Balance Of Performance Explained: Why Endurance Racing Is Harder Than Ever

Endurance racing is one of motorsports' toughest tests. In premier events like the 24 Hours of Le Mans, teams spend literally a full day and night racing, with this year's overall winner, a Ferrari 499P, covering 5,272.54 km at an average speed of 219.3 kph, including one lap where the car touched 345.6 kmh.

Which is just to say that this kind of competition isn't for everyone, especially in the top Hypercar class. In fact, Toto Wolff, Principal and CEO of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, recently dampened any thoughts of a Mercedes hypercar entering the fray anytime soon — although it wasn't because anyone was worried about putting in the effort. Wolff simply doesn't agree with the way the FIA — the organizing body behind the World Endurance Championship — applies its Balance of Performance (BoP) rules. (He may be busy trying to ditch George Russell for Max Verstappen, too.)

These rules are a strict set of regulations that, according to the WEC, work "by equalising the different cars by adjusting their weight and power levels — the latter via changing the size of the air restrictor, and for turbo cars, changing the maximum boost ratios. Other adjustments that can be made are changes to the rear wing or to fuel capacity."

Wolff, however, says BofP penalizes teams that have, through their own hard work, developed an on-track advantage. As a result, the rules make the hard task of winning an endurance race that much more difficult — and for non-racing reasons.

Read more: Every Formula 1 Team Runs Brembo Brakes, But Not All Are Alike

Balance of Performance: A dive into the details

Wolff may be on to something. Marek Nawarecki, FIA circuit sport director, has admitted that BoP helps slow the rate of innovation, which drives up the cost to compete. In addition, when the WEC updated its rules for hypercars in 2024, the same year Lamborghini killed its WEC program, one goal was to make sure hybrid and non-hybrid cars ended up with the same levels of performance.

Generally speaking, the WEC looks at three sets of data, starting with homologation parameters. These set a baseline for each car's performance using information gathered from wind-tunnel testing, simulations, and real-world racing. The WEC also takes into account the cars' power trains for platform equivalence, seeking to bring hybrid and non-hybrid performance into alignment. Finally, there's an overall manufacturer's compensation that seeks to equalize the performance of the cars on the same platform but from different makers.

The WEC pulls it all together by defining a "performance window" for each race that defines the range of performance the organizers would prefer to see from a hypothetical "ideal" entry. Next, the WEC looks at the performances they'd expect to see from the actual race cars, based on the previously gathered details. If the results show a given car can't make it within the performance window, the WEC allows BoP advantages for that race to address the situation. It also can restrict a car's performance if it seems it would be too fast.

Do other racing series use Balance of Performance?

Yes — and the WEC actually has two BoP formats. In addition to its standard guidelines and regulations, there are separate parameters for Le Mans so manufacturers can't manipulate their cars' performance and setups to take advantage of differences between the series' only 24-hour race and its "shorter" events of six and eight hours.

In addition, the International Motor Sports Association has Balance of Performance standards that were significantly revised just this year. The concept here is to equalize performance between cars with forced-induction and naturally aspirated engines, as well as between hybrid and non-hybrid power trains. These include the kind of direct performance manipulation Wolff was complaining about above. As a recent example, the naturally aspirated Cadillac race car enjoyed an extra 27-horsepower increase for the Rolex 24, while the turbocharged Porsches were forced to reduce their maximum output by 3.8% at speeds above 150 mph.

But the crown jewel of the FIA's racing portfolio, Formula 1, doesn't use BoP. At least not directly. In Formula 1, teams that have trouble staying up with the pack may be granted extra time for testing — when F1 cars are also sprayed with green paint — so they can catch up on their own, without directly penalizing faster teams. F1 also seeks to keep all teams competitive by putting a limit on how much money teams can spend. 

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