The NTT IndyCar Series will race with substantially the same amount of hybrid power in 2025 as was available for its debut this past season.
After multiple delays due to design changes and reliability concerns, IndyCar’s hybrid components were first used in competition during the Mid-Ohio race weekend in early July.
Drivers quickly adapted to the additional controls as they manually adjusted deployment and regeneration rates from behind the wheel, but also reported that there was very little overall gain from the system.
With relatively strict deployment limits imposed per lap and roughly 60 horsepower available from the electrified components, the added weight of the system all but nullified the gains and lap times stayed nearly the same as years prior.
There has been a promise that additional boost can be added to the system in the future, giving drivers more horsepower and putting a bigger emphasis on utilizing the extra power effectively.
While speaking at the ePartrade Race Industry Week virtual conference, IndyCar President Jay Frye revealed that any increases in power will not be introduced before the 2026 season.
“This year, we ran [the hybrid system] for basically half of the season,” said Frye. “Next year will be the first time we run it for a full season. Probably the first time we see any increase in it will be in 2026.
“Think of it like this: the hybrid unit has about 60 horsepower and Push to Pass has about 60 horsepower. Those combinations will still be used and available to the drivers.
“Next year will be the first year we have it at the Indy 500, which will be different. Next year will be kind of a status quo, and we’ll look at it differently for ’26 and going forward.”
Mid-season hybrid introduction deemed successful
Aside from the initial delays that pushed back the rollout of the hybrid systems by over a year, the mandatory introduction of the new components halfway through the season was more successful than some had predicted.
A few incidents threatened to tarnish the rollout, including when Scott Dixon suffered a hybrid failure on the pre-race warmup laps at Mid-Ohio. His CGR Honda was towed back to the garage and his day was ruined before the race even began.
There were also issues with the electronic lockout system, designed to prevent hybrid use in the pit lane, which led to the boost being unavailable to multiple drivers during some of the first oval qualifying sessions with the new components.
The decision to wait another full year before increasing the power output does not seem to be related to those incidents, but rather based out of a desire to run a full season with a stable product before pushing the limits of the system further.
If and when the hybrid power output is increased, there has been talk that IndyCar’s long-used Push to Pass turbo boost system may be retired. But Frye reiterated that those decisions have not yet been made and there are no plans to remove the Push to Pass system in the near future.
“Possibly at some point [we will be able to get rid of Push to Pass],” continued Frye. “Right now, we’re comfortable with drivers having multiple tools. You can use hybrid by itself, you can use Push to Pass by itself, or you can use them together. For ’25 and ’26 we’ll keep that format.
“We think [the hybrid rollout] went very, very well. This is probably an extreme, but in our opinion it was one of the most successful launches of technology in motorsports history.
“From the Milwaukee open test through the end of the season we ran almost 92,000 miles. If you think about it, in those 92,000 miles, there were just a couple minor things that happened over the course of that time. 27 cars running the hybrid unit. It was a great effort by Honda, Chevrolet, all of our teams in the paddock, and everybody at IndyCar to get this thing over the top.
“It took a while, right? That’s always something that’s frustrating. But ultimately once we got the product on track, we think it performed very well.”
