(Motorsport-Total.com) – The FIA, the world governing body for motorsport, is considering offering customer teams in Formula 1 supply from third-party providers starting in 2031, as the series is expected to move towards more affordable V8 power units.
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FIA President Mohammed bin Sulayem and Formula 1 boss Stefano Domenicali have long agreed that the series should switch to more affordable, lighter, and louder power units in the next regulation cycle, which is set to begin in 2031.
The most likely plan is a switch to a V8 naturally aspirated engine with a smaller electric unit, which would reduce both the cost and weight of the cars and bring Formula 1 back to a purer form of full-throttle racing.
For Sulayem, the switch to significantly cheaper and much less complex engines could also open the door to solving another issue that has landed on his desk in recent months.
McLaren boss Zak Brown recently wrote a letter to Sulayem to reaffirm his long-standing concerns about team alliances in Formula 1. Brown criticized, among other things, the dual structure of Red Bull with Red Bull Racing and Racing Bulls.
For example, team principal Laurent Mekies was able to move directly and without a waiting period from Racing Bulls to Red Bull in 2025 to replace Christian Horner. The topic came up again when Mercedes showed interest in acquiring a 24 percent stake in the Alpine team.
No more control over “B-Teams”?
By introducing cheaper engines, the FIA could force teams to either build their own power units or source standardized engines from third-party providers, effectively ending the era of customer teams.
In a media round in Silverstone, Sulayem said according to Reuters: “There will no longer be control of an A-Team over a B-Team that is supplied with engines by it.”
“If it is affordable, then we will have an engine for the remaining B-Teams so that no one can pressure them with the motto: ‘Tune it like this, or we won’t supply you with a good engine.'”
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In April, series chief Domenicali told Autosport that the possibility of so-called “white-label engines” would have given the series more flexibility, especially given the fluctuating interests and strategies of manufacturers.
“If we had an independent manufacturer, we could have said: ‘Let’s offer a white-label F1/FIA engine for teams that want to race,'” said Domenicali. “Like before with Ford Cosworth, an independent engine and so on. But we didn’t have that. At that time, there was no one.”
“Manufacturers are a central part of our sport. We have to thank them every day because without them none of this would be possible. But we must not get into a situation where manufacturers dictate the pace of Formula 1. That is a lesson we have learned.”
Engines to become cheaper and simpler
Third-party engines were once widespread in Formula 1, such as Cosworth, which last supplied Marussia in 2013. However, with the start of the turbo-hybrid era in 2014, such solutions disappeared due to high costs and complexity.
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Currently, Mercedes HPP supplies three customer teams, McLaren, Williams, and Alpine, with it known that the manufacturer would like to reduce its number of customers from three to two by 2031. Red Bull Ford Powertrains supplies both Red Bull Racing and Racing Bulls, while Ferrari supplies engines to Haas and Cadillac.
Audi competes as a factory team, as does Aston Martin in partnership with Honda. Meanwhile, Cadillac is preparing to enter as an engine manufacturer in 2029 and is also considered a supporter of a V8 concept.
Sulayem explains that some manufacturers have already expressed interest in this idea. However, as long as the rules for power units from 2031 are not finalized, current and potential manufacturers cannot make concrete preparations.
“When a new regulation comes, we will look at it and check if it is technically interesting,” Brown said at the Monaco Grand Prix. “Is it something that makes economic sense? We will then go through this process.”
While McLaren would at least consider the idea, it is considered unlikely that the team wants to build an expensive own engine department like Red Bull.
New power units before 2031?
Discussions about future power units have recently been delayed because the FIA has been heavily occupied with the current regulation cycle, including the ADUO review demanded by Red Bull as well as adjustments for 2027 and 2028.
The current Concorde Agreement and power unit contracts run until the end of the 2030 season. Therefore, the FIA could theoretically enforce a new engine regulation from 2031, including a ban on customer engines, even without approval.
However, this would risk alienating manufacturers that have been painstakingly won over in recent years, so a broader consensus is likely to be sought.
If a supermajority is reached among the six current power unit manufacturers, including the five existing engine builders and General Motors, the switch to V8 engines could even be brought forward to 2030.
“For 2031, the FIA has the authority to introduce the V8 without a vote from the manufacturers,” Sulayem said in May. “Those are the rules. But we want to bring it a year earlier. I am confident they want that.”
It is assumed that most manufacturers would basically agree to a switch to the V8. Audi also wants to keep a turbocharger in the future but currently stands largely alone with this position.
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