As well as V8s, FIA president, Mohammed ben Sulayem is seeking smaller, lighter cars.

While 30kgs lighter than they were between 2023 and 2025, F1 cars are still massively in need of Mounjaro compared to those cars from the beginning of the hybrid era in 2014 when they weighed in at 690kg, even more so when you go back to 1995 - 2008 when they tipped the scales at 595kg.

For some time now drivers have complained at the weight and size of contemporary F1 cars, and while the 2026 reduction is a step in the right direction it doesn't go nearly far enough.

"What is the worst thing in the cars now?" says Ben Sulayem in an interview with Canal+. "Complexity, more money, expenses, and also a big car," he adds. "A big and heavy car means what? It means it is not safe.

"We added 50 kilograms because of the safety. But now I would like to see a car, a total, complete car for less than 650 kilograms. My target is 630."

What with the possibility of V8s, all that is needed is less reliance on aero grip and more on mechanical along with manual gearboxes and the Emirati would be guaranteed the FIA presidency for life, at least by diehard fans.

On the subject of engines, he says: "The V8 has to come, you have the power from the ICE engine of maybe 760 horsepower with 10% in it of electrification. That would give it the sound.

"It would be much cheaper," he adds, no doubt as a carrot to the team owners if not the engineers. "And R&D, research and development, would be much cheaper.

"As an engine alone, it would be much lighter, enjoyable, and the sound will come for the spectators, and you run it on sustainable fuels.

"I can't see where we will get it wrong," he insists. "The fans will have something that we have to give them."

Other than weight - and engines - the sheer size of the cars has to be addressed, for, as we witnessed last week in Monaco, they are literally outgrowing some circuits.

In the 80s and 90s, seen as the wide-bodied era, cars measured up to 2,150mm in width and 4,500mm in length. This reduced in the early 2000s, but during the hybrid era increased again to 2,000mm in width and 5,600mm in length. This year the cars measure up at 1,900mm and 3,400mm, but they are still too big.