Ferrari Team Principal Frederic Vasseur wonders whether spec-power units for customer teams in Formula 1 would be “mega realistic”.
The FIA has major rule change proposals in the pipeline as the sport’s latest era kicked off with the all-new 2026 technical regulations.
Amid this, the FIA President, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, had suggested that the sport would not shy away from introducing an independent power unit manufacturer to supply engines to non-works outfits.
This suggestion comes hot on the heels of renewed criticism of B-team setups within the paddock.
“There will be no control over the teams, A-team over the B-team, that’s supplied with their engines,” he had told Reuters.
“If it is affordable, then we will have one engine for the rest of the B-teams, so nobody can leverage them and tell them, ‘Vote this way, or we are not going to give you a good engine.”
Vasseur, who heads the Maranello-based team’s F1 operations, had now weighed in on this proposal.
Currently, Ferrari supplies power units to the likes of Haas and Cadillac on the grid.
“Everything is possible,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“If someone wants to do an engine today, they can. It’s a matter of performance. Sometimes we can imagine that to do a V8, it’s easier than something else.
“I don’t know if it is mega realistic.”
Why becoming an F1 engine supplier is complex
Vasseur contemplated the ground realities of starting an engine program under the current rule-set.
With the cost cap in place, engine manufacturers are cash-strapped. Not to mention that any incremental upgrades are only allowed under the FIA’s ADUO scheme.
Series like Formula 2 and Formula 3 are pure spec-series with all the teams supplied with Mecachrome engines – an erstwhile F1 supplier, too.
The Frenchman explained that the concept of building an F1 engine from scratch may not be complex, but being able to be competitive against works outfits would be the real problem.
“To build up the engine, it’s not complex,” Vasseur continued. “What is complex is the level of performance.
“If you think that with the cost cap, I think that this exercise is very difficult to be performant with the cost caps.”
Ben Sulayem has also hinted at a potential return to V8 engines to replace the current V6 hybrid configuration.
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