Away from the thrilling racing and politics, often drama driven by the world’s biggest companies, what is the purpose of F1? Progression…
“F1 is a lot more advanced than people think,” says McLaren’s Lando Norris, whose team finished as constructors’ champions this year. “In terms of tech and efficiencies and environmental impact, a part of it is innovation in every sense – that’s what F1 is. It’s not just a bonus for us drivers and for people around the world.
“But it would be good if we could explain that more.”
Norris is right in that sense. The turbocharged 1.6 litre V6 hybrid engines used in F1 since 2014 have achieved a thermal efficiency level of about 52%, higher than any other in the world.
“These cars are the most efficient cars in the world by a big, big margin and because it’s a car on race track, everyone thinks: ‘Wow… that’s terrible for the world’,” says Norris.
“But without it, in a small sense, all the cars people drive around the world will also be a lot less efficient… be a lot worse for the world.
“But it’s everything revolving around F1 that is not that sustainable and needs to change, and it’s travelling around the world and all those types of things [that is] essentially way worse than me driving this car every weekend.”
A key difference between F1 and other sports is the complexity of its travel and logistics, and this is where F1 needs to take a lead.
In 2026, new regulations will be introduced, which include a 100% sustainable fuel that can be used in existing engines in road cars.
But how is a fuel 100% sustainable? There must be carbon still being emitted from the tailpipe, right?
“Traditional fuels come from fossil fuel sources, and when fossil fuels are extracted from the ground, carbon is released and when it burns in the internal combustion engine, carbon is released again. Advanced sustainable fuels change that equation,” says Jones.
“Sustainable fuels are made from second generation biofuels or e-fuel – carbon is captured through collecting non-food products or waste materials to create the fuel. That carbon is then released again through the internal combustion engine.”
Paolo Aversa is a professor of strategy at King’s College London, with close ties to motorsport and a knowledge of the workings of Formula 1.
“The initiative is positive But there are, however, some criticisms,” he said. “Fuel is just one of the different aspects. Some criticise the fact that this kind of initiative could be a way to prolong the life of traditional combustion engines, rather than maybe promoting a full switch to electric or hydrogen, for example.
“And especially one of the big criticisms is that how scalable this initiative is… what is the cost of producing this at scale? We know that Formula 1 companies are exceptionally good at developing prototypical technologies.
“And so whether this will be achievable as a standard drop-in fuel without any modifications to existing cars and will be able to reach a global distribution, is all to be proven.
“There’s also some concerns about the true carbon neutrality and possible indirect land use impact.”
