Chandhok: 'F1 could bring back V10s – if it stood up to manufacturers'

F1

F1 is currently on a path to stick with hybrid engines for years to come – but Karun Chandhok tells Motor Sport the series has a viable option to move back to its beloved V10s, and still be 'green'

2 Juan Pablo Montoya Williams Italian GP 2004

Montoya's FW26 epitomises the archetypal screaming V10 F1 car

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James Elson

In early September 2004, a screaming V10 engine pumping at 18,000rpm combined with a skinny rear wing on a light, twitchy Formula 1 car powered Juan Pablo Montoya to what was then grand prix racing’s fastest ever lap at Monza – 162.950mph. It came with a wailing banshee soundtrack that rudely punctuated many a sleepy Sunday.

vTwo decades on and today’s lumbering hybrid cars weigh in at 800kg — over 200kg more than in 2004 – so they handle like HGVs round slow corners. Even at high speed, the eviscerating screech has been replaced with a low-pitched throaty gurgle that just doesn’t get the pulse racing in the same way.

Despite years of complaints from fans and drivers, F1’s hybrid tech is firmly locked in place until the end of the decade. New power unit regulations for 2026 were an opportunity to change course, but rulemakers opted for a tweaked version of the current V6 hybrid.

That decision was strongly influenced by manufacturers, who are banking on the ‘win on Sunday, sell on Monday’ philosophy to sell the electric and hybrid cars they have on forecourts.

But is this is a missed opportunity? The original hybrid regulations were developed in the early 2010s, and the 2026 rules were formulated over several years. Tech has moved on and now sustainable fuel offers an alternative solution for F1 to entertain, to represent the pinnacle of racing and most of all meet its net zero goal.

That incredible early ’00s V10 sound – and vision – has for many fans remained ‘peak F1’ even in the modern era, but former GP driver and Sky pundit Karun Chandhok tells Motor Sport it’s a philosophy the world championship could easily return to if it finally “took a strong stance against the manufacturers – it can control the narrative”.

The former Hispania and Caterham driver in his heritage role for Williams has been able to experience firsthand the incredible forces that Montoya went through – and the electrifying atmosphere it generates.

“I’m fortunate in that I get to drive cars from different eras, and when you take on the Williams-BMW, it is bonkers,” he enthuses.

Juan Pablo Montoya Williams Italian GP 2004

Many fans long for a return to the visceral V10 era

Grand Prix Photo

“It’s an awe-inspiring experience, at every steering input you’re absolutely bricking yourself because it’s like ‘Jesus, this thing is going to bite’. It’s so agile, so light, so responsive, so nimble – and that’s what a F1 car should be: on the edge, alive.

“Current cars are too lethargic, too heavy – the direction the world championship has gone in is just wrong.”

Other recent runnings of classic V10 machinery such as Fernando Alonso wielding his Renault R25 at Abu Dhabi a few years ago or Sebastian Vettel demonstrating his ‘Red 5’ Williams FW14B at Silverstone last year have particularly reawakened fans’ fervour for those engines and cars of a bygone era – with current drivers also expressing a longing for the lightweight missiles of the past.

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Charles Leclerc told Autosport “I don’t like heavy cars – I drove a 2o03 car and you can feel the difference,” while Lewis Hamilton said last year “I don’t understand why we go heavier when there’s all this talk about being more sustainable – just as the sport is going in that direction.”

However it’s Vettel’s runs at both Silverstone and Goodwood and his cherished FW14B and McLaren MP4/8 that Chandhok believes holds the key for an F1 return to V10s and lighter cars that he and many others would dearly love to see – one which could influence the direction of the world championship, particularly as part of a greener future.

“Seb has been doing it on his sustainable petroleum [P1 Fuels], which he says is cheaper than what current grand prix teams use,” emphasises Chandhok.

“Those heritage runs make you think ‘Do we really need hybrids? We can have V10s back, we can have the spectacle back’ – and this is where the FIA hasn’t been strong enough in its role as a governing body.

“If you look at global motor sport, Formula E is doing electrics and you’ve got Le Mans which has got a whole heap of different hybrids.

Sebastian Vettel at the 2022 British Grand Prix driving the Mansell race winning Williams FW14B

Vettel demonstrating his 1992 British GP-winning Williams with sustainable fuel

Florent Gooden / DPPI

“With all that going on, while sustainable fuels has been part of F1’s agenda, the world championship really should be leading on this [rather than hybrid engine formulas].”

For Chandhok, a move to sustainable fuels – as part of a reshaped green agenda – and switching from hybrids to naturally aspirated engines would solve multiple problems.

“If you took off the hybrid, the battery and all the recovery systems and all the electronics of course, you’ll lose over 120 kilos – then we can go back to making the cars smaller as well. It would tick a lot of boxes on weight and sound.” he says.

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“Of course there are safety measures to consider, but the current cars are just massive – over 200kgs heavier than in the 2000s.”

Further key to Chandhok’s argument is that he believes F1 isn’t quite the 200mph laboratory it thinks it is regarding hybrids – and that the championship needs to look at the bigger picture.

“The entire auto industry is blowing so much money into r&d of electric mobility and hybrids right now – F1 needs to look beyond 2030 and maybe 2040, look at another path right.

“ExxonMobil is ploughing money into this sustainable fuel factory in in Texas at the moment, VAG under the Porsche brand is doing the same in Chile.

“So they’re all doing it, they’re all investing in it. It’s just about selling the right narrative to them to convince them it’s the right thing to do [in F1].”

F1’s current boom in popularity could in theory be the ideal time to make a switch – perhaps as early as 2030 – striking while Netflix numbers are peaking.

“Even though Audi is moving to an all-electric fleet by the early 2030s, it’s left the electric championship in Formula E to move to F1 which has hybrids.

Fernando Alonso driving the Renault R25 in Abu Dhabi in 2020

Alonso’s Abu Dhabi run in his R25 also evoked memories of a bygone era – but could it return?

Renault

“Why? Eyeballs – more people watch it.

“The manufacturers obviously have a huge part to play in dictating the regulations. But if the governing body and F1 were able to take a strong stance and say: ‘These are the regulations we’re going to go for, and guess what, if you have lighter cars, they are more efficient’ – you can package the green story that way.

“Honestly, how many people in the grandstand can tell you that it’s a V6 hybrid? Genuinely I wonder, I really don’t think it’s as many as the manufacturers may think.

“Secondly, as long as the race and the spectacle is good, if it sounds amazing and looks sexy, looks fast, is a good show, the sponsors and manufacturers will still come – because they’re coming in for the eyeballs.”

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