{"id":697812,"date":"2026-05-27T12:10:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T12:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/697812\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T12:10:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T12:10:10","slug":"mclaren-could-build-own-f1-engine-under-v8-revival-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/697812\/","title":{"rendered":"McLaren could build own F1 engine under V8 revival plan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"date\">MAY 27, 2026<\/p>\n<p>McLaren could eventually follow Red Bull into becoming a full Formula 1 engine manufacturer &#8211; but only if the sport returns to simpler V8-style power units.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.grandprix.com\/display\/photo?photo_caption=Lando+Norris%2C+Miami+GP+2026&amp;photo_copyright=%C2%A9+McLaren&amp;photo_url=https%3A%2F%2Fphotos.grandprix.com%2Fjpeg%2Fraces%2Fpmia26%2Fsun%2Fmcl%2Fnorris6-lg.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/norris6-rd.jpg\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Lando Norris, Miami GP 2026<br \/>\u00a9 McLaren<\/p>\n<p>That possibility emerged after FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem publicly made the suggestion when discussing the governing body&#8217;s proposed future regulations for 2030 or 2031.<\/p>\n<p>The FIA is pushing strongly for a move away from the current ultra-complex hybrid systems toward lighter, louder and less electrically dependent V8 engines.<\/p>\n<p>I believe when we introduce it, even McLaren will do their own engine, Ben Sulayem told Sports Business Journal.<\/p>\n<p>They are buying engines now because it is a complicated unit.<\/p>\n<p>McLaren CEO Zak Brown did not dismiss the idea.<\/p>\n<p>I think if you got an engine formula that was financially viable, then yeah, we would consider it, Brown confirmed.<\/p>\n<p>If something is presented to us that financially makes sense, then we&#8217;ll have a look at it.<\/p>\n<p>McLaren currently uses customer engines from Mercedes and remains contracted through 2030. However, the relationship has shown signs of strain since Formula 1 introduced its radically more electric 2026 power units.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this season, McLaren admitted frustration over how difficult it can be for customer teams to fully understand and optimise the hugely complicated hybrid systems without complete manufacturer access.<\/p>\n<p>The comments also arrive amid an increasingly political fight over Formula 1&#8217;s future engine direction.<\/p>\n<p>The racing is great, Brown insisted, referring to the highly controversial start of the new engine era in 2026.<\/p>\n<p>If you didn&#8217;t hear the drivers and were just watching on TV, the TV product is great. There&#8217;s passing, passes for the lead, different leaders.<\/p>\n<p>Brown believes the controversy is partly amplified simply because it is Formula 1.<\/p>\n<p>Everything in Formula 1 has a magnifying glass of 1,000 on it, he said.<\/p>\n<p>Still, he acknowledged the battery-heavy regulations may have gone too far.<\/p>\n<p>I think it&#8217;s to an extreme that the majority of the drivers don&#8217;t enjoy it, Brown admitted. It&#8217;s still racing.<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;ll maybe not get it to a perfect place, but there&#8217;s always been rule management, tyre management and now battery management.<\/p>\n<p>(GMM)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MAY 27, 2026 McLaren could eventually follow Red Bull into becoming a full Formula 1 engine manufacturer &#8211;&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":697813,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[944,855,884,911,898,64,63,839,840,892,936,937,922,864,868,843,512,874,906,897,817,836,904,848,845,826,837,813,835,816,867,876,894,841,842,833,908,887,860,909,930,914,939,886,934,832,834,858,941,875,861,850,870,854,900,866,846,880,943,889,878,823,881,863,933,935,910,859,913,844,923,927,896,926,883,938,932,824,901,871,852,849,888,872,891,915,822,838,918,916,857,879,893,869,931,885,924,847,882,851,865,925,928,942,929,85,920,921,902,862,919,917,873,940,905,912,895,853,856,877,819,903,899,907,890],"class_list":["post-697812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-abu-dhabi","tag-adrian-sutil","tag-albers","tag-alesi","tag-ammermuller","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-autoracing","tag-autos","tag-badoer","tag-bahrain","tag-barcelona","tag-benetton","tag-bruno-senna","tag-button","tag-cars","tag-china","tag-david-coulthard","tag-davidson","tag-doornbos","tag-f1","tag-f1-racing","tag-fauzy","tag-felipe-massa","tag-fernando-alonso","tag-ferrari","tag-fia","tag-formula-1","tag-formula-one","tag-formula1","tag-giancarlo-fisichella","tag-gilles-villeneuve","tag-glock","tag-grand-prix","tag-grandprix","tag-grandprix-com","tag-hakkinen","tag-hamilton","tag-heikki-kovalainen","tag-hill","tag-hockenheim","tag-honda","tag-hungary","tag-ide","tag-indianapolis","tag-inside-f1","tag-insidef1-com","tag-jaime-alguesuari","tag-japan","tag-jaques-villeneuve","tag-jarno-trulli","tag-jenson-button","tag-juan-pablo-montoya","tag-kamui-kobayashi","tag-karthikeyan","tag-karun-chandhok","tag-kimi-raikkonen","tag-klien","tag-korea","tag-kovalainen","tag-kubica","tag-lewis-hamilton","tag-liuzzi","tag-lucas-di-grassi","tag-magny-cours","tag-malaysia","tag-mansell","tag-mark-webber","tag-mclaren","tag-michael-schumacher","tag-minardi","tag-monaco","tag-montagny","tag-monte-carlo","tag-monteiro","tag-montreal","tag-monza","tag-motorsport","tag-nakajima","tag-nick-heidfeld","tag-nico-hulkenberg","tag-nico-rosberg","tag-paffett","tag-pedro-de-la-rosa","tag-piquet","tag-prost","tag-racing","tag-racingcars","tag-red-bull","tag-renault","tag-robert-kubica","tag-rosberg","tag-rossiter","tag-rubens-barrichello","tag-san-marino","tag-sato","tag-sauber","tag-schumacher","tag-scott-speed","tag-sebastian-vettel","tag-sebastien-buemi","tag-senna","tag-silverstone","tag-singapore","tag-spa","tag-sports","tag-spyker","tag-super-aguri","tag-sutil","tag-timo-glock","tag-toro-rosso","tag-toyota","tag-trulli","tag-turkey","tag-valles","tag-verstappen","tag-vettel","tag-vitaly-petrov","tag-vitantonio-liuzzi","tag-webber","tag-williams","tag-winkelhock","tag-wurz","tag-yamamoto","tag-zonta"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=697812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/697813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=697812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=697812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=697812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}