Domenicali backs F1 V8 return for 2030

Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has thrown his weight behind a return to naturally aspirated V8 engines from 2030 or 2031, saying he is “1,000%” in favor of the idea as the sport’s debate over its hybrid future gathers pace.

Backing FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem’s proposal for the next engine cycle, Domenicali told L'Équipe he “fully support[s] the vision of the FIA president,” adding: “With sustainable fuel, lighter cars, and V8 engines, we rediscover the pure essence of motorsport.”

His intervention moves the discussion beyond complaints about the 2026 and 2027 power-unit rules and toward a bigger question about what Formula 1 wants its engines to be after the current cycle. The immediate tension in the paddock has centered on the growing influence of electrical power and on whether a compromise for 2027 should shift the balance back toward the combustion engine.

That criticism is no longer coming only from the margins. After the Canadian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton joined the drivers arguing that the current direction is taking Formula 1 away from what they expect a top-level racing car to feel like. “It doesn’t feel like what motorsport should be,” Hamilton said, before lamenting the loss of the old character of V8 and V10-era engines. He said the engine should “scream all the way to the end of the straight and keep pushing continuously.”

Domenicali’s position is more nuanced than a simple rejection of the current rules. While openly advocating a V8 return in the future, he also defended the existing hybrid framework and suggested the backlash has been overstated. He said “very few people” are complaining, and argued the regulations were introduced because manufacturers wanted them. Formula 1, he said, needed that compromise because “we didn't want to go fully electric” while still attracting new engine suppliers.

That leaves the sport trying to manage two conversations at once: whether to adjust the hybrid balance in the short term, and whether to make a much sharper philosophical turn when the next rules cycle begins. By publicly endorsing V8s, Domenicali has given the latter idea real institutional backing, with sustainable fuels, lighter cars, simpler engines and lower costs now being presented as the basis for Formula 1’s post-hybrid direction.