{"id":849214,"date":"2026-08-09T15:02:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T15:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/849214\/"},"modified":"2026-08-09T15:02:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T15:02:10","slug":"ferrari-boss-responds-to-fia-president-customer-engine-proposal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/849214\/","title":{"rendered":"Ferrari boss responds to FIA president customer engine proposal"},"content":{"rendered":"

While Ferrari<\/a> team principal Fred Vasseur says that \u201ceverything is possible,\u201d he pondered over the feasibility of an FIA-selected independent engine supplier for customer teams.<\/p>\n

That was a proposal made by FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem. Vasseur would not necessarily envisage problems for an independent manufacturer in building an engine, but questioned whether a sufficient performance level could be achieved.<\/p>\n

Fred Vasseur has his say on FIA president engine concept<\/p>\n

Want more PlanetF1.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for news you can trust.<\/p>\n

In a Reuters<\/a> interview last month, Ben Sulayem said that the FIA was contemplating the return of refuelling in Formula 1.<\/p>\n

But perhaps more eye-catching was Ben Sulayem\u2019s talk of an FIA-selected engine to be supplied to customer teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be no control over the teams, A-team over the B-team, that\u2019s supplied with their engines,\u201d Ben Sulayem said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it is affordable, then we will have one engine for the rest of the B-teams, so nobody can leverage them and tell them, \u2018Vote this way, or we are not going to give you a good engine.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The regulations do require customer teams to be supplied the same level of power unit as used by the works team.<\/p>\n

Ferrari<\/a> team principal Fred Vasseur was quizzed on Ben Sulayem\u2019s proposal.<\/p>\n

In addition to the works team, Haas and Cadillac also use the Ferrari power unit as customers.<\/p>\n

Ben Sulayem is also pushing for the return of V8 engines, running on sustainable fuels with limited electrical influence.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything is possible,\u201d Vasseur told PlanetF1.com and others.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf someone wants to do an engine today, they can.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a matter of performance. Sometimes we can imagine that to do a V8, it\u2019s easier than something else.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if it is mega realistic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vasseur does not believe that building a Formula 1 engine would stump independent manufacturers. He believes that the financial restraints imposed on development could be the sticking point.<\/p>\n

In addition to a cost cap on the chassis side, power unit manufacturers are now also subject to a cap.<\/p>\n

Internal combustion engine upgrade opportunities are determined by the FIA\u2019s ADUO system.<\/p>\n

Asked if this independent engine project would be too complex for a company like Cosworth to take on, Vasseur replied: \u201cTo build up the engine, it\u2019s not complex.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is complex is the level of performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you think that with the cost cap, I think that this exercise is very difficult to be performant with the cost caps.\u201d<\/p>\n

Latest F1 2026 talking points via PlanetF1.com<\/p>\n

F1 2026 mid-season driver power rankings<\/a><\/p>\n

Watch: Will Carlos Sainz stick or twist in F1 2027 season?<\/a><\/p>\n

The five current F1 power unit manufacturers are Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull-Ford, Honda and Audi.<\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher<\/p>\n

Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp<\/a> to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.<\/p>\n

You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel<\/a> for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!<\/p>\n

Read next: F1 2026 mid-season driver power rankings<\/a><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur says that \u201ceverything is possible,\u201d he pondered over the feasibility of an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":849215,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,826,837,813,816,13276,818,44,85],"class_list":["post-849214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-ferrari","tag-fia","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-fred-vasseur","tag-home-page","tag-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849214","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=849214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/849215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=849214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=849214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=849214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}