Mercedes, Red Bull Keen on F1's All-But-Certain Return to V-8 Power by 2030 or 2031

F1 All But Certainly Returning to V-8s. How Soon?Kym Illman - Getty Images

We're only four races into what was supposed to be a bold new era of Formula 1 power units with a 50/50 electrical split—and yet plans are already well under way to dump those powerplants as soon as possible. Last weekend in Miami, FIA president Muhammed Ben Sulayem made it clear to journalists that a return to V-8 power in Formula 1 is coming at the first opportunity.

That's supposed to be in 2031, when the current rule set expires. After that, in theory, the FIA can rubber stamp a replacement formula without any formal agreement from the teams and manufacturers. However, there is the prospect that the change can be moved up a year to 2030, which means the hugely expensive power units created for current regulations will last just four seasons. That move, however, would require agreement from all parties.

The V-8 idea has been in the air for a while, and it gained momentum through 2024 and 2025 as pessimistic reports about what the racing would be like in 2026 emerged from teams and drivers who had performed simulator running. Now that the latest power units have proved so controversial and disappointing, there is hard evidence that the move was ill-judged. The sustainable fuel introduced in 2026 could just as easily power V-8s as it does the current V-6s, ticking the boxes for road relevance and sustainability just the same.

And momentum is building, with drivers and fans alike backing a return to “proper” racing engines. “We had time off in the break,” Lance Stroll said in Miami. “I was randomly watching old races and stuff, and I even had the Monaco historics on the TV. And I heard some Ferrari cars from early 2000s, and how good they sounded, and how small and nimble they were, and just how much more intense it looked—and how much more exciting it looked back then compared to now. It’s sad, but hopefully we’re heading back in that direction.”

The Ferrari Tipo 056 V-8 engine of the Ferrari F2007.Wikipedia / Morio

Hybrid V-6 power units came to F1 in 2014 in order to align the sport with the wider automotive industry, and to help manufacturers justify their involvement. With vehicular electrification becoming more important around the globe as the rules were being written, there was a push to have even more of a battery element for the second iteration of the hybrid rule set for 2026, with discussions ramping up around 2021. There was also an element of the FIA and F1 desperately trying to get the VW Group on board, potentially with two manufacturers; Porsche dropped out, but Audi did eventually sign up in part on the basis of the new direction.

The definitive 2026 power unit rules were agreed in October 2022, giving everyone over three years in which to develop their new technology—although the basics had been in place for a while before then, and manufacturers were already hard at work. That long timeline was essential, given the complexity of F1 power units. However, over that period, the move towards electric and electrified vehicles lost some momentum.

Nikolas Tombazis, the FIA’s single-seater head and the man who has oversight of the rules, admitted the goalposts have moved. “It is true, the political landscape has changed,” he said recently. “And back when we discussed the current regulations, the automotive companies, who were very involved, told us that they're never going to make another [new] internal combustion engine again ... they were going to phase [ICE] out, and by whatever year, they were going to be fully electrical, for example. Obviously, this hasn't happened.”

In effect, the FIA and F1 don't want to be caught out again by pandering too much to the wishes of the big manufacturers, having realized that, perhaps, they went a little too far last time around. “We do need to protect the sport from the world macro-economic situation,” said Tombazis. “Meaning, we cannot be hostage to automotive companies deciding to be part of our sport or not."

"We want them to be 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 a position where, if they decide they don't want to be, we're suddenly left vulnerable.”

Darren Heath Photographer - Getty Images

Lead times are important, in terms of the 2030 versus 2031 discussion. If a new powerplant follows the timescale of the last change, with three full years in which to develop a new power unit, then an agreement in October of this year would mean F1 could indeed go racing with new V-8s in 2030.

“If we are to change anything for the next cycle, we need to start discussing it very soon,” said Tombazis. “Because the time it takes to make a power unit and an engine and all that is quite long. So yes, it may sound a bit strange to be discussing these matters only a few races after we've started, but that is the natural cycle of the discussion.”

The good news is, there is widespread support for a change across the teams and manufacturers. Marketing-wise, V-8s with a small battery-electric element and sustainable fuel have some value for most of the current manufacturers, in particular Ford and Cadillac.

“Long term, I think from a Mercedes standpoint, we are open to new engine regulations,” Toto Wolff said after Sunday’s Miami race. “We love V-8s, that has only great memories. And from our perspective, it's a pure Mercedes engine. It revs high."

"And then how do we give it enough energy from the battery side to not lose connection to the real world? Because if we swing one hundred percent combustion, we might be looking a bit ridiculous in 2031 or 2030. So we need to consider that—make it simpler, and make it a mega engine.”

Wolff floated an intriguing prospect for a 1200-hp V-8 power unit: “Maybe we can extract eight hundred horsepower from the ICE and we put four hundred on top of it, or more, in terms of electric energy. We're absolutely up for it, as long as those discussions happen in a structured way ... we recognize the financial realities of OEMs these days. We don't have it easy, but if it's well-planned and executed, count us in to come back with a real racing engine.”

Red Bull Racing’s Laurent Mekies and Mercedes F1’s Toto Wolff.Kym Illman - Getty Images

Pivoting to a V-8 would be another huge challenge for Audi and Red Bull–Ford, both of whom did such a good job to create their current hybrids from scratch with no tech from the previous era to carry over. Cadillac, meanwhile, could be trapped in no-man’s land, currently developing a hybrid V-6 hybrid that may only have a shelf life of one season. Still, it would be another standing start for all three on any F1 V-8 projects, whereas Ferrari, Mercedes, and Honda at least have some I.P. to draw on, albeit from the distant past.

“As Red Bull–Ford powertrain, we are pretty cool with it,” said Red Bull Racing boss Laurent Mekies when asked by Road & Track about the possible future direction. “We had to start from zero to go and try to deal with this power unit. And I think the starting point is decent. We are still lacking some [power unit] performance compared to Mercedes, but we feel that the guys did a phenomenal job to put us in a fight. So we are quite excited to have another challenge tomorrow.”

Mekies knows too that V-8s will be good news on the marketing front for Red Bull’s partner. “There is a V-8 in the in the Ford Mustang I'm lucky to drive every day in Milton Keynes. So we may have an early start!”

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