Vettel: “F1 must prepare well for the future of the turbo hybrid”

Future rules, which will include a commitment to sustainable fuels, have yet to be ratified and published.

At Silverstone last weekend, Vettel did a demo race in his williams FW14B having arranged to operate it with a sustainable fuel supply he had acquired.

Its racing success inevitably led to suggestions that F1 could have gone down a different path with a V10 engine.

“Look, our engines are amazing,” Vettel said when asked if he would have preferred that option. “They’re powerful, they’re incredibly effective.

“Probably the most efficient motor, I don’t know all the motors in the world, but maybe one of the most efficient motors. But will you ever drive that engine in the car you choose to buy one day, or have bought in the past? No.

“I paid for this fuel that I used €5.95 per litre. Which is more expensive than normal fuel, significantly, but we must not forget that the machinery of normal fuels, and what I bought, is very different.

“So there are a lot of opportunities to lower prices and so on. And similarly, the other side will continue to rise in the medium term, in the long term it will only go up.

Vettel suggested that future F1 fuel and power units should be more relevant to the road.

“The fuel we use in F1 is at least four or five times more expensive than what I used last week. So money is not the issue here.

“I think why are these fuels so expensive? Because you develop the engine with the fuel to get more performance, to outperform the other guys, so the competition can be big, and it has to be channeled in the right way.

“Or it can, I don’t mean get out of control, but it can get out of control, and maybe work in such a way that our engines are now so complex that you’ll never benefit from those on the road. So I think that’s where it needs strong direction and governance in terms of, “Okay, that’s what we decided to do for the right reasons.”

“And the good reasons again, coming back to the budget, are very clear and simple. So we have to find a way to do that. And being a motorsport guy, I love racing. I like cars. I love getting the feel for the V10. For the upcoming story, I don’t know if that’s another discussion to have, what’s the best way?

“What’s the cheapest way too?” Because these engines cost a fortune, their development has cost a fortune so far.

“I think they haven’t really come to a consensus on what they really want to do from 2026. I think that’s the difficulty, if you have too many people trying to agree .”