Racing
© Adriaan Greyling
The FIA wants Formula 1’s 2031 engine direction settled within months, with a cheaper, simpler package and a sharply reduced hybrid share now emerging as the response to weaknesses already identified in the current formula.
Jan Monchaux, FIA technical director for single-seaters, told Auto Motor und Sport that the process needs to move quickly. “We have to conclude everything in the next two to three months,” he said. “By the end of the year something concrete must be on paper.” He said the FIA is trying to find common ground so manufacturers can see themselves represented in any substantial changes.
That urgency comes from a clear conclusion inside the FIA: the current engine rules locked F1 into a compromise that has exposed both sporting and technical problems. Monchaux said the weaknesses of the current formula are well known and that the federation will try to correct course to reduce the biggest issues. He added that, given manufacturers’ financial situation, cost reduction is an absolute priority.
Nikolas Tombazis, the FIA’s technical chief, has tied that rethink to the assumptions that shaped the current rules in the first place. He said manufacturers had told the FIA they would “never develop a new combustion engine again” and had set out timelines for going fully electric, but “that did not happen.” Tombazis said the lesson for the next cycle is that F1 “must not be held hostage by car manufacturers,” adding that the series wants them involved but cannot be vulnerable if they choose to leave.
Early talks with manufacturers have already pointed to a different kind of power unit for 2031. The leading concept described in those discussions is a turbocharged V8 with a standardized MGU-K, still running on sustainable fuel but with a significantly smaller electric contribution than the current rules. The aim is to move away from a formula in which nearly half of the drive power is electrical and races risk being shaped too heavily by energy management.
The FIA is pushing now because it does not believe it can afford to wait. Tombazis said engine development timelines are long, which is why discussions have started so early even before the new generation has fully run its course. He also said everything remains on the table for the future, but any major change would need consensus from manufacturers and Liberty Media rather than a unilateral FIA decision.
That timing matters even more because an attempt to shorten the current cycle appears to have failed. There was discussion last year about replacing the present engine generation as early as 2029 or 2030, but that idea ran into resistance mainly from Audi and Honda. Both newcomers were unwilling to develop another all-new engine after only three years, with major investment in the current power units meant to be recovered over the planned five-year cycle.
The backdrop to all of this is the way the current rules were written. When the formula was agreed in August 2022, incentives for new entrants such as Audi and Honda pulled in one direction, while existing suppliers wanted to retain as many components as possible to contain costs. The result was a solution that took everyone’s interests into account without fully satisfying anyone, a balance many now see as the root of the present problems.
That is why the FIA is trying to define the next framework earlier and on firmer terms. A lower-cost, simplified engine with less electrical dependence is becoming the preferred route, and the next two to three months look set to shape whether Formula 1 commits to that V8-led reset for 2031.