Proposed is a method for controlling and regulating an internal combustion engine (1), in which the rail pressure (pCR) is controlled via a suction throttle (4) on the low pressure side as a first pressure-adjusting element in a rail pressure control loop. The invention is characterized in that a rail pressure disturbance variable (VDRV) is generated in order to influence the rail pressure (pCR) via a pressure control valve (12) on the high pressure side as a second pressure-adjusting element, by means of which fuel is redirected in a controlled manner from the rail (6) into a fuel tank (2), the rail pressure disturbance variable (VDRV) being calculated using a corrected target volume flow (Vk(SL)) of the pressure control valve (12).