FIA president confirms when V8 engines will make F1 return

FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has confirmed that F1 will return to V8 engines for the 2030 season at an event announcing the return to Africa.

On Tuesday morning, it was announced that F1 would race in Africa for the first time since 1993 at a new purpose-built facility in Rwanda, with the race being called the 'African Grand Prix.' It is due to join the schedule in the early 2030s on a 10-year deal. 

At that event, announcing the race in the Rwandan capital Kigali alongside president Paul Kagame and F1 counterpart Stefano Domenicali, Ben Sulayem confirmed that his push for F1 to return to V8 engines would be going ahead in 2030. 

That grand prix racing would return to V8 engines and ditch the turbo hybrids introduced in 2014 has not been in doubt, but the specific timeline for which season the V8s would return has been. 

Both 2030 and 2031 have been linked as the possible comeback season, with the move coming after the weaknesses of the new 2026 power units was discovered with their 50-50 split in power output between the internal combustion engine and beefed-up battery systems. 

In 2025, the split was around 80-20 in favour of the ICE, but in a bid to attract more OEMs to grand prix racing, when the '26 rules were announced in '22, the split was equalised to 50-50. 

It means when the cars deplete their battery, they go into harvesting and charging modes, with some drivers, including world champions Fernando Alonso, Max Verstappen, and Lando Norris all fiercely critical. 

However, Ben Sulayem has now confirmed that for the start of the next decade, V8s will return - and that Rwanda, when it does join the calendar, will feature the engines.

"The beauty about 2030 is that we are working together; the launch of the new V8 will be in 2030, so Rwanda is going to have that engine in the first ever race," Ben Sulayem said during a panel interview including Kagame and Domenicali. 

"When we thought: 'What are the objectives of doing this engine?', as a driver, the first thing we need is lightweight cars, so it is going to be approximately 80 kilograms lighter, and maybe I shouldn't be saying it now to the press. 

"And then the second is sustaining the business, so it's going to be at least 50 per cent less in R&D and in the engine. 

"Thirdly, it is about the fans. It's about the sound, not the noise, and I believe that it's not about the maturity; we can do it in 2031, which everything comes back to the FIA. 

"No, I have the support from FOM, from Formula 1, I have the support from the manufacturer, so it will be launched here. I'm positive that it will be launched here."