OPINION: I prefer the sound of F1’s current V6s to the V8s

No, not the V10s. They sound way better. And so too do the V12s of the early 1990s. But the V8s when you listen back have little more than revs and raw volume in their favour. For some, that’s what they want. Power to you. My tastes when it comes to car sounds however, are a little more nuanced. In road cars, I like the induction sound. I like a dirtier, more partitioned sound where you can almost hear the individual parts moving. 

The most recent V8 era in F1 by contrast, is just flat guttural screaming with no layers or mechanical music to pick your way through. An exception I will make is for the sound that blown diffuser cars made on the overrun and on downshifts, which was spectacular. But that sound was layered, textured, even. Once they got back on throttle and up above 16,000rpm, well, I’d be hard pressed to tell you how many cylinders those cars had if I didn’t know from reading and being told.

Now let’s look at the V6s. Granted, those early years weren’t great. A number of measures, from source to speakers, were discussed to improve the sound and increase volume, from ‘megaphone’ exhausts to broadcast trickery. The FIA even brought in ‘acoustic consultants’ to address the issue. Bernie Ecclestone was all but convinced that these duller, quieter cars would kill the sport’s appeal, speaking very openly about his feelings at the time given he also owned the sport. But here we are in 2024 with the sport healthier than ever, while cars sound more or less the same as they ever did, albeit with a bit more volume. 

And weirdly, that’s just fine to me. Because there’s layers, gravelly texture and nuance to the sound of these engines. Running turbos means the revs are lower, which means you get more of a sense of the individual pistons going up and down, in addition to adding turbo noise. That’s all the usual turbo whistles and chirrups, to accompany the dulled-down rough and tumble of six pots pumping up and down.

Any criticisms? Well, it’s one that can be levied at all F1 powerplants used this century. They all sound the same from one team to the next, given they’re ‘spec’ regulations. All F1 cars on today’s grid are hybrid 1.6-litre turbocharged V6 engines, with heat- and kinetic-powered Motor Generator Units. Just as 24 years ago, when all F1 cars on the grid had 3.0-litre V10 engines. 

In both cases, they rev the same, they downshift the same, they all more or less sound the same as each other. In fact, the biggest sound differentiator of the past 20 years was probably when some teams had the aforementioned blown exhausts and some didn’t. And actually, I will say the Renault/Alpine engine does have something of its own distinctive gruff vocal.

There’s also how they sound on the limiter, which is of course flat and tortured. But the rest of the time, I really like them. Especially that Alpine.

More change is coming for 2026, with the MGU-H getting binned and power from the hybrid system set to increase. Talk is that the cars could sound better and be louder, even though the ICE component is due to contribute some 300PS (221kW) less. We can believe it given there’s one less turbine dulling exhaust flow, but we’ve just under two years to go before we find out.

For now, this is no doubt an opinion that will ruffle a few feathers, but I really do feel there’s more to enjoy about these V6s than there was the V8s (blown diffusers notwithstanding) if you’re not simply a glutton for one-dimensional volume. It’s a hill I’ll die on, no doubt with a few pitchforks sticking out of me.

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.