Prep your earholes: FIA boss wants to bring V10 engines back to F1

At the fancy F1 launch party last week, the mere mention of the FIA brought a chorus of boos from the O2 crowd. Now though, it would seem the governing body’s president is trying to get back into everyone’s good books, because Mohammed Ben Sulayem has suggested bringing V10 engines back into Formula 1.

“This week’s F1 launch in London has triggered a lot of positive discussion on the future of the sport,” said Ben Sulayem on Instagram.

“While we look forward to the introduction of the 2026 regulations on chassis and power units, we must also lead the way on future technological motorsport trends. We should consider a range of directions including the roaring sound of the V10 running on sustainable fuel.”

That would be quite something. After turbocharging was banned in 1989, F1 began to enter its glorious V10 era. Following a decade of development, in the early 2000s the naturally aspirated 3.0-litre V10s were producing over 900bhp and revving to a frankly obscene 19,000rpm. Go on, have a quick watch of a few YouTube videos to remind yourself just how good these things sounded.

“Whichever direction is chosen, we must support the teams and manufacturers in ensuring cost control on R&D expenditure,” said Ben Sulayem.

“Delivering for our members and fans will always be at the heart of all we do alongside important work to make the sport safer and more sustainable for decades to come, ensuring future generations can enjoy F1.”

Trust us, those future generations would enjoy the sport a whole lot more if the V6 hybrid powertrains were replaced with screaming V10s using sustainable fuel. Watch this space.