Koji Watanabe, president of Honda Racing Corporation, told motorsport.com Japan: “We know that the FIA intends to introduce naturally aspirated V10 engines from 2028. However, we have not received detailed information from the FIA. There will be meetings organised by the FIA, in which the engine manufacturers will participate, and we would like to discuss it there first.
“At the moment we don’t have any details. We can’t say whether V10s are acceptable or not in terms of efficiency. We would first like to understand the details of what is being proposed before we start a discussion.
“A meeting is planned, and at that meeting we want to express our point of view as engine manufacturers.
“As far as Honda is concerned, our reason for entering F1 again is electrification and (the type of) powertrains.”
Mercedes is open to discussing the idea of a new engine formula but says it would need it to retain a hybrid element for the company to stay interested.
The opposition of Honda and Audi alone is enough to torpedo the plan. With Mercedes also against the idea of abandoning hybrids, it appears to have no chance of success, even though Red Bull and Ferrari are said to back the idea.
The manufacturers will meet with the FIA to discuss the future of engines at the Bahrain Grand Prix on 11 April.
The FIA hopes to secure a clear answer on the manufacturers’ vision for the future.
Ben Sulayem had signalled that the introduction of sustainable fuels, which cut the carbon emissions from an internal combustion engine from between 80-100% depending on the way the fuel is manufactured, could open the door to the return of loud, high-revving engines.
V10s became the default engine in F1 from the mid-1990s until 2005, after which the sport switched to V8s, and have a resonance with a certain section of the fan base.
However, Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff is one of a number of senior figures who have questioned whether the changing fan demographic means that V10s are no longer as important.
Many younger, female fans have become interested in F1 following the Covid pandemic and the success of Netflix’s Drive to Survive series.
Wolff said: “You need to be open-minded. We’re all racers, we like the engines of the past, and then you need to strike the right balance between what is exciting to us dinosaurs, screaming loud engines, and then the fanbase, and the audiences that are on the track.
“And maybe that has migrated a little bit from pure petrolheads to younger demographics, to feminists that are coming on to the track that haven’t even been part of those years.
“All of this needs to be set as questions, as what are the objectives for a future regulation change in a few years, and then let’s analyse that based on data and come to a conclusion that is for the best of our sport.
“Because this is the single most important denominator between the FIA, Formula 1, the teams, that we want to have the greatest product for our fans.”
