufacturers and a recommendation from the Sporting Advisory Committee. Suppliers will be able to keep working on gearboxes that had been locked to an approved specification. Final approval from the FIA World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) is still required.
What homologation means
Homologation is the process by which the FIA formally registers and approves the design and specification of a given component. Once registered, that specification becomes the reference and cannot be changed without approval for a set period. Grande Prêmio described it as being "tied to an approved specification", while Scuderia Fans called it "a frozen specification manufacturers must adhere to". The aim is to cap development and hold down costs. Stopping the same part from being redesigned throughout a season saves money and makes it easier for one supplier to deliver identical hardware to several customer teams. The trade-off is that weaknesses exposed in competition are hard to fix.
Why scrap it
The FIA and F1.com statements gave the reason in a single phrase: scrapping homologation "preserves supplier development freedom". Grande Prêmio said the decision leaves room to respond to "reliability or performance limitations discovered during competition", and Scuderia Fans wrote that it widens the scope to "evolve transmission systems rather than being locked into a fixed homologated specification". The Race pointed out that manufacturers, Aston Martin among them, gain design freedom.
The process is telling too. The manufacturers that build the gearboxes were consulted first, not the teams, then the Sporting Advisory Committee made its recommendation before the Commission voted. That suggests that, in this first year of the new rules, the gearbox is a part suppliers want to get their hands on. None of the sources, however, say which teams use which supplier's gearbox, or how development spending after the change will be treated under the cost cap. The Commission statement amounts to a single line on scrapping homologation, so the detail will have to wait for the WMSC text.
What changes and what doesn't
| Item | 2026 | 2027 (if WMSC approves) |
|---|---|---|
| Gearbox specification | Frozen by homologation | No homologation, suppliers keep developing |
| Decision path | — | Manufacturer consultation → Sporting Advisory Committee recommendation → F1 Commission vote |
| Status | — | Needs WMSC approval (The Race: 15 October) |
The same meeting also approved cutting the 2027 race distance from 305km to 290km and replacing the three-hour total limit on suspended races with a hard-stop time. Nothing changes immediately for teams heading into Saturday's race in Baku, but suppliers designing 2027 cars now have grounds to decide how far to redraw their gearboxes.
Sources
- FIA — Formula 1 Commission Meeting – September 21, 2026 Media Statement
- Formula1.com — Regulatory changes for 2026 and 2027 agreed at latest F1 Commission meeting
- Asharq Al-Awsat — F1 commission agrees shorter races from 2027
- Grande Prêmio — F1 removes three-hour race limit and abandons gearbox homologation for 2027
- Scuderia Fans — F1 2027 changes explained: shorter races, new stoppage rules and gearbox freedom
- The Race — F1 approves plan for shorter grands prix in 2027