Now, here is a piece of news that will make every purist smile. According to Motorsport.com, retired Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko has dropped the bombshell that Formula 1's return to turbo V8 engines in 2030 is a "done deal". Watching the sport from home after decades on the pit wall, the Austrian veteran didn't mince words about what he saw.
That relocated 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix held in Sepang, Malaysia, will certainly be remembered, though perhaps for all the wrong reasons. It pulled in a record-breaking 261,000 fan attendance, but it also delivered an embarrassing cocktail of a massive rain delay and a highly controversial software glitch brought on by the complex 2026 regulations. The current rules mandate a 50/50 split between the internal combustion engine and the electrical battery, turning these incredible machines into rolling computers.
Watching the chaos unfold as a spectator from his living room, Marko found the whole spectacle frustrating. He told the Austrian outlet oe24 that he had even dismantled the extra screens he used to set up after the first grand prix, deciding that one television is enough now. While he admitted the long rain delay made the waiting boring, he was blunt about the technical faults.
"It's shameful that a high-end product like Formula 1 is stopped by a software problem," Marko criticized.
Thankfully, that exact embarrassment appears to have forced a massive rethink in the background. Marko revealed that the Sepang fiasco has helped change minds, stating that the return to a V8 engine with a turbo for 2030 is a done deal as far as he knows.
This stunning revelation matches up with what we are hearing from the drivers themselves. Just a day prior, Max Verstappen stated on a podcast that his ultimate dream for the sport is to ditch the heavy hybrids, kill DRS, and get back to lightweight V8 engines. If Marko's inside knowledge is right, the current grid has just a few seasons left of this controversial era before the sport goes back to the screaming engines that defined its legendary reputation.
