FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has unveiled another ambitious proposal for Formula 1’s future, suggesting the introduction of an FIA-approved standard engine that customer teams could use from 2031. The concept is closely linked to the planned return of naturally aspirated V8 engines and is designed to reduce manufacturers’ influence over independent teams.
An engine ‘branded’ by the FIA
Whatever opinions people may have about FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, one thing is certain: he is never short of new ideas. Speaking to reporters at Silverstone during the British Grand Prix weekend, the head of the governing body put forward a particularly unconventional proposal aimed at tackling the increasingly debated relationship between Formula 1’s so-called A and B teams.
The issue has been heavily criticized by several team bosses in recent months, with McLaren CEO Zak Brown among the most vocal opponents of the growing influence that manufacturers can exert over their customer outfits.
Mohammed Ben Sulayem’s proposal is closely connected to the planned return of naturally aspirated V8 engines, which are expected to make their comeback in Formula 1 from the 2031 season. His vision is both simple and ambitious: appoint an independent supplier capable of producing a standardized engine that would be made available to teams that either cannot or do not wish to develop or purchase their own power unit from an existing manufacturer.
The goal: freeing customer teams from manufacturers
Such a concept would clearly be impossible with today’s highly sophisticated and extremely expensive hybrid power units. However, the introduction of simpler V8 engines would dramatically change the economic landscape.
The project has two main objectives. First, it would allow customer teams to purchase an engine at a controlled and affordable price. Second, it would prevent manufacturers from using engine supply as leverage over their customer teams, particularly when important votes are held within Formula 1’s political structure.
“There would no longer be any control from Team A over Team B,” Ben Sulayem explained to The Race. “If it is financially sustainable, we will have one engine available for all the B teams, so nobody will be able to put pressure on them and say, ‘Vote this way or we won’t give you a good engine.'”
“It will be an engine selected by the FIA that teams will be allowed to use,” Ben Sulayem continued. “In this way, we will control neutrality, power and costs. Obviously, we cannot simply give it away and tell someone to build it. Prices may go up or down, but the FIA will always be the referee.”
Ultimately, however, Mohammed Ben Sulayem’s broader objective with the return of V8 engines—which could feature no more than a 10-15% electric component, effectively a modern version of KERS—is to reduce costs enough that more teams will find it worthwhile to develop their own engines.
“McLaren has said it could do it, and Alpine could also develop its own engine. That would already be two teams. Then there could be new manufacturers joining, perhaps even more than we have today. That is a good thing,” the FIA president concluded.
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