FIA chief reveals 'permanent poverty' could force manufacturers out of F1

FIA

FIA chief reveals 'permanent poverty' could force manufacturers out of F1

Tombazis has described it as 'permanent poverty'

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Thursday 18 June 2026 14:55

An FIA chief has stated that bringing new power unit manufacturers into F1 in this new era of the sport is risky because of the budget cap, saying that car companies risk being 'humiliated'.

2026 saw a host of new regulations enter the sport, including on the power unit side of things, and with that came the announcement that three new power unit manufacturers - Audi, Red Bull-Ford and General Motors - would be joining the sport.

Audi and Red Bull-Ford have already made their debuts as power unit manufacturers, but General Motors will not officially join until 2028, with the Cadillac F1 team using Ferrari power units until that season.

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Honda have also returned to the sport this year, taking up a partnership with Aston Martin after their old Red Bull partnership came to an end, but they have started the year off poorly, struggling with power output issues.

F1 2026 Regulations: Every new rule and car change explained

Tombazis reiterates need for ADUO

While in previous years power unit manufacturers have been able to put a plethora of resources into the sport in the hope of becoming the dominant power unit on the grid, the engine cost cap brought in for the 2023 season means that new manufacturers are no longer able to do that.

That separate cost cap was launched after the success of the initial limits placed on teams in 2021, but FIA single-seater chief Nikola Tombazis believes that this has made it imperative to have schemes such as the additional development and upgrade opportunities (ADUO) that was brought in for 2026.

ADUO helps struggling power unit manufacturers by giving them more time to develop their power unit, done on a sliding scale dependent on how far behind the dominant power unit they are.

"If I start from the beginning, from when these regulations were negotiated, that was four or five years ago," Tombazis told SoyMotor. "The first thing is that there was quite a big effort to bring new names into the sport. The second thing is that there was a concern that the newcomers would always be behind the more established engine manufacturers. These car companies invest a lot to get in and feel that being humiliated would be a problem for their image and their involvement in the sport.

"With the arrival of the budget cap, there was also a feeling that if you started behind… In the past, when you were behind, you spent a lot of money and eventually caught up, like what Honda did in 2017. With the budget cap, you can’t say, ‘Let’s go all out, let’s hire more people.’ Your operating window is very limited.

"There was a concern that if you started behind, you could be almost condemned to permanent poverty. And that permanent poverty would lead to these OEMs - car manufacturers - leaving the sport. Because it's clear they won't stay if they're always going to come in last and everyone's going to be saying they're terrible. That's where the ADUO concept comes from."

F1 FIA 2026 regulations