Formula 1's latest Commission meeting delivered a batch of practical decisions for 2027 - led by a longer pre-season test - while leaving the sport's most contentious question, the engine rules, unanswered.
The standout outcome was confirmation that 2027 winter testing will grow from three days to four. The host venue is yet to be locked in, but Bahrain is the likely choice on recent form. The additional running is a direct acknowledgement of how big the 2027 reset will be, and of the danger that teams turn up to the opening round short of preparation if they have only three days to learn new cars and power units.
Team principals also lent support to cutting the length of selected grands prix by a few laps, together with restricting drivers to a single reconnaissance lap before the race. The motivation is largely about fuel: shorter races and less warm-up running mean less fuel on board, which helps teams sidestep the need for bigger fuel tanks that might otherwise trigger costly chassis redesigns under the new rules.
There was tidying-up elsewhere, too. Testing of Previous Cars sessions will now be limited at venues set to stage a grand prix soon, ensuring the programme stays focused on handing young drivers mileage rather than becoming a covert development exercise.
The sticking point, predictably, was the engines. The proposed 60/40 power unit split for 2027 has still not been agreed, even after the FIA earlier referenced an agreement in principle. Ferrari is concentrating on its ADUO project, while Audi and Honda are reluctant to commit to the extra spending a change would require.
Altering the engine formula needs four of the six manufacturers to vote in favour, and with General Motors expected to side with Ferrari, the votes simply are not there. Teams pushed in Canada for swift clarity, but as the paddock heads to Monaco, none has arrived.
The upshot is classic modern F1 governance: useful housekeeping around the edges, deadlock at the core. The extra test day and the race-format tweaks will smooth the path to 2027, but the defining element of that path - the engines - remains unresolved, and time to settle it is running short.
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*Originally published on [News Formula One](https://newsformula.one/article/f1-fourth-2027-test-day-engine-rules-stall). Visit for full coverage.*