Round-up: V10 return "wishful thinking", Prema fined after IndyCar fire and more

Welcome to Saturday’s edition of the RaceFans round-up.

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F1 return to V10 or V8 engines is years away, says Symonds (Reuters)

Pat Symonds: ‘I think there’s a lot of wishful thinking. With so much invested in the 2026 engine it would be negligent to throw that investment away – particularly for the new people like Cadillac, Audi, Red Bull Powertrains who have had to start from scratch and produce an engine which needs a reasonable life to pay that back.’

IndyCar announces rules violation, additional penalties from The Thermal Club (IndyCar)

‘During an investigation into the fire involving the number 83 (Robert Shwartzman) in Friday’s practice at The Thermal Club, IndyCar determined the required and approved emergency pull cable, which activates the onboard fire suppression system, was not used as supplied and was replaced by the team with an unapproved product that failed to activate.’

Dixon heads eight-car IndyCar test on IMS road course (Racer)

‘Dixon’s number nine Honda set the pace with a 1’09.966 lap across his 90 tours of the circuit. Team mate and championship leader Alex Palou was second in the number 10 Honda (1’10.129) ahead of Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Conor Daly in the number 76 Chevy (1’10.180) and teammate Kyffin Simpson in the number eight Honda (1’10.222).’

Verschoor and MP Motorsport end in-season testing on top on day three in Sakhir (Formula 2)

‘Richard Verschoor set the fastest time of the final day of in-season testing for MP Motorsport, recording a 1’43.273 for the top time ahead of AIX Racing’s Joshua Duerksen’

Trident’s Rafael Camara sweeps the final day of the in-season test in Sakhir (Formula 3)

‘The Brazilian driver was in strong form to start the day, completing a 1’48.252 in the opening segment. He continued to show that pace in the afternoon, setting a 1’48.673 in the final moments of the session to sweep the day.’

Thailand races towards 2028 F1 dream (Bangkok Post)

‘The Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with F1, following a visit by its CEO Stefano Domenicali to discuss the project with Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra last week.’

Behind the scenes at Antonelli’s first F1 grand prix (Mercedes via YouTube)

Yuki Tsunoda gets his first look at the cockpit of a Red Bull after learning he’ll replace Liam Lawson in their line-up from the next race.

#F1 #JapaneseGP #RaceFans

[image or embed]

— RaceFans (@racefansdotnet.bsky.social) 28 March 2025 at 10:33

HMD Motorsports Team Statement regarding the #24 entry.#HMDMotorsports / #INDYNXT / @indynxt pic.twitter.com/R1DEK4qjEX

— HMD Motorsports (@HMDMotorsports) March 27, 2025

Red Bull uniquely has a junior team on the grid so it’s doubly confusing they are in such a mess with drivers. And their only driver they desperately need appears to be casting around for the future. Liam Lawson’s reputation is temporarily trashed and he has nothing to lose now.…

— Martin Brundle OBE (@MBrundleF1) March 28, 2025

Red Bull trotting out the “it’s not a demotion” line again after demoting Liam Lawson to their second team, I see.

#F1

— Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine.bsky.social) 28 March 2025 at 12:57

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