F1's V10 Engine Comeback: What's Happening in Bahrain?
Apr.5 - A meeting next week could end all the speculation about the return of V10 engines to Formula 1.
While Red Bull and Ferrari appear open to delaying the start of the radical 2026 engine rules so that V10s running on sustainable fuel can arrive, Mercedes, Honda and Audi seem opposed.
"We are aware that the FIA is considering bringing back the V10 engines, and that a first meeting is being planned," Koji Watanabe, boss of Honda Racing Corporation, told De Telegraaf newspaper.
"We do not have any further details yet."
But Aston Martin boss Andy Cowell, whose team will use works Honda engines from 2026, does not sound supportive.
"We need to talk about the positive aspects of these rules," he said. "Sustainable fuels, batteries that are more relevant than in other industries, efficiency, and the straight-line speed mode, which is a more efficient aerodynamic package," he said at Suzuka. "We should be talking about all of this.
"We have these rules for five years, and perhaps in a few months we can talk about what will happen in 2031."
However, the global economy has taken a sharp turn in recent days, largely due to the start of Donald Trump's radical import tariff impositions.
Therefore, a meeting involving all the engine manufacturers - presumably also including Cadillac - has been scheduled to take place in Bahrain next week.
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Nothing can be done regarding next year anymore, given the remaining lead time & all the investment, effort, & time put into the upcoming PU concept, so simply too little too late & a missed opportunity back when the decision was made about a V6 concept with 50-50 ICE-electric power ratio, so even a compromise of keeping the current concept is unrealistic at this point in time anymore.
Audi's stance has been clear from the get-go, Mercedes more recently, & Honda's stance has also become clear.
Ultimately, Red Bull isn't pushing for a change either, which Horner made clear following the Chinese GP weekend, given their own PU project investment.
Ferrari is the only unclear one, but I'm sure even they're unwilling to abandon a highly-invested concept at such short notice anymore.
This whole V10 talk was only MBS' way of starting speculation without any concrete basis.
This doesnt sound as clear cut as your saying it is OR?, the thing is its journalists, basically can write what they want
revealed in February that an FIA working group was being established by president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, to assess whether a return to V10 engines would be viable in future, despite the sport having committed to greater electrification in its next regulation cycle, alongside sustainable fuels.
Now, a report from BBC Sport claims that when teams meet to discuss the possibility of reintroducing these naturally-aspirated engines, the threshold of four of the five power unit manufacturers needing to agree will not be met.
Honda has already voiced its concern at such a move, while Audi are joining the sport in 2026 in part because of the move towards a more equal distribution between electrical power alongside a V6 internal combustion engine.
While the opposition of Honda and Audi on its own would be enough to kibosh the proposal, the BBC’s report also claims that Mercedes would also against the idea of moving away from hybrid power units, with Ferrari and Red Bull in support at this stage, with the teams due to meet at Sakhir next Friday (11 April).
Honda Racing Corporation president Koji Watanabe told the Japanese edition of Motorsport.com on the subject: “We know that the FIA intends to introduce naturally aspirated V10 engines from 2028.
“However, we have not received detailed information from the FIA. There will be meetings organised by the FIA, in which the engine manufacturers will participate, and we would like to discuss it there first.“At the moment we don’t have any details. We can’t say whether V10s are acceptable or not in terms of efficiency. We would first like to understand the details of what is being proposed before we start a discussion.
“A meeting is planned, and at that meeting we want to express our point of view as engine manufacturers.
“As far as Honda is concerned, our reason for entering F1 again is electrification and (the type of) powertrains.”
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