Should F1 seriously evaluate a return to the V10 engine?

The president of the FIA, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, has suggested that a return to the V10 engine could be made in the future, with sustainable fuels that deny the need for the frugality of hybrid engines.

The V10 was last used in Formula 1 in 2005 (apart from Toro Rosso using a V10 stopped in its first season in 2006), with high review monsters that produce about 1000 hp of their architecture of 3.0 liters and 21,000 rpm .

How have V10 become a discussion issue again?

With the formula 1 established to introduce sustainable fuels next year as the sport changes motor regulations for the first time since the introduction of the hybrid engine in 2014, frugality and efficiency offered by engines become less relevant at sports level .

The president of the FIA, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, this week, said that “although we expect the introduction of regulations 2026 on the chassis and the power unit, we must also lead the way in future technological trends of motoring. We should consider a variety of addresses that include the roaring sound of the V10 that is executed with sustainable fuel.

“Regardless of the chosen address, we must support the team and manufacturers to guarantee cost control over R&D spending.”

The return to a V10 would be greatly popular among fans, due to the evocative sound they produce, but is it the possibility that the return of a technology that was outdating 20 years ago?

Thomas Maher: V10 are sentimental, but in the past

Do not be misunderstood. I adore the V10. Since I first saw a race at the end of the 1990s, the ridiculous exuberance of a V10 in the complete chat, which, for me, is the essence par excellence of Formula 1.

But, unfortunately, noise is the entire V10 can boast the technological masterpieces of current hybrids, and the unquestionable step that will inevitably be created by the new engine rules that enter next year. In contrast, the v10 normally aspired is a dinosaur. It is inefficient, wasteful and lacks relevance on the road, all descriptors that put today’s motion manufacturers.

The 2026 engine regulations were completely made to attract these manufacturers, with F1 demonstrating a large -useful test field for relevant technologies for the road. Small internal combustion engines with electrical assistants, as an alternative to complete electricity, is the path of travel for manufacturers, so proposing a return to V10 seems an impossible dream.

Certainly, the sources within the main manufacturers have suggested that the proposal presented by Ben Sulayem, made on the eve of a new cycle of rules for energy units, is little more than introducing unpleasant uncertainty at a time when manufacturers They seek to maximize the relevance of the new regulations for an applicable knowledge base for the use of road cars.

With the global automotive regulations that address the problems of emissions and carbon pollutants, it is likely that reaching high performance levels without the use of turbos and hybrid assistants is almost impossible with older technologies such as large displacement engines such as V10, a Motor design that is not used in modern high -performance vehicles for those reasons.

As a result, these sources have indicated, boosting the regulations to reintroduce a V10 architecture, even if in a decade it is once the next regulations have returned a reward for the investment made by them, it is unlikely to attract manufacturers.

While the use of sustainable fuels adds some logic to the idea of ​​a return of V10, since they would not contribute to the carbon footprint of the sport, a great consideration under the impulse of F1 to become net carbon zero by 2030, the idea It falls apart under nearest scrutiny.

In addition to the emotional connection with the noise of the V10, much of the attractiveness of its time was that these engines boosted the narrow, short and agile cars with grooved tires, which makes drivers seem controls just under control.

20 years later since the last full season of V10, the cars are about 33 percent heavier and in slippery tires, while some weight could be collected by changing more simplistic engines, the same management characteristics associated with The effectiveness of V10 cars F1 long ago.

If the route was followed, then the only way it could work is to allow modern research and development on a large scale, as well as the manufacturing processes to maximize the output power and reliability, how much performance could be achieved with architecture V10 was that already developing around 1000 hp at 21,000 rpm 20 years ago?

In a time cover time, it is difficult to see how the same levels of longevity and reliability can be achieved with high review engines, all for motor technology that manufacturers simply do not want to throw money, given their lack of relevance.

Ben Sulayem’s comments are echoing what the CEO of F1, Stefano Domenicali, expressed last year about evaluating a return to V10, but I suspect that this is something that has been said with the eye to improve its own popularity After what have been difficult months for Ben Sulayem’s. Public image.

With the FIA ​​elections that arrived at the end of this year, commenting on the most desired idea for F1 in the last 20 years. In fact.

Of course, once the sustainable fuels are here and tested at the level of Formula 1, then we may see if the manufacturers are prepared for it …

Henry Valantine: V10 rang as F1 should, but was not famous for reliability

I am from the generation that had its first memories of Formula 1 like the V10 engines that shout it, and I followed it throughout the gradual decrease of revolutions and volume since then.

Now, there is a part of me that longs to listen feel – That sound, that rumble, returns through me again in a passing car. Never, I will never forget my first experience of seeing a Formula 1 car in the flesh when I was a teenager, and this was Lewis Hamilton doing a demonstration career in brands hatch in what was “only” a V8 at that time, and I felt like If I had lost my audition for hours later.

But he felt it was worth it, because that feeling was nothing he had experienced before and, as a fan of Formula 1, there was something intangible in the car in person that was not on television, similar to watching a live life concert Instead of listening to music in your headphones. Both are great, but there is something extra to be there at the time.

Unfortunately, despite all the incredible technological advances and the phenomenal efficiency of these power units, the current V6 simply does not inspire the same visceral response as what it came before.

However, this is where I will probably disappoint those in the ‘bring them to all costs’ camp, because my other permanent memory of the V10 era is, although there will undoubtedly have improvements over time, they tended to break down much more than the Today’s engines.

In the era of the cost limit, the sustainable fuel or not, could a return to high review engines be a recipe for more network sanctions and less innovation in other places because the equipment observes their expenses? It is impossible to say it with certainty, but that would be my early prediction.

I realize that I have given a non -response here, but although obvious professionals would be to return to an era in which Formula 1 cars seemed, and sounded, as the best of the best, the practicality involved would seem like a different topic. That and, despite everything we would like the strongest engines, the best technology seems to have advanced. I am in the fence.

Oliver Harden: could this be Sebastian Vettel’s lasting legacy?

The greatest achievement of Liberty Media?

Make a commercial success with this era of F1 with those engines

The sport lost so much when the old V8, and before them, the great V10, were eliminated that it was barely imaginable that Formula 1 could grow both in popularity in later years.

This, we continue to say, is progress. It is only the way the world is directed and we must shut up and accept it. The good old days are gone.

However, Sebastian Vettel has shown that there is a different way, one to preserve all the good of motoring while adheres to the demands of the modern world.

One of the last memorable contributions from Vettel to F1 was his call to “bring back the fucked V12” while stopped to withdraw his Ferrari in the 2019 Russia Grand Prix.

And since he retired at the end of 2022, Vettel seems to have spent the vast majority of his time promoting historical cars, the Williams FW14B winner of the 1992 Nigel Mansell title, McLaren MP4/8 of Ayrton Senna, completely in sustainable fuels.

He has stopped not to say so explicitly, but at some point he feels that these careers are personal supplications of Vettel to demonstrate that it can be done.

And if it can be done, it should.

Elizabeth Blackstock: Formula 1 This is innovation, not replication

MBS has had their feet in the flames for a while, introducing unpopular rules, fines by oaths, directors of race director, to the extent that fans booed the mere mention of the FIA ​​in the live launch of F1 75 in the O2 Center.

Perhaps interested in an easy rescue, MBS came out two days later with a proposed return to V10 engines, something that fans of Formula 1 have been begging from the moment they were regulated outside of existence. It has been low fruit for years, and now it seems that Sulayem has seized it.

The only problem is that Formula 1 is an innovation sport, and looking to recreate the best moments of the past of sport in the future of sport can only carry sport so far.

V10 on sustainable fuel would take a fascinating step, but sustainability implies much more than biofuel implementation.

Noise is a pollutant in the same way as emissions, and returning to the past with the sole intention of having a large and strong engine should not be the way to follow for a sport and a sanctioning organism that seeks to benefit the environment.

Matt Somerfield: Not justifiable for Motor manufacturers F1

First, I think it is important to keep in mind that outgoing energy units have been used for more than a decade, which justifies the significant development costs that those within the sport had accumulated.

Talking about a future motor development program when we have not even seen or listened to the new power units seems a bit counterproductive.

A return to V10 engines may seem a popular idea, at least with the fan’s base, but, at a time when the world in general moves in the opposite direction, it may not be justifiable for manufacturers.

And, this is where there is a touch, since manufacturers need to see value in producing a product, either in terms of marketing or in terms of engineering, that will drip to their road business.

In addition, the sport has just encouraged two new manufacturers to join the fold for that purpose, which seems harmful to the path that must be forged in the future and probably drags a bigger question in sight: does Formula one want to continue Being an engineering? Is LED enforce or is being rolled up in a more entertainment package?

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