F1 return to V10 or V8 engines is years away says Symonds

LONDON - Formula One may have to wait a decade for a return to screaming V10 or V8 engines and jettisoning the next generation V6 due to be introduced next year is simply not feasible, according to F1s former chief technical officer Pat Symonds.

The Briton, now executive engineering consultant for the Cadillac team due to debut next year, told Reuters any talk of potentially continuing with the current turbo hybrid beyond 2025 was a non-starter.

Formula One has been considering various directions including a return, powered by sustainable fuel, to the ear-splitting naturally-aspirated V10 engines that were last raced in 2005 and whose noise is still missed by many.

I think theres a lot of wishful thinking, said Symonds after a panel discussion at the BlackBook Motorsport Forum in London.

With so much invested in the 2026 engine it would be negligent to throw that investment away -- particularly for the new people like Cadillac, Audi, Red Bull Powertrains who have had to start from scratch and produce an engine which needs a reasonable life to pay that back.

Maybe it wont have a 10-year life but it sure as hell needs more than a two-year life for something like that, because the risk otherwise is that Audi might just say well, its not so long. Were going to go.

The new engine era, a major upheaval for the sport, is due to run from 2026 to 2030.

Symonds said the sport did not have to follow five-year cycles, and recent F1 engines have had a lifespan of double that length. He dismissed crazy ideas of continuing with the existing engine.

Audi cant do that, he said of the German manufacturer set to debut next year with its own engine after turning Sauber into a works team.

We (Cadillac)