F1 TO BE GREEN
CHANGING THE RULES OF THE GAME
If you’re a Formula 1 fan, you’re getting set to enjoy the last couple of races of the season, no matter how anticlimactic.
Fan or not, you may not realize its supercharged open-wheel cars, which reach speeds of about 360kph (220mph) have been hybrids, for a decade now, right about the same time Formula E began competing with all-electric cars.
F1 is on a target to net-zero by 2030, not just in cars, but across operations, events, and logistics.
Take tires; a major aspect of a race and hauled by the truckload. The FIA is working on bio-sourcing and using an increasing amount of recycled materials. Teams are now limited in how many they can bring to a race, reducing shipping impacts. Drivers have to focus more on managing wear, mitigating a degree of microplastics. A ban on tire warmers may be coming, in an effort to further reduce team baggage and because of the crazy amount of electricity they use.
But it’s not just about reducing its own carbon footprint.
F1 has one hand fiercely grasping its daredevil roots. Despite its many rules, race control has famously responded to on-track incidents with “We went car racing.”
The other hand is reaching beyond the edge, and influencing the broader automotive industry’s electric technology. Still brash, yet continuously refined, this extreme sport comes down to the tiniest of margins, in design and results, and that means mountains of collected data.
In Spain, Circuit de la Comunitat Valenciana Ricardo Tormo is an on-track lab that has drawn more and more automakers. They now develop their own electric powertrains. Amazing advancements have been made in battery storage, thanks to shared knowledge.
Since the first Formula E season, the number of industry-wide EV models has increased sixfold, and battery capacity and range have improved dramatically.
What it all comes down to is the people, all innovators on that edge. No one understands teamwork better, and the need for a vast mix of solutions. I believe that’s what will take F1 solidly to its climate goals, and put it into another rare league.
I have been privileged to be a part of this world, writing and hanging out at the track with racing greats like Sir Stirling Moss, Paul Newman, Sam Posey, John Fitch, and Skip Barber, whose school has trained some of the very best.
Fitch, for instance, descended from the steamboat inventor, was a fighter pilot and the first American to race successfully in Europe. He designed cars and automotive systems. A 1955 Le Mans crash that killed a driver and more than 80 spectators inspired him to put his engineering degree to work on track and highway safety. He invented the Fitch Driver Capsule and those barrel-design, impact-absorption systems found on American highways. Fitch Barriers are based on the sand-filled fuel cans he used to protect his tent from strafing during WWII. He even crash-tested them himself.
That spirit is evident in champions like Nico Rosberg, now an eco-entrepreneur and angel investor, and Sebastian Vettel, who leaped from retirement last year into sustainability pursuits. Parlaying his popularity into awareness, he even popped up at the Japan Grand Prix in September with his “Buzzin’ Corner” on Turn 2, coaxing current drivers out to build more bee huts in his tiny habitat.
