Formula One plans return to V8 engines as electrical revolution loses spark

“You will hear about it very soon, and it will be with very, very minor electrification, but the main one will be the engine.”

F1 has used V6 engines with electrical hybrid power since 2014, and a big step up in the amount of electrical power for this year has made it central to how drivers go racing. Timing the electrical boost and recharging is the key to tactical racing. Four-time champion Max Verstappen loathes it so much he’s questioned his future in F1.

A return to bigger V8 engines would be a nostalgia trip for older drivers and fans, with a distinctive screaming engine noise. They’re relatively rare in modern vehicles outside of expensive sportscars.

Cadillac engineers work in the garage ahead of the Chinese Grand [File: Go Nakamura/Reuters]

FIA says automakers can’t take sport ‘hostage’

Electrical vehicles no longer seem as certain to dominate the roads in key F1 markets as they did when the FIA and teams began drawing up the regulations in the early 2020s.

United States President Donald Trump’s administration has put tighter rules on the charger network that electric vehicles depend on, and the European Union is rethinking a planned ban on new internal combustion-powered cars from 2035.

“The political landscape has changed,” the FIA’s top F1 regulations official Nikolas Tombazis said last week.

“Back when we discussed the current regulations, the automotive companies, who were very involved, told us that they’re never going to make another internal combustion engine again, a new one, that they were going to phase out, and by whatever year they were going to be fully electrical. Obviously, this hasn’t happened.”

Ben Sulayem said the FIA would need engine manufacturers’ agreement to push for V8 engines for 2030, ahead of the agreed five-year schedule for the current cars, but would be more free to act without their agreement for 2031.

The F1 world has long appealed to automakers by promising innovation relevant to their road cars, but now the FIA seems less keen for cars to resemble daily drivers.

“We do need to protect the sport from the world macroeconomic situation, meaning we cannot be hostage to automotive companies deciding to be part of our sport or not,” Tombazis said.

“We want them to be a part of our sport, absolutely. That’s why we’ve worked so hard to secure new ones to participate. But we can also not be in this position where if they decide they don’t want to be, we’re simply left vulnerable.”