A method for controlling a drive unit of a vehicle which allows a comfortable compensation of the torque requirement of ancillary components. In this method, torque losses are compensated in a steady-state manner in an overrun and an acceleration operation. The steady-state compensation of the torque losses in overrun operation is weighted by a first weighting factor. The first weighting factor is raised in a linear manner when the drag torque decreases in amount, until acceleration operation is reached.