Crisis talks are scheduled this week between the FIA and the teams to address the 2026 F1 regulations. These meetings will prove crucial on the long road to securing the sport’s future and moving it away from the constant mocking, meming, and savage takedowns it has endured in the open races of the season.
Last week, we spoke at length about politics and self-interest above safety and common sense. Why change regulations when all that money is coming in, benefiting a select few, [most importantly you] and politically, you hold all the cards in the sport? And so, what if no one likes the new rules? Shareholders are delighted, and the $5k suits can be worn in the paddock, with the surplus income made can continue to be flaunted while fans pay big bucks to watch a substandard, dreadful and soul-destroying product.
Except, as with all gouging and asset extraction, there comes a point at which this becomes noticeable to the average consumer, and they lose interest. At this point, they stop paying with their wallets, while mocking the increasingly poor attempts by those involved to justify their decisions as the world begins to criticise and distance itself, interest rapidly declining. The wider world knows it’s a terrible choice, and even those responsible know, but they are forced to carry on regardless.
Take Jaguar’s rebrand as an example. Corporate mismanagement at the highest level, designed to cater to an audience that didn’t exist, led to shares plummeting, the CEO resigning after just three years in post, and the company committing to a woke rebrand that no one asked for. Jaguar’s core audience is alienated; it is locked into cars that no one except the most insecure, ultra-successful YouTube and TikTok content creators and or footballers can afford, and very few want to be associated with the brand. It has become toxic.
F1 has now reached that dangerous tipping point. Fans are disenfranchised, and the regulations’ beneficiaries are attempting to justify keeping them as they are amid overwhelming criticism and disbelief following Bearman’s crash. The sport has reached a crossroads. It now faces a choice on multiple fronts to rectify stupid errors entirely of its own making.
Social media, although at times toxic, provides an excellent overview of general fan opinion. And right now, the once-few and far-between videos showcasing cars from the early 2000s are popping up every day, like the Safety Car restart in Indianapolis in 2004, or comparing the “overtakes” in Suzuka to Kimi Raikkonen’s last-lap pass on Giancarlo Fisichella in 2005. The comments are all the same: they desire a return to the true DNA of F1: fast, light cars, and deafening engines.
Back to the future with V8 engines?
Very few actually want these hybrid engines in the sport; their complexity and irrelevance in the real world have led to apathy to a point where the voices now are impossible to ignore, particularly in the face of Mario Kart memes. Oliver Bearman’s crash was the final straw in greed and self-interest over the sport’s long-term future and standing in the world.
So, the sport now faces a direct choice during the talks planned for this week. It can carry on polluting its DNA with catastrophically expensive, irrelevant, and poor-sounding V6s that no one except Mercedes and Audi wants, or it can make a course change back to V8s, a change that huge swathes of fandom and the industry are calling for.
This would not be a return to unsustainable racing and would not require huge effort to pull off. IndyCar is racing V6 engines with hybrid elements, and 100 per cent sustainable fuel and the racing has not been diluted. It allows the DNA of the American series to remain untouched while keeping it fit for 21st-century racing. Nor does it have batteries dictating when people can and cannot pass.
Many people have many things to say about the FIA’s president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, but his words prior to last year’s British Grand Prix are the ones that perhaps not only strikes the best tone, but also is the greatest beacon of hope in regards to F1’s potential direction in the future.
“To us, the V8 is happening. With the teams now, I’m very optimistic, happy about it,” he said. “FOM [Formula 1 Management] are supporting, the teams are realising it is the right way.”
F1 can still be relevant with V8 engines
Ben Sulayem added that this segue needs to be done “soon,” saying: “You need three years, so hopefully by 2029 we have something there, but the fuel is also very expensive, and we have to be very careful with that. Transmissions are very expensive. The current engine is so complicated, you have no idea, and it is costly. R&D is reaching $200 million, and the engine is costing approximately $200 million, and the engine is costing approximately $1.8 million to $2.1 million, so if we go with a straight V8, let’s see.”
The president made an additional point which was “many” of the current manufacturers produce V8s, “so,” according to him, “commercially it’s correct.
“How much is it? The target is more than 50 percent [cheaper] in everything.”
There is nothing to be said against inserting kinetic energy into a V8 engine, like we had back in the early 2010s. It was a fresh addition to something that received few complaints and provided something new for the drivers to contend with.
And the cost implications would be likely to provide a lot of relief to all teams. The previous iteration of V6 hybrids were thought to be around $11 million each, far more than the previous V8s produced. That would most likely mean that, even if we factor in the cost of the sustainable fuels now being used from this season, manufacturers and teams would still be financially better off.
There might be a worry as to how these fuels would translate into a V8. Fear not.
Over the last few years, one of F1’s biggest converted eco warriors, Sebastian Vettel, has performed demonstration runs in cars from his collection. Namely, these were the Williams FW14B from 1992, and the McLaren MP4/8 from 1993. The former had a fire-breathing Renault V10 powering it to undisputed World Championship glory, the latter housed a sophisticated Ford V8 that propelled Ayrton Senna to four victories. And guess what? Vettel ran them both on sustainable fuels, and guess what? Both cars sounded just as orchestral as they ever did.
Drivers longing for a “normal” F1 car?
There is little doubt that the majority of the drivers would be licking their lips at the thought of this being plonked into the back of a current F1 car, for the 2026 breed, aesthetically, are perhaps the best in a long while.
Smaller, nimbler and prettier, if they had something that resembled normality bolted into the back of them, it might just produce some racing that might be less in overall numbers but would no doubt be more genuine, more exciting, and less likely to leave drivers looking miserable before a race has even started.
Instead of those benefiting through their wallets wearing a smug smile at every race while F1’s DNA and reputation is corrupted just to line their greedy, self-serving pockets, it would instead be drivers and fans excited to see and truly hear the sound of an F1 race once again.
The cards on the table. Greed and self-interest are losing fast; it looks like a downgrade to a $3k suit will be needed sooner rather than later, if it can be stomached.
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