The meeting about engines next week has been canceled.

      We wrote that on September 11 the FIA had proposed holding a meeting with power unit manufacturers about Formula 1’s switch to naturally aspirated V8 engines running on fully sustainable fuel. But it has now been decided to postpone that meeting indefinitely.

      The reason is that the parties’ positions differ sharply, and until some common ground is found, holding the meeting would be pointless.

      In particular, FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem would like to see the new power units as early as 2029, but the idea lacks majority support, and Honda and Audi are outright opposed to a premature change of the engine concept.

      The idea remains on the agenda for now, but it will not be discussed until a consensus is reached — which is unlikely in the near future.

      In fact, Ben Sulayem’s proposal to return to traditional engines has been rejected for the second time in six months. His earlier proposal for V10 engines was rejected at a meeting during the Bahrain Grand Prix, where manufacturers insisted that the use of hybrid technologies and sustainable fuel was not up for discussion.