FIA president thinks F1 should consider return to V10 engines on e-fuels

FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem thinks System 1 ought to a minimum of contemplate switching again to V10 engines sooner or later, operating on sustainable gasoline.

F1 is switching to totally artificial gasoline from subsequent 12 months as a part of its change in engine formulation, which can function a near-50/50 cut up between output from a V6 inside combustion engine and a extra highly effective MGU-Okay electrical motor, growing the reliance on electrical vitality in comparison with present powertrains.

That transfer geared toward drawing extra producers into the collection, with Audi becoming a member of from 2026 and Cadillac additionally planning to develop in-house energy models from 2028 for its nascent outfit that joins as an eleventh growth staff subsequent 12 months. After F1’s newest hybrid guidelines had been finalised, Honda additionally made a U-turn on its earlier resolution to depart the collection, though F1 is about to lose Renault as a works producer.

However with F1 now dedicated to utilizing much less polluting artificial fuels as a part of its targets to attain a net-zero carbon footprint by 2030, some want to see F1 return to screaming V10 engines, which had been final utilized by your entire grid in 2005.

FIA president Ben Sulayem has now additionally urged going again to a V10 on sustainable fuels is one thing that ought to a minimum of be checked out when the governing physique and its stakeholders outline F1’s future engine formulation past the one which might be launched subsequent 12 months.

“This week’s F1 launch in London has triggered quite a lot of optimistic dialogue on the way forward for the game,” the governing physique’s president wrote on social media. “Whereas we sit up for the introduction of the 2026 laws on chassis and energy unit, we should additionally cleared the path on future technological motorsport tendencies.

“We should always contemplate a spread of instructions together with the roaring sound of the V10 operating on sustainable gasoline. Whichever path is chosen, we should assist the groups and producers in making certain value management on R&D expenditure.”

It echoes feedback from F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali, the place he urged he would additionally prefer to discover which alternate options to the present hybrid energy models are viable inside the business.

“If sustainable gasoline is doing the fitting job to be zero emission and we’re taking the purpose of sustainability in the fitting method – perhaps we do not want anymore to be so difficult or so costly when it comes to engine improvement,” Domenicali informed Autosport final August.

“So we might imagine to return to engines which can be a lot lighter and perhaps with an excellent sound.”

Returning to V10s can be a preferred transfer amongst old-school followers who miss the screaming soundtrack of a bygone period, however what’s going to actually matter is whether or not F1’s current and potential producers are onboard, which seems extremely unlikely at this stage. It was finally a much bigger reliance on the electrical part that made it by for 2026.

Whereas there was an enormous push behind e-fuels, they continue to be costly and inefficient in comparison with electrical and hybrid fashions, and OEMs concerned in F1 have but to precise any want to maneuver away from a hybrid formulation.

Paddy Lowe, the founding father of Zero Petroleum – a carbon-neutral artificial gasoline firm – additionally felt dropping hybrids can be a non-starter within the close to future.

“I’ve seen that concept for a really very long time, really, and there is a component of that [vision] within the formation of our firm Zero,” the former Mercedes and Williams engineer said about a return to V10s on a recent episode of the James Allen on F1 podcast.

“[But] System 1 is a hybrid formulation at this time, that’s really an excellent resolution for mainstream automotive, I feel.”