Fernando Alonso has weighed in on the growing discussion around a potential return of V10 engines to Formula 1, comparing it to running current cars “without the halo”.
The forthcoming switch to the altered V6 hybrids for 2026 and future regulations changes has opened up the debate on whether F1 could reintroduce V10 engines, which ceased to run in 2005, the year Alonso won the first of his two Drivers’ titles.
New regulations from next year will see the current incarnation of powertrains tweaked to see a more 50/50 split on usage between the internal combustion and electric motor components.
But with growing talk about V10s re-entering the fold, with sustainable fuels now able to provide a cleaner form of racing, the Original Engine Manufacturers [OEMs] have been quick to point-out that any possible scrapping of the forthcoming changes would be impossible due to the resources and time put into perfecting them with just under a year to go.
The FIA has also been quick to stifle any potential lack of enthusiasm about the new engines, and Alonso has now offered his own opinions to support the pushback, despite being the only driver on the grid who raced with them.
“Obviously I love the V10 era and the V8 and the sound of those cars that we all miss,” he said.
“[But] We’re in a different world now. Technology has evolved and we now have incredibly efficient engines that use about one-third of the fuel we used to.
“We can’t just go against our time and our hybrid era. We cannot forget how efficient the cars are now compared to the past. This is something very positive that we have.
“It’s like saying we could run without the Halo and make the cars more dangerous and [create] more adrenaline for the fans. It doesn’t make sense.
“We move on from certain things, and what we have now is a very good Formula 1 and a very good moment for the sport.
“So it’s difficult to invent something; we could go into the unknown. It’s difficult to know.”
Drivers ‘want to race the fastest cars’
Alonso went on to say that the future of the current hybrid engines and potentially using V10s is “more a decision the top management will take – FOM, the FIA, and the manufacturers.”
He added: “As drivers, we just want to race the fastest cars possible, regardless of the engine. Maybe the fans have something to say as well.”
Large groups of F1 fans of a certain age bracket will be in favour of V10s returning, the noise of which – as Alonso alluded to – provided the soundtrack to many, with the current engines producing a sound that is far different from them and even the V8s that preceded them.
Four-time F1 World Champion Sebastian Vettel has completed two different demo runs in 1990s cars over the last few years, with sustainable fuels being used, further emphasising the possibility of using them in such a way that is no longer as harmful to the planet.
However, whether Alonso’s assertion that fans could use their voices to the powers that be is something that remains to be seen, and currently, it appears that all of them are singing from the same song sheet and rubbishing any such notion for the time being at least.
READ MORE – Audi indicates negative stance towards mooted early F1 V10 switch
Then sustainable fuels thing is a bit fake, because they can’t make anything like enough for cars in the real world to be made to use it. So as an example, it’s not realistic or even quite honest.
They have to go electric, that is the coming thing for everybody, it’s just the noise that’s the problem, and for now the 2026 hybrid is the only compromise going. What they do after that is a mystery though!