F1's boss wants the screaming V8 back by 2030: Cars 80 kg lighter and engine costs slashed

80 kg.

That is how much lighter the FIA believes an F1 car could be when the V8 returns, compared with the 2026 engines. And that is just one of the promises.

A post on X on 13 October, seen almost 700,000 times, said it plainly: V8 engines are coming back to Formula 1 in 2030. The FIA president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, wants lighter cars, much cheaper engines and the old V8 noise.

The replies came fast. "Can it start in 2027?" "Alonso till 2030." And one fan wrote that the sport is in "rapid decline."

So is it really happening?

Has the FIA really confirmed V8 engines for 2030?

Ben Sulayem has said many times that V8s are coming. In May 2026, after the Miami Grand Prix, he told reporters, "It's coming," according to RacingNews365 and PlanetF1.

But "confirmed" is a big word. We could not find a vote or a rule change that makes it official. The FIA boss has the plan. The rulebook does not have it yet.

The honest summary is this. The FIA president is committed to V8s. The rules have not been written or signed.

Why can't the FIA just switch to V8s next year?

Because the current engine deal runs until the end of 2030. Engine makers signed up for it and spent millions.

Ben Sulayem says the FIA can force the change from 2031 without a vote from the engine makers. To start in 2030, a supermajority is needed. That means four of the six engine makers must say yes.

The six are Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull-Ford, Honda, Audi and General Motors, which is behind the new Cadillac team.

Which teams want the V8 and which do not?

The picture is mixed, based on reports from May.

• Mercedes is on board, as long as some battery power stays. The Race reported it even floated a 1,200 horsepower idea.
• Ferrari signalled it could back 2030, but not earlier.
• Audi and Honda, the newer arrivals, were against any switch before 2031, reports say. They have just spent huge sums on the 2026 engines.

Ben Sulayem once wanted V8s as early as 2029. Most makers pushed back because of the cost of running two engine programmes at once.

Will F1 cars really be 80 kg lighter and engines half the price?

Here is where the numbers come from.

The FIA believes future V8 units could be about 80 kg lighter than the 2026 units. That is a target, not a final figure. The weight of an engine, battery and cooling all count, and the real number depends on the final rules.

On cost, the post says "at least 50% lower." Ben Sulayem has gone further. In 2025 he told The Race he wants engines to cost about one quarter of today's roughly $1.8 million to $2.1 million each. The FIA also says cheaper parts and materials, such as aluminium pistons, could cut costs by up to 65%.

So the 50% figure is the safe end of the promise. Nobody has published a final price.

Photo: Marie-Lan Taÿ Pamart / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0

What is wrong with the 2026 engines?

The 2026 cars use a 1.6 litre V6 turbo hybrid. The electric motor now supplies about half of the power. The MGU-H, a complicated part that recovered heat, was removed.

Many fans do not like the result. Drivers sometimes have to lift off or save energy on straights. And the engines are quieter and lower in pitch than the old ones.

Ben Sulayem wants to shrink the electric part to about 10% over time. That means a smaller battery and a simpler system. One fan reply put the worry well: "V8 with some garbage electrical system attached." Nobody has said exactly how much hybrid power will stay.

V10 vs V8 vs today: What changes?

Figures are approximate. Sources: The Race, PlanetF1, FIA regulations history.

The V8 era ended after 2013, when F1 moved to 1.6 litre V6 turbo hybrids. Plenty of fans say the V10 was better. Ben Sulayem has said a V10 is not realistic, and that V8s are more popular and used in many road cars.

Will the new V8s be turbocharged or naturally aspirated?

Nobody knows yet. This is the biggest open question.

Fans in the replies are split. "We want naturally aspirated V8s, not turbo V8s," one wrote. Another said they will be "turbocharged and low rpm."

The FIA has also backed a standard fuel to keep costs down. Whether it is sustainable fuel, as now, has not been settled in anything we could find.

Photo: Tom from Oud Turnhout, Belgium / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

What still has to happen before the V8 roars again?

Quite a lot. Here is the list.

1. The FIA and teams agree the exact rules, including size, fuel and hybrid power.
2. The rules go through the F1 and FIA rule-making process for a vote.
3. Four of the six engine makers say yes, or the FIA waits and uses its own power for 2031.
4. Teams build and test engines in around three years.

If it all works, a 2030 grid could sound very different from this one.

And the fan who wrote "Alonso till 2030"? Fernando Alonso is 45 now. By 2030 he will be 49. He might just get to hear a V8 scream one more time.

The sport is also looking further ahead than engines. See why F1's 2030s plans have already started a fight in Africa in F1 picks Rwanda over Kyalami.