F1 teams push back against Mohammed Ben Sulayem’s plan for new engines in 2029. F1 manufacturers reject Mohammed Ben Sulayem’s plan to introduce new V8 engines in 2029.

The president wants to shorten the regulatory cycle for the 2026 power units

Ben Sulayem wants to change F1 engines
It is no secret that the president of the FIA, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, has been trying to push through changes to the next technical regulations on Formula 1 power units as quickly as possible. The Emirati manager, without openly criticising the 2026 engine architecture, has repeatedly mentioned in recent months the possibility of alternative solutions, such as a return to V10 engines or, more recently, naturally aspirated V8 engines with a very limited hybrid element. However, according to an exclusive report by BBC Sport from well-informed English journalist Andrew Benson, his attempts to bring forward the next regulatory cycle to 2029 – thereby reducing the duration of the 2026 rules to just three years – have been rejected by the manufacturers.

This is not the first time that Ben Sulayem, whose mandate as head of the Federation will expire at the end of this year and who will be challenged by Tim Mayer in the presidential elections next December, has tried to intervene forcefully in the Formula 1 engine debate. Already during the last Bahrain Grand Prix, the FIA president had attempted to promote the reintroduction of V10 engines powered by synthetic fuels, but his proposal was dismissed during a meeting with the representatives of the constructors competing in F1.

F1 could head towards 2.4-litre V8 engines but…
The nature of this second proposal is different, as it focuses on a return to 2.4-litre V8 engines – with the question still open on whether they would be naturally aspirated or turbocharged – and on a major simplification of the hybrid component. This is a suggestion that does not face formal opposition from the teams or the manufacturers, nor from Formula 1 itself. In fact, Stefano Domenicali has often stressed the intention to move towards simpler electrified engines compared to the 2026 units, with a strong emphasis on e-fuels. Nevertheless, the main resistance concerns the timing of such a change.

…but not before 2030
According to the BBC Sport report, Mohammed Ben Sulayem had initially scheduled a special meeting with the manufacturers for next Thursday, only to cancel it on the Friday of the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. The reason for this sudden backtrack seems to lie in the opposition he encountered over the idea of introducing the new V8 engines as early as 2029, which would mean a technical cycle lasting only three seasons. It is therefore possible that the work will continue in the direction of 2.4-litre V8 engines, but it is unlikely that their debut will take place before 2030 or 2031. Domenicali himself, speaking live on Sky during FP1 at Monza, clearly referred to a cycle of “five or possibly four years” for the 2026 engines.