Mercedes would additionally want for the brand new engines to be turbocharged however shouldn’t be as trenchant on the thought as Audi.
Ben Sulayem mentioned in an Instagram put up this week that he desires V8s to return as a result of they’re “lighter, cheaper, safer and louder”.
His concept is successfully a return to the engine laws F1 final had in 2013 earlier than turbo hybrid engines made their debut in 2014.
The put up mentioned: “V8s are lighter, less complicated and more cost effective, whereas sustainable fuels imply they’ll stay aligned with our environmental ambitions. Most significantly, they create again the distinctive, visceral sound that followers world wide affiliate with Components 1.”
No important analysis has been undertaken on the subject of whether or not audiences do need louder engines to return to F1.
An article on BBC Sport on the subject of F1’s future engines final month contained a ballot that acquired 26,000 responses.
The only largest vote was for a V8 or V6 turbo engine with 30% hybrid capability, and there was a transparent majority for a turbo engine with important hybrid functionality.
Audi has proposed to the FIA that F1 might use a V8 twin turbo engine with a so-called “scorching V”, the place the turbos are contained throughout the two cylinder banks.
That is precisely the kind of engine utilized in a brand new hypercar Audi launched on Thursday in Antibes close to Monaco. The Nuvolari has a four-litre twin turbo engine with 30% hybrid capability.
Dollner mentioned: “The Nuvolari has a V8 so we do not have issues with V8 engines. It’s a must to see that within the total context. So to simply choose one query of a regulation shouldn’t be actually answering the general query, ‘the place do you wish to go together with the regulation?'”
Requested whether or not there have been any deal breakers with regard to the brand new guidelines that might threaten Audi’s participation in F1, Dollner mentioned: “No, not proper now. As I believe and imagine and belief that we’ll have a superb dialogue concerning the regulation and we will certainly have sustainable fuels.
“That is not a subject beneath dialogue and it is extra in some areas a philosophical query, however let’s examine what the method brings.”
The FIA has the ability to impose engine guidelines for 2031 as a result of the contracts that bind the groups to F1 and the FIA expire after 2030.
However doing so would danger dropping producers at a time when the present hybrid guidelines – which everybody within the sport accepts are flawed and want refining – have attracted Basic Motors and Ford in addition to Audi, and persuaded Honda to reverse a choice to depart.
