P1 with Matt and Tommy - Our reaction to F1's RETURN to V8 engines

Episode Date: May 7, 2026

So soon after the new era of hybrid power has begun, F1 are reportedly keen to return to V8 engines as early as 2030. So why are they seemingly turning their back on hybrid technology? And what will this mean for F1 in the future? Let’s talk about it! We're in Australia this month! There are a small handful of tickets for a few of our shows - get your tickets at: http:/tix.to/p1ausSign up to our Patreon for just $5 a month! You'll get access to every P1 episode ad-free, extended versions of every 2026 race review, early access to tickets & merch, and access to our Discord server where you can chat with us and other F1 fans! Click here to sign up now: http://patreon.com/mattp1tommyFollow us on socials! You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, YouTube and TikTok.P1 with Matt and Tommy is the world's biggest F1 podcast. Subscribe for new podcasts around every single race throughout the 2026 Formula 1 season! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello everybody and welcome back to the P1 podcast with Matt and Tommy. Miami is done. We've got a little bit of time now before we head to Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix. And I thought something that was absolutely necessary to talk about. And Tommy, I know you're very excited to talk about it as well. Is that Formula One plan to return to V8 engines in 2030? A lot to discuss about this one because I have quite a few thoughts on this. and the timeline and everything else.

And Mohammed bin Saliam, widely popular amongst not many people, is the one being very vocal about this. He is, yes. He's obviously the FAA president. He's the one that gets to decide certain things. And for some reason, just before the Miami Grand Prix was about to start

before we'd even seen the new regs or the updated regs in action, he drops the check. you know, the chat that basically we want to return to V8s and we want to do it even sooner than the next step of the regulations, which was of course 2031. So we are still here in Australia as much as our backdrop looks like we could be anywhere in the world because we have a couple of live shows coming up in Melbourne. Then we go to Sydney, Brisbane and Perth.

But today we need to talk about the big bombshell and that is the V8 engines might even come back as soon as 2030, perhaps 2031. So let me go and run you through Ben Suleim and what he said. And this was to Reuters ahead of Miami. The quote was, it's coming. At the end of the day, it's a matter of time. And that was ahead of Sunday's Miami Grand Prix. In 2013, the V8, the FIA, will have the power to do it without any votes from the power unit manufacturers. That's the regulations, but we want to bring it one year earlier, which everyone now is asking for. But let's say the manufacturers don't approve it for 2030. The year after, essentially, he was saying in 20131, it's done anyway.

It will be done. V8 is coming. I mean, that quote is kind of a bizarre thing to read where he's essentially saying, I don't care what any team or manufacturer has to say we're doing V8 engines. Like it's a very sort of, he's trying to be this powerful figure that, goes, right, we have to do what's right for the sport. My sort of takeaway from all of this is like, why was this never really discussed or properly considered now?

Why do we have this period of time where we have a huge amount of battery input and we've spoken in great detail about these regs to then go backwards, back to V8s? It feels like the backtrack of the century, but we also have to wait. at least four years for it. So it's not like this is round the corner. But for me, I don't know, it just feels like a very strange way of going from where we were with the hybrid engines to even more sort of 55-45 split between the internal combustion engine and the electrical power

to then go, actually, let's go back to V8s, but with sustainable fuels. It's a very odd thing to drop just before Miami as well. And, you know, the fact that it seems like, and we'll talk about, the team's reaction later because we've heard a little bit from Mercedes in particular and Toto Wolf about it. But it didn't feel like this is something that's been like really discussed with everyone. As you say, it sounds like he's come out there and gone, this will be really popular. Let's do V8s. Let's bring them back. This is what we need. And he's kind of, the quote you just read out is really weird as well because he kind of goes all guns blazing in, I don't

care if the manufacturers don't want it. It's happening. And we're going to try and push it a year earlier and then later in the almost the very next sentence goes but if the manufacturers don't approve it then it will be the year after which shows that they still have some power surely but this is the the situation that we've had and the discussion that we've had before about fia presidency and sometimes we actually quite like the fact that in in theory you want the teams and the manufacturers, particularly the manufacturers, not to have so much power because we've been complaining a lot about the new regulations and how, you know, we've done all this for particularly like Audi and Mercedes and having them to kind of stay and join Formula One. But a lot of the time I'm just

like, do we really need to like pander? Let's just make Formula One as good as it possibly can be. But there is an element of pandering that you have to do because the manufacturers are literally the teams in the sport that spend hundreds of millions to be involved in it. So there has to be some kind of agreement there. And this is what, you know, with what he's come out and said. Like, it doesn't matter if they approve it or not. I'm sat there going, but they could just bin off Formula One if they don't like the regs that is then being proposed for 2030 or 2030 one. Like, for example, Audi, you know, they've just come into the sport and Formula One seems to have bent over backwards to get Audi in, who of course has such a decorated history in every other motor sport. You,

you go back to these, this element, and, you know, obviously the electrical side, we're not sure how that's going to combine with this V8 suggestion. But for me, my thinking is, if they're not winning, they're just going to leave again because it doesn't make any sense for them through what they're developing with their road cars and so on. I mean, it's maybe a hot take, but I have never, and maybe it's just the era I grew up watching Formula One, but I personally would rather watch great Formula One if it's a, the expense of some engine manufacturers and we have some independent teams. There'll be teams that want to do Formula One if it's much cheaper, much more accessible. And as long as Formula One's

exciting, I've never been the kind of person other than Ferrari, which I think are hugely critical and important for Formula One because I've always been there, to basically, yes, it's cool having Mercedes, it's cool having Audi, it's cool having Honda and these manufacturers, but it doesn't make Formula One for me. So for me, if some of them leave, like they've been and gone, they've come back, so be it. I mean, fair enough, from a fan perspective, I get it, but from a business perspective, I think that that would be a huge hit for Formula One if the massive names left. You know, you say that they're more independent teams and things like that, which would be cool, but there's no guarantee that that's going to be something that people can, or teams can just

click their fingers and join Formula One. So I think they have to be kind of careful from a, from a business structure point of view. And that's why you don't want to lose a huge amount of them because that might leave a little bit of a chasm in Formula One. So let's go to a question from P1 picture. Remember Savage Monkey 3.0. Do you think MBS is trying to save F1 from its current state and trying to save himself? Or did he already have a plan to bring them back before this regulation? can it be both? I think that I'm sure MBS, one of the things he always loves to say is that he's a racer, guys. All right.

He's reminded everybody he is a racer. And I'm sure for all of the things he's done that we disagree with, he likes good racing, right? And I think that we all know if there wasn't worldwide considerations to going green and also the road. sort of developments that the big manufacturers are making in terms of making sure the technology that they develop an F1 can translate to the road. If all of that was kind of scrapped and not even considered, then yes, even MBS, who is, you know, disliked, let's say, by a lot of people. He knows that this is the way to go for Formula One.

This is always the good old days that a lot of people refer to. So I think, I don't know whether it's, to be honest, now that I'm talking about it and it's sort of flourishing in my brain, does he really need to save himself? Because I'm pretty sure he's just kind of in this monopoly anyway. He's got everything. The votes always seem to just be in his favor no matter what happens. So I don't know if it's whether it's saving himself, but I think he's trying to improve his public image 100%.

And look, if he can save Formula One from its current state, I am absolutely fine with that. However, 2030 is a very long time away. and we've already seen improvements in Miami. I don't think Formula One may even be in this state come 2028, 2029. So it's not really saving it because we've still got a long, long time to go. We have, yeah. My initial thoughts were when this news got announced that it did feel like NBS trying to get a bit of popularity, you know, he ruined that immediately by pouring water over Antonelli's head in Park Fermay.

but as much as I don't like the guy and kind of what he stands for and has done, I do agree with this proposal that Formula One would be in a much better place and I don't think it's even a case of or it's better in the good old days. I think that for me, the biggest problem with the hybrid engines

when they got introduced in 2014 and it still lingers on and continues is the fact that it's so damn complicated and so damn expensive. And as much as the, we've got a budget cap sort of in place and all these things to try and make the pecking order a bit closer we saw much more you can't deny that when we were back in kind of 2013 2012 we saw teams like salber almost winning races and force india and things like that and there was

this opportunity for the smaller teams now it's been years and years and years of just the teams, the biggest teams in essentially McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes just at the top. And no one can kind of really come close to them. Thanks for including Ferrari at the top. I really appreciate that. That's really nice. Not that it's been true. They're in that mix, they, aren't they?

And particularly when, you know, we saw, you can look back to like 2017 and stuff and see the entire grid and then almost like a lap, a whole lap between the midfield and stuff. and this is the thing that why I think V8s are the way to go with sustainable fuel or just a less you know these these are the quotes that he's come out with and stuff that I do agree is we need a much more simple engine in Formula 1 because they're far too complicated for the manufacturers the the sport in general and the fans so I don't think there's so many problems with the hybrid engines in my opinion the cost the fact that it makes the cars really heavy and big so yeah i'm i'm all for this if they do it and i do think it's a genuine

thoughts behind it because we saw that run from sebastian betel where he drove nigel mansell's williams with sustainable fuels and ever since then it's kind of become this like buzz in formula one of look this this is this is the way to go if you want to be kind of green Well, the thing is, is that we all know, including Formula One, that it can work, right? That's not the debate. It's whether or not Formula One and car manufacturers are willing to take a hit in order to save the sport and its sort of integrity and the soul of it, right? Because it's all about money. It's all about, you know, for the big car manufacturers, it's selling the technology that was in a Formula One car and now it's in a road car.

Please buy my 50,000 pound road car. that's what's in it for them and then with Formula One of course they also want to pander to these massive manufacturers so if they do go down this route then obviously it would be amazing for the sport it's just who is going to take the hit because there has to be one

let's go to another question from P1PITR member Filiberger do we think this proposal will keep Max and others from leaving Formula One I think it will certainly help because I don't think it's even just Max it's clearly that a lot of drivers are upset.

I saw a quote from Lando Norris that was basically saying that we need to get rid of this whole battery side of Formula One and the rest of it is actually like pretty decent. And I think that is the case with with the reg. So if we go back to this, it will certainly be a popular one with the drivers, I'm sure. Again, it's a case of whether it won't be popular with the teams probably. but some people will look at this and think it's just a way to kind of appease the drivers, particularly someone like Max Verstappen who's threatened to quit and stuff. But at the end of the day, this isn't like a crazy thing because there are new engine regs coming in 2013.

I just think it's almost like him jumping the gun of what's kind of the idea is behind it, rather than there being like this big discussion between everyone and going, right, what's the future? What should we do next? I'm of the opinion that doesn't really change Max's opinion particularly because it is so far in the future. If anything, this kind of makes me think that should he despise the cars and continue to despise it at the end throughout this season, that he'll just bin it off and come back when they're good. That is a potential for me is that, you know, Max goes away, does all of his 24 hours,

of this, that and the other, whatever he wants to do because he doesn't enjoy these cars at the moment. And then as soon as the V8 sustainable fuels come back in 2030 or 20301, then he can just sign back up. That is a genuine route now, I believe. If they lock in, if Formula One and the FIA lock in this as the plan, then I can see it happening because Max is going to leave. Max really appreciates family time and things like that.

If he decides to leave, he will go. He's not going to wait five years because Mohammed bin Saliam said that the V8s are coming back. in a very long time down the road. So I don't think it changes Max's decision or any of the drivers, to be honest, because it is such a long time to consider. But you know, you look at the other drivers, where are they going to go?

I don't think there's not many people on the grid. There's the Hamilton's, the Vestappans, not really many others, Alonzo, perhaps, where you could see them going, nah, can't be bothered with this anymore. But everyone else are just in Formula One, and they love being in Formula One. So they kind of just have to suck it up a little bit, don't they?

I mean, Alonso would be 50. Yeah, right. You could still be around. You never know. Could still be around. Next question. Emmanuel underscore NF1. Which manufacturer would leave and what manufacturers would possibly join?

Now, Tommy sort of touched upon it, the fact that Mercedes and Toto Wolf have been reasonably vocal about this. So Toto's quote was, from a Mercedes standpoint, we are open to new engine regulations. We love V8s. It only has great memories. And from our perspective, it's a pure Mercedes engine. It revs high. That concerns me for a more 2031 domination. But how do we give it enough energy from the battery side to not lose connection to the real world?

Because if we swing 100% combustion, it might be looking a bit ridiculous in 2013 or 2030. We need to consider that make it simpler and make it a mega engine. Maybe we can extract 800 horsepower out of the internal combustion engine and put 400 on top of it or more in terms of electrical energy, which is, a better balance than what it currently is, right? That is a much better sort of two-thirds, one-third sort of split. We are absolutely up for it as long as those discussions happen in a structured way with people's consideration being taken on board.

Meanwhile, MBS. We're doing it. Whether you like it on it. Whether you like it or not, yeah. So that's where, obviously, a lot of the teams will probably get their backs up if it's the MBS show and the teams don't have any say. but it's positive to see Toto saying this. Of course, it's all well and good what he says to the media

and what he says to us and behind closed doors. He will obviously have Mercedes and the whole brand sort of thoughts in his mind. So we will see. The fact that they're open to it and they haven't said no is obviously great. We're not going to be turning into Formula E come 2031. That's also good because what Toto wants is usually somewhere along the lines of what we get. will he be in charge of Formula One by that point as well. Like, you know, you never know,

because he may well move on from Mercedes and go somewhere even higher. This is why I think I'd take what Teta Wolf says a lot of the time about Formula One in general, with a pinch of salt. He's clearly got ambitions to be, you know, the next FIA president or a higher power within Formula One. I think that's very clear from the stunts

that he's had on many things in Formula One, you know, Las Vegas how much he defended that when there was so much slander around it and he really back on the one. I mean, he wasn't wrong with Ozzie in the end. He did say everybody forget about it and say it was really good. Exactly. That's what we're doing. And he was right. And the same with, you know, these regulations. And I initially thought before I read anything from Mercedes, when I heard this news, I was thinking, well, Mercedes aren't going to enjoy that because that's, you know, the same with the likes of Audi and things that. So he's kind of, he's kind of, of said that yes we're open to it but we still need you know i think mbs's idea behind it is just

stick a v a in push the throttle off we go whereas toto clearly has a different opinion of we still need some kind of battery and so it's kind of relevant to hybrid power in the real world and the kind of cars that that people are are producing and in the real world and in the real world. So I get his side of it, but I think in terms of wood manufacturers leave, I think some probably would because Audi came in for that reason, didn't they, to basically have the engine regs the way they wanted. And if we went back to just a V8 engine with just 100% an ICE, they would probably go, well, this is not what we've signed up for. Exactly. You know, Audi is definitely the top of my list in terms of who would leave but then you look at the other ones there aren't an

insane amount of power unit manufacturers in f1 anymore really you wouldn't think that red ball would leave because it's not like they're developing road cars or four would would probably quite happily have a screaming VA engine uh with you know full full murica um it feels like that they would and i think loramekies has said you know we're not we're not against it um Honda again Honda Honda they're kind of road cars and everything is all kind of more that push towards hybrid power and things as well so I think you would see a lot of manufacturers probably unhappy with this I'm sure we'll hear a lot more from them as this new story is kind of out and gets a bit more traction and it would be fascinating to see that when they actually all sit down together as MBS kind of suggested that whether this can be pushed forward as much. as they want. But as you said, it is this risk because we've seen this before with, I think it was like 2009 where there was the kind of the big economic crisis and BMW left and Toyota left and

Formula One have got back into a place now where they have these manufacturers on board. And yeah, they don't want to lose them as much as I would much rather see better Formula One. and if it's at the expense of having like Force Indias and Benetons and Jordan's and stuff. It's striking the right balance. You know, Formula One has been in a proper boom period, but there is going to be a point where we reach the top of the mountain. And I feel like we're there, right?

If anything, we might be sliding slightly down with these new regulations. So we can't take for granted, and Formula One and the teams can't take for granted this massive F1 fandom, because right now we want the best. sport possible. So still have to wait a little while though by the looks of things. There is a question and a sort of statement from Fergie's right ref. Guys, come on. We all know it's nonsense. The world is going green. You think engine manufacturers are going to produce

internal combustion engines? It's not really the point, is it? Because if Formula One are proposing this and the FIA you know if MBS gets his way which he's kind of said or you know he's already saying I don't care what what they think I have the power to do this so it's happening you know the quote is V8 is coming it will be done so at the end of the day it's his decision as the FIA president to make it happen and yes and some engine manufacturers may well go no we don't want to produce a full 100% ICE. So off we go. But that is the the kind of idea behind Formula 1 and it's MBSs is in the FAA's decision to put it in that direction. And, you know, Dominicali has kind of said as well that we, he kind of is on that idea behind the fact that the engine

needs to be much more simple. It just depends how simple we're going here of, is it going back to 2013 and just sticking a pure V8 in and hoping for the best. Yeah, I can't see Formula One having no battery. I really can't. I think I'm sort of with what Toto said in the fact of they will find a way to incorporate some kind of battery power. But just having much less sort of focus on that. That's the key thing here is stripping back all of the technology that clearly, you know,

has been due to the fact that these manufacturers want to include all this, you know, They don't want to waste money just in Formula One and then this technology not be used outside of the sport. So, yeah, there's a lot of hits that need to be taken financially for certain areas of the sport. But if they want this to continue to flourish as a, you know, as the pinnacle of motorsport, then they have to make some changes. So, yeah, 100% V8 engine I cannot see happening.

It's tough because the, we've said this before, that they kind of push towards being net zero and they want to kind of have that side of it. But Formula One will always have that image of why do you want to be environmental because you're literally just driving cars for fun? So there'll always be that kind of negative side. And Formula One don't want that side of it. Even if Formula One could use, because we've said this before, that it's all the kind of logistics and everything of Formula One that is the most environmentally unfriendly,

particularly going back to back between like Vegas and Abu Dhabi and things like that and carrying all the cars over and all that kind of side of it to having 22 Formula One cars drive around for a couple of hours. That weirdly is not the thing that's the most environmentally unfriendly. But the problem is it's that perception and the image of Formula One that, you know, know, is that message of even if they did do all that side of, oh, actually, we're going to make the calendar better and we're going to do this. And actually now we're at net zero, it wouldn't look good for Formula One from a kind of dim view of just like looking at Formula One going, oh, but

they've gone back to V8. So that's not very good for the environment. I don't know if I agree. I think it's more to do with the point I was saying about the technology transferring into, you know, road cars because you know you've you said yourself right that the the main um pollution is the is the shipping is everything around the sport there and i don't know i i i feel as though that i get it of course there's always going to be people that complain about this sort of stuff but if anyone actually engages their brain they'll know that that that is absolutely nothing compared to everything else that goes on around moving the circus of formula one um so but there's lots of considerations that of course need to be taken into account.

So yeah, that's a lot of engine chat for one podcast. It has to be said and a little while to wait as well. But hopefully we get drips and drabs of bits of news and of how they're going to go about this, which direction they're going to go. I'm sure with the pressure of this season as well and the regulations that they've brought to the table, they'll want to put some positive things out maybe sooner rather than later, hence why MBS has kind of gone off on one in the media. So there, there you go.

Hope you enjoyed that one. Tommy, final thoughts? Final thoughts are just that I can't believe four races in. We're like, right, let's talk about the next regulations. What's happening here? Classic. Classic indeed. We'll see you very soon.

Bye. Goodbye. P1 is a Stack production and part of the A-Cast Created Network.