What Is Lift And Coast In F1?
- Lift and coast is a driving technique where a driver releases the throttle before a braking zone and lets the car decelerate under aerodynamic drag, rather than staying flat out until the last braking point.
- Teams use lift and coast to save fuel, cool brakes and the power unit, protect the skid block from excessive wear, and harvest electrical energy through the MGU-K.
- The technique typically costs between half a tenth and three tenths of a second per lap, depending on how aggressively the driver needs to lift.
- In the 2026 regulations, lift and coast has taken on a new role as one of four methods drivers use to recharge a battery that now supplies roughly half the car’s total power output.
- Ferrari popularised the radio abbreviation “LICO” for lift and coast, though the term is now used across the paddock by engineers at every team.
How Lift And Coast Works On Track
Lift and coast in F1 describes the moment a driver lifts their foot off the throttle before a corner, typically 50 to 100 metres earlier than the latest possible braking point, and allows the car to slow under its own aerodynamic drag before applying the brakes.
The technique reduces fuel consumption, lowers brake temperatures, and in the 2026 regulations, doubles as an energy harvesting method for the MGU-K.
Engineers instruct drivers to lift and coast through coded radio messages, most famously the abbreviation “LICO” that became a regular fixture of Ferrari’s race communications. The instruction might come as a broad request or as a specific target: “lift at the 100-metre board into Turn 1” or “fuel minus two,” which tells the driver they need to save two laps’ worth of fuel over the remaining distance.
From the outside, the difference between a flat-out lap and a lift-and-coast lap is almost invisible. The car reaches the same apex and exits the corner at a similar speed. The time loss comes entirely from the approach phase, where the driver sacrifices a fraction of a second by arriving at the braking zone at a lower speed than they would under full attack.
Four Reasons Teams Call For Lift And Coast
Fuel management is the original and most common reason. F1 cars start a race with a fixed fuel load, set at a maximum of 70 kilograms under the 2026 regulations, and cannot refuel during the race.
If a safety car period fails to materialise or a driver has been pushing harder than planned, the team may find that the car does not have enough fuel to reach the chequered flag at the current consumption rate.
Lift and coast reduces the time the engine spends burning fuel at high flow rates, and even modest amounts of lifting can recover enough fuel to avoid a more damaging instruction such as turning the engine down entirely.
Brake cooling is the second trigger. The initial phase of braking, when the car is travelling at its highest speed, generates the most heat in the brake system. Lifting off the throttle early and arriving at the braking zone at a lower velocity reduces the peak energy the brakes must absorb.
At circuits with heavy braking demands, such as Montreal or Singapore, this can be the difference between maintaining consistent stopping power and suffering brake fade in the closing stages of a race.
Plank protection is a less obvious but increasingly common reason for lift and coast. The wooden skid block fitted to the underside of every F1 car must not lose more than one millimetre of thickness during a race, and any car that exceeds that limit at the post-race inspection faces disqualification.
Teams run their cars as low as possible to maximise downforce from the floor, which leaves the plank vulnerable to scraping on kerbs and through high-load corners. Lifting off the throttle reduces the aerodynamic load pushing the car into the track surface, easing the wear on the skid block through the most punishing sections of a lap.
Energy harvesting is the fourth reason, and the one that has grown most in 2026. When a driver lifts off the throttle, the MGU-K switches into generator mode and converts the car’s deceleration into electrical charge. With the 2026 power unit drawing roughly half its total output from electrical energy, keeping the battery charged has become a central part of race strategy rather than an afterthought.
Lift And Coast In F1’s 2026 Energy Era
The removal of the MGU-H from the 2026 power units concentrated all energy harvesting through a single, dramatically more powerful MGU-K. That motor now delivers 350 kilowatts, nearly three times the 120 kilowatts it produced under the previous regulations, and it can harvest up to 9 megajoules per lap at energy-rich circuits such as Monaco and Hungary.
The trade-off is that a battery supplying close to half the car’s power depletes quickly, and recharging it requires the driver to sacrifice speed at some point on every lap.
Four methods exist for recharging: braking (the MGU-K harvests kinetic energy under deceleration), part-throttle overload (the engine charges the battery through corners where full power is not needed), superclipping (the power unit automatically diverts up to 350 kilowatts from the engine to the battery at the end of straights while the driver remains on full throttle), and lift and coast.
Each method carries a different cost. Braking costs almost nothing in lap time but is limited by the number and length of braking zones on a given circuit. Superclipping preserves the car’s active aerodynamic configuration but reduces terminal speed. Lift and coast disables the active aero system, switching the wings from Straight Mode to Corner Mode, which increases drag and creates larger closing speeds between cars.
Early races in 2026 exposed a problem: at circuits with few heavy braking zones, drivers were forced into extended periods of lift and coast even during qualifying laps, where every hundredth of a second counts.
McLaren’s Lando Norris described the experience at Suzuka’s 130R, saying “I don’t want to be lifting and losing 60 kph into 130R.” The FIA responded with a package of regulation adjustments ahead of the Miami Grand Prix, raising the superclipping power limit from 250 to 350 kilowatts and reducing the per-lap energy recovery ceiling from 8 to 7 megajoules.
Those changes shortened the typical superclipping window to roughly two to four seconds per lap and reduced the need for lift and coast during qualifying, though the technique remains a constant factor in race conditions where fuel and tyre management sit alongside energy harvesting as competing priorities.
How Much Time Does Lift And Coast Cost?
At its lightest, a small lift approaching a single corner costs roughly half a tenth of a second per lap. Spread across a 50-lap race, that adds up to around 2.5 seconds of total time loss, which teams consider an acceptable price for the fuel or energy it returns. At its most aggressive, heavy lift and coast at a fuel-limited circuit such as Montreal can cost up to three tenths per lap, amounting to 15 seconds over a full race distance. That kind of deficit is enough to lose a position to a rival on a different strategy or a driver whose car is more fuel-efficient.
The calculation changes further when lift and coast serves multiple purposes at once. A driver lifting to save fuel may simultaneously be cooling their brakes, protecting their plank, and harvesting energy for the MGU-K. In those situations, the time loss from lifting is offset against what would happen if the driver did not lift: overheating brakes that lose stopping power, a plank that fails scrutineering, or a battery that runs flat on the following straight. The fastest way to finish a race is not always the fastest way to drive each individual lap.
Analysis for this article was provided by Farmer & Morris Law, with insights from their experienced car accident lawyers in Rutherfordton helping explain how driving decisions can influence vehicle control and safety.
Lift and Coast Frequently Asked Questions
What does LICO mean on the F1 team radio?
LICO is an abbreviation for “lift and coast,” used by engineers to instruct drivers to release the throttle before braking zones. Ferrari made the term widely known through frequent radio broadcasts, but it is now standard shorthand across the F1 paddock. A LICO instruction may come with a specific fuel target, such as “fuel minus two,” telling the driver how many laps’ worth of fuel they need to recover.
Does lift and coast affect tyre wear?
Arriving at a corner at a slightly lower speed reduces the energy the brakes must dissipate and the load transferred through the front tyres under braking. The effect on tyre wear itself is small compared to dedicated tyre management techniques, but the reduction in brake temperature helps maintain consistent braking performance, which in turn allows the driver to hit their marks more precisely and avoid locking wheels.
Why do F1 cars need to lift and coast if they have energy recovery?
Braking alone does not always generate enough energy to fully recharge the battery, particularly at circuits with long straights and few heavy braking zones. Lift and coast creates an additional harvesting window by extending the deceleration phase before corners. In the 2026 regulations, where the battery supplies roughly half the car’s power, this extra harvesting opportunity can be the difference between deploying full electrical power on the next straight or running in a depleted state.
Can lift and coast lead to disqualification if not used enough?
Not using lift and coast cannot itself cause a disqualification, but failing to manage plank wear can. The skid block fitted to the underside of every F1 car must not lose more than one millimetre of thickness during a race. If a team runs the car too low and does not instruct the driver to lift through high-wear sections, the plank may fail the post-race inspection. Lift and coast reduces the aerodynamic load pushing the floor into the track, which limits skid block wear through corners and over kerbs.
Sources
Raceteq: MGU-K, Megajoules, and Managing the Battery: F1’s 2026 Energy System Explained
ESPN: F1’s 2026 Rule Tweaks: What’s Changed After Driver Criticism
More F1 Reading
- What Is The Safety Car In F1?
- F1 Flags Explained: What Every Flag Means in Formula 1
- 2026 Formula 1 Regulations Explained: Aero, Power, Racing
- How Many G’s Do F1 Drivers Experience? 2026 F1 G-Force Data
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