Sentronics Holdings filed the suit against Allengra GmbH on Friday, October 16, in the US District Court for the Western District of Texas, docketed as 1:2026cv02927. The timing is pointed: The paddock arrives at Circuit of The Americas on Thursday for a race weekend running October 23 to 25.

Every one of the 20 cars that will line up on the Austin grid carries an Allengra fuel flow meter. The FIA writes the sensor into its 2026 power unit regulations as a specification part, and no team has an alternative.

The patent and the technology

At the centre of the complaint is US Patent No. 11,391,609, issued to Sentronics on July 19, 2022 and listing Andrew Cawte and Nathaniel Jones of Salisbury as inventors. The patent covers a method of sending phase-modulated ultrasonic signals in opposite directions through a fluid path to calculate how fast fuel is moving.

Sentronics says lab testing of Allengra’s device in late 2024 confirmed it uses the same approach. The complaint alleges Allengra’s fuel flow sensors “practice one or more claims of the ‘609 Patent.”

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Allengra, based in Germany and led by chief executive Niels Junker, has not publicly responded to the filing. Its current-generation meter measures roughly 99mm by 31mm by 106mm, combines measurement and encrypted data transmission into a single unit, and sits on every car to police the sport’s new energy-based fuel limit of 3,000 megajoules per hour.

How Sentronics lost the contract

Sentronics was the FIA’s exclusive fuel flow supplier from 2018 through 2025, when the previous dual-meter system was still in use. The governing body opened a tender for the 2026-2030 cycle in late 2023, and in November 2024 awarded the contract to Allengra, which had announced a first-generation Formula 1 fuel flow prototype back in July 2022.

According to the filing, Sentronics served Allengra with a formal infringement notice on its European counterpart patent, EP 3 449 221 B1, in August 2025. The FIA acknowledged receiving the dispute notification on September 17, 2025. Sentronics’s US counsel then sent a demand letter in April 2026 before this month’s suit.

The complaint argues Allengra is now using the same accused technology to replace Sentronics as sole supplier across other series as well, including Germany’s DTM touring car championship and the World Superbike series.

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What Sentronics wants

The British manufacturer is asking the court for a permanent injunction against Allengra, lost profits and royalties dating back to mid-2022, and up to triple damages on the basis that the alleged infringement was willful once Allengra had been notified. Sentronics has requested a jury trial.

Crucially, it has not asked for a temporary restraining order. That means this weekend’s United States Grand Prix will run with Allengra’s sensors in place and no immediate disruption to the regulations. Lights out at Circuit of The Americas is scheduled for Sunday, October 25.

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