The FIA says it will step in and take action to ensure that overtaking in Formula 1 is neither too difficult nor too hard with the new 2026 rules.
A total revamp of the regulations for the new season has thrown up a lot of uncertainty about just what the wheel-to-wheel racing is going to be like.
While the FIA and F1 are hopeful that a combination of active aero and an engine overtake mode will spice up the action, nobody knows until the cars start running just how things will play out in the real world.
Some aspects of the 2026 rules are fixed, such as the amount of extra energy available to help overtaking, but the FIA has means to adjust several aspects on a race weekend.
And this can include where and how long activation zones are for both straightline mode and overtake mode.
The FIA's single seater director Nikolas Tombazis said the governing body would keep a close eye on things during winter testing and the early races to ensure that things work in the way intended.
Speaking about the overtake mode in particular, Tombazis said: "We are still fine-tuning that.
"As we're getting more and more final simulations we have levers that we can adjust from a regulatory point of view.
"So if we see that overtaking is a bit too difficult, for example, we have levers to make it get a bit easier. Or if we find it is too easy, we have levers to make it a bit more challenging."
Tombazis said it was important that F1 produced the right balance in terms of passing – as too much overtaking can be just as bad for the spectacle as none at all.
"Overtaking has to be in a narrow window," he said. "It cannot be too easy. We don't want cars just driving past each other not having a fight. We always want to have this fight.
"But we also don't want it to be impossible, so that when they leave the grid after lap one, you know how it is going to finish. We clearly don't want that either.
"We have ways to go in both directions. And when we get the initial running and final simulations with cars and so on, we may need to take some of those to do some small adjustments."
Tombazis also believes that it may take some time for teams and drivers to get used to the new engine modes and deploy them in the best way for racing.
This can include where to save energy and where to deploy it to ensure that they are not left totally exposed on the straights.
He added: "There will be differences in energy that can create a situation where one car is maybe not able to defend the position as well.
"But we believe that, as the teams and the drivers get used to operating in a certain way, they will make sure that they're not completely vulnerable to a particular situation.
"If suddenly we took these 22 cars and threw them on the grid now and told them to start racing today, I'm sure we would find situations where people are not yet fully prepared or fully optimised in that way.
"But I think once people know how to use that, then they will be able to make sure they're not like a sitting duck on the straight."