The idea of bringing back naturally aspirated V10 engines to Formula 1 was one of the topics that was hotly debated in the paddock and in the press at the start of the season, with the FIA president pushing for it.
Last month, Mohammed bin Sulayem said, literally: “We need to look at a whole range of ideas, including a return to loud V10s, but running on cleaner fuel.”
Of course, such statements are at odds with the declared desire to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030 and run counter to the course of reducing costs.
Toto Wolff believes that Formula 1 would look pretty stupid if it started changing its long-established plans, the essence of which is that the next-generation hybrid power units that teams will receive in 2026 should be used within the next five years.
One of Wolff's very sensible arguments, which he made in an interview with Autosport, is that Formula 1 needs to be a reliable business partner with which the world's leading car manufacturers are willing to do business.
“Formula 1 looks a bit silly when it brings in companies like Audi, promoting the idea of a wonderful hybrid engine that runs on environmentally friendly fuel, and then suddenly we say that we actually only want to keep these engines for three years, not five,” the Mercedes team boss reasoned. “We have to be solid and reliable partners.
Our approach should be: “There are regulations, the budget is also defined, and your task is to calculate everything taking this into account.” And then people will be able to decide whether to join us or not.
But even before these regulations come into force, it is suggested to estimate what engines and power units we will switch to next time. I just think that because of this, Formula 1 looks a little inconsistent.
We all have common interests – the FIA, Formula 1 and the championship teams – we want our sport to do well, and to do that we need to make long-term plans and we all need to work together to implement them.”
Wolff did not specify which forces are trying to push the idea of a return to naturally aspirated V10 engines, but he did hint that it could be Red Bull, as Milton Keynes is reportedly having difficulty building its own power plant, which is what Red Bull Powertrains is doing.
“I think there are people who feel that they are maybe not as competitive as they would like to be next year,” Wolff said. “You look back to 2014, because those same people were criticising those engine regulations because their suppliers’ power units weren’t competitive enough to begin with.
Now they are developing their own engine, and I think they are very afraid that this project of theirs will not be successful. That is why unexpected attempts are made to manipulate, and the idea of V10 engines appears.
At Mercedes, we always prefer to have such discussions openly. What should the engine of the future be like? V8 or V10? And what should the hybrid system integrated with it and installed in the car be like? The course towards the use of environmentally friendly fuel is definitely correct, but should the engine be naturally aspirated or equipped with a turbine?
We are ready to take on any challenge if the decision on such an engine is made within the correct procedure. For now we are following the established procedure, so let's discuss together with all the engine manufacturers what engines we would like to have after 2030, and then on the basis of this we will have to propose some plan acceptable to Formula 1.”
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