Over fields of characteristic 0, formal group laws are essentially the same as finite-dimensional Lie algebras: more precisely, the functor from finite-dimensional formal group laws to finite-dimensional Lie algebras is an equivalence of categories. Over fields of non-zero characteristic, formal group laws are not equivalent to Lie algebras. In fact, in this case it is well known that passing from an algebraic group to its Lie algebra often throws away too much information, but passing instead to the formal group law often keeps enough information. So in some sense formal group laws are the "right" substitute for Lie algebras in characteristic "p" > 0.