Formula 1 has just been given a date. After months of speculation, FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has confirmed the V8 engine is coming back — and he wants it on the grid by the end of the decade.
Speaking publicly about the future of F1's power units, Ben Sulayem made his ambition unambiguous.
"I'm targeting 2030. One year before the maturity [of the regulations]. It will happen," he said.
That timeline is dramatic. The current 2026 hybrid regulations were only finalised after years of political wrangling, and they have already drawn fierce criticism in the opening races over battery management, lift-and-coast deployment and the size of the speed gap between cars in different harvest states. Ben Sulayem's plan would effectively shorten the lifespan of the new rules to four full seasons before a fundamental reset.
He framed the move as inevitable rather than aspirational.
"It's coming. Oh yes, it is coming. At the end of the day, it's a matter of time."
"In 2031, the FIA will have the power to do it, without any votes from the PUMs," he said, referring to the power unit manufacturers.
The proposed engine concept marks a sharp pivot back toward simplicity and noise. The current 1.6-litre V6 hybrid units split power roughly evenly between combustion and electrification, with the 2026 rules pushing the electric share toward 50 per cent. Ben Sulayem's vision goes the other way.
"It will be with a very, very minor electrification, but the main one will be the engine," he said.
He pointed to the production sports-car landscape as justification for the format. Ferrari, Mercedes-AMG, Audi and Cadillac all still build V8 road cars — and a lighter, more theatrical engine would, in Ben Sulayem's view, reconnect F1 with the kind of road-relevant brand storytelling that originally pulled manufacturers in.
"The V8, you see it [in road cars] with Ferrari, Mercedes, Audi, Cadillac... lightweight car," he said.
He insists the engine suppliers are already on board.
"They want it to happen... V8 is coming."
The change would not be without complications. Audi has only just entered F1 on the back of the 2026 regulations, and the Volkswagen Group's business case for the project leans heavily on hybrid road-car technology transfer. Honda's return as a Red Bull-aligned partner from 2026 is similarly built around the new electrified architecture. A 2030 hard reset to lightly-electrified V8s would force every supplier to either commit to a second-generation development programme or walk away — a decision likely to be made within the next 18 months as suppliers reassess their long-term Formula 1 futures.
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*Originally published on [News Formula One](https://newsformula.one/article/fia-s-ben-sulayem-locks-in-2030-v8-return-it-is-coming). Visit for full coverage.*
