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Ben Sulayem seeks independent engine supply for F1

NEWS STORY
07/07/2026

Continuing to set out his dream for the future of F1, FIA president, Mohammed ben Sulayem eyes an independent engine supplier and the return of refuelling.

While the proposal to bring back refuelling doesn't really come as a surprise, for despite the inherent danger involved it is another means to 'spice up' the sport, the call for an independent engine supplier does.

The FIA president believes that an independent engine supplier would kerb the practice of the established manufacturers using their customers to exert their combined influence in political and financial matters involving the sport, in some ways alluded to by Zak Brown in his call for an end to team alliances.

"There will be no control over the teams, A team over the B team, that's supplied with their engines," Ben Sulayem told reporters at Silverstone. "If it is affordable, then we will have one engine for the rest of the B-teams, so nobody can leverage them and tell them to 'vote this way, or we are not going to give you a good engine'.

"It will be an FIA-selected engine that would be allowed to the teams," he added. "Then we control the neutrality, we control the power and the money. We cannot just give it away and say go and do it to X, Y, Z. Prices might go up and down, but the FIA will always be the judge."

Of course we have been down a similar route before, certainly in terms of an 'independent, affordable' engine, the carrot used to lure a number of teams to F1 in 2010, most of which were gone within a couple of years along with their engine supplier, Cosworth.

Furthermore, Audi, Ford, GM and Honda were all enticed to the sport by the increasing move towards sustainability, particularly in terms of the electrification of the sport.

However, barely a couple of races into the new era, amidst mounting criticism of the new formula, the sport's powers that be were admitting that changes had to be made, some with immediate effect, subsequently promoting another rules overhaul just a few years down the line which would, we are promised, see a return to noisy V8s.

"McLaren said they will do it," said the FIA president, "then you have Alpine, they will do their own engine. It's already two of them saying, well, thank you. Then you will have new power unit manufacturers, maybe more than the current numbers. That's good."

Excuse us Mr President, but didn't Alpine just drop their engine supplier, you know the company that is the majority shareholder in the team, in favour of Mercedes, with which it now finds itself regularly challenging for best of the rest title.

And McLaren, really? Having successfully survived its previous financial crisis, are we to expect the Bahrainis to splash even more cash on the Woking outfit, especially if there is a chance that said engine might be deemed the most powerful, thereby preventing upgrades, while the likes of Mercedes and Ferrari are given the all clear to improve their race winning units.

McLaren has yet to comment on the proposal, but in the mind of Renault CEO, Francois Provost there is no doubt.

"I support the V8 direction," he said at Silverstone, "but it's not because it could be an opportunity for Renault to come back as an engine manufacturer. It's not our strategy.

"My unique priority today is to stabilise the team," he added, "set a strong foundation for the team and start to recover, not to reconsider developing our own engine."

Certainly, the idea of V8s, has already struck a chord with fans, but while they salivate at the potential sound of the new units in the background there is the nagging concern of electrification.

Having already given up on the 50/50 split, by 2028 it will be 60/40, however, Ben Sulayem is looking for an even greater split with the new units.

"Could be 10%, it might be 15%," he said. "But it won't come to what we have now, that the electrification is at 46% or something. We don't want to go through the current issue where some drivers are lifting off in a straight line. This is not what we want, so lesson learned there."

The simpler engine he is planning would mean lighter cars, for the batteries and engine recovery systems could be dropped.

"We're targeting 100kg less for the car," he said, adding that such a move would also improve safety. "It's not the F1 business, it's the lives of the drivers that are the most important."

This, of course, comes just a few years after the exact opposite argument - in terms of electrification - was made in order to attract the current suppliers.

As for Turbos...

"A turbo means a lot of weight and a lot of money," said the FIA president. "And then you have a battery... and what does a turbo do? It removes the sound.

"So for me today I believe a turbo or a battery, one of them. And the FIA should lead. If we just go in circles, we will not decide things."

The return to a V8, which Ben Sulayem insists is "the right thing to do", would require the need for more fuel than is used by the current V6 formula, and if the powers that be really are determined to reduce the weight of cars this would mean smaller fuel tanks and therefore the need for refuelling.

"How much you start with, how much you fill, this is what we are studying right now," said Ben Sulayem. "Of course, if you want to run the whole race, you have to have a bigger tank, or you have to stop. So this is something that we are going to look into."

Asked about safety concerns, prime examples being Jos Verstappen's fiery pit stop at Hockenheim in 1994, and Felipe Massa's farcical fuel hose disaster in Singapore in 2008, the FIA president said: "It's not a concern if you do it in the right way. So we are studying this. Nothing is being done yet.

"Refuelling with sustainable fuel with electrification. Maybe we look at giving more electrification than 10%. Really still we are open."

That last response alone signals that this is far from having been thought through, and then there's the flat-out denial from Renault.

Ironically, at a time the UK is anticipating a change in leadership, this sounds likes the same sort of promises the would-be prime minister, even though the FIA president appears to have his job for life sewn-up.

In many aspects, F1 CEO, Stefano Domenicali is on board, though his bottom line, and that of the teams, is profit and nothing will be allowed to threaten that.

Despite the talk of V8s, electrification, refuelling etc, perhaps we should be paying attention to the words of, driver tuned TV pundit, David Coulthard, who, referring to the Safety Car error that blighted Sunday's race, had this to say.

"Yes, there are rules, regulations," he told the Up To Speed podcast of the race ending behind the Safety Car, "but we're entertainment, and we should really try and keep that as a focal point."

And that's the crux of it, this is no longer sport, this is entertainment.

The trackside DJs, the influencers, official friends, the celebrities, the post-action concerts that have led to the likes of the Silverstone being described as 'Glastonbury with a motor race', is all part of a grand plan to see F1 cross-pollinate with other forms of entertainment, be it music, movies, social media or whatever, nothing is off the table and the bottom line is profit.

More and more the advertisements shown on Sky F1 are deliberately F1-themed and not random ads, even M&S getting in on the act as everyone sees the value of the sport - and its new fan-base - and wants to get in on the act, while the sport itself continues to monetise virtually every aspect that it can.

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READERS COMMENTS

 

1. Posted by Burton, 6 hours ago

"Refuelling? Hell no. Just don't let the teams underfuel and force the drivers to lift and coast."

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2. Posted by Superbird70, 9 hours ago

"Mugen, Judd, Cosworth"

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3. Posted by Editor, 11 hours ago

"@ Motorsport-fan

And as an added bonus each of us gets to choose a free gift of either a beautiful little kitten or puppy, while the new fans are promised a unicorn."

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4. Posted by Motorsport-fan, 11 hours ago

"He is reflecting what we the die hard fans want to see / hear, do we not want V8s? refueling to spice up strategy? in return the cars can be lighter with a simpler engine format which is cheaper, seems a win win, its just taking us back to where we where many years and multi million pounds ago."

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5. Posted by JamesD, 12 hours ago

"Ben's dreams consist of filling his coffers, being a dictator at the FIA until his dying day and making life a nightmare for everyone else"

Rating: Positive (3)     Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

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