With electric cars starting to move towards being electric, it will be interesting to see if other motorsports will go electric. But I won’t be discussing this topic. A good friend of mine, Oliver, will be taking it instead.
What is the environmental impact of F1?
Formula 1 has many environmental impacts such as:
Greenhouse gas emissions: The cars along with all the equipment and machinery needing to be transported regularly emits a large amount of carbon dioxide and other gases which are contributing to global warming.With 300+ trucks heading from race to race and DHL using up to 7 cargo planes per race with these statistics it is clear to say that logistics is the worst sector for emissions, with over 50% of the sports emissions being from this area, but F1 are trying to reduce these emissions, like increasing increasing energy efficiency of the cars and working with DHL their air transport partner to reduce emissions by switching from older aircraft like the Boeing 747 to newer more efficient aircraft like the Boeing 777.
F1 travels around the world to a vast number of locations, and with this comes the transportation of the teams and officials and staff.Around 27% of F1’s emissions is because of transportation of said personnel whether it be air or ground transport with around 1000+ people needed to be transported every race weekend at different times.Not to mention the hundreds of thousands of fans that travel to and from races, for example the 2022 British Grand Prix had an estimated 400,000 fans visit over the race weekend.But at many of the race events, the track staff and communities are playing their part in reducing their footprint with many fans not using their cars and walking or taking public transport instead.Finally around 20% of the sports emissions is from factories and offices in the teams respective locations.
Noise pollution: F1 races and events create a lot of noise affecting the surrounding areas whether it be residents or the wildlife, this obviously creates many negative effects for example, hearing damage from prolonged exposure to the loud environment of the track with F1 cars being recorded as loud as 140dB.Residents well being may have been affected during race events due to sleep disturbance or stress from the sound of the cars.Not just people but also wildlife are affected with animals being stressed and scared natural behaviours and patterns of animals can change as a result of the high volumes of noise.Due to the noise pollution, local properties whether it be houses or buildings will decrease in price due to the proximity of the race track and events.But like with emissions F1 and track organisers are trying to reduce these effects and the impact of the sounds by using sound barriers and limiting active racing times.A switch to being electric would dramatically reduce noise pollution.
Resource Consumption: F1 requires large amounts of many different resources like fuel being used by the cars and other sectors contribute significantly to the emissions and pollution.Tyres needed every race must be manufactured and transported adding to F1’s already large carbon footprint.Water and energy for cooling,lighting,power which puts pressure on local providers and sources.Raw materials like steel, aluminium and other metals have to be used for the manufacturing of cars parts, equipment, facilities and many more.With all these resources being consumed a large amount of waste is produced like used tyres,oil, other vehicular fluids also packaging of the many different products used.F1 is trying to explore different ways to reduce this large consumption but with a massive competitive sport like this it is hard not to have a large resource consumption.
What are the progressions of F1 engines in the past to become more environmentally friendly?
Before the regulation change in 2014, F1 cars were using V8s which were loud and loved by fans for being iconic. As 2014 neared fans hoped for the cars to stay or change back to V10s but were met with the new 1.6 Litre V6 Hybrid Engines which used a lot more electrical components. The fans were not happy about this change as the engines were much quieter and less dramatic. This progression was a great step towards becoming more environmentally friendly and reduced carbon emissions by a large amount.
Also, the technology used in F1 was transferred over to road cars with Mercedes using the advanced technology from F1 cars in their top-tier cars like the KERS system. Many different electronic systems like MGU-K(recovers energy lost when braking) and MGU-H(recovers energy from turbocharger) were introduced and started to show how F1 was trying to be more efficient and use lost energy to make the sport better.F1 are using other ways to become even more environmentally friendly by switching to sustainable fuel sources with the 2023 season going to use E10 fuel so its 90% fuel and 10% ethanol, the issue with this though is that it is not really the cars that are the huge environmental issue it is all the other factors of the sport which need to be worked on to reduce the sports emissions. The next step for the sport will be the major 2026 regulation changes where the engines will stay the same but fuel is changing and the MGU-H system is being removed, these new regulations will dramatically increase the car’s power and reduce emissions by 80+%.
What would Formula One be like without sponsorships?
Sponsorship in Formula One is seen as a symbiotic relationship and this opportunity for brands can mean a large increase in engagement from the fans of the largest and most famous motorsport in the world.Getting a sponsorship with a team for a brand is a long and complex process but can offer positive results, sponsorships with Formula One teams can range from $1 Million to $70 Million with a single race costing around $500k.
Conclusion
In my view Formula One should continue on being the amazing combustion motorsport it is but at the same time try to fix their other issues that are leaving that carbon footprint.For example trying to increase efficiency of logistics and transports between races, because it is not the cars causing the large amounts of emissions its the other sectors of the sport.
One of the biggest arguments is that if the sport does switch to being electric, the emissions will be reduced but I do not really agree with this as energy required for the cars still has to come from somewhere else and for the long run will sustainable energy be enough or will non renewable sources have to be used.The longevity of cars going electric is unclear hence why based of this argument I think Formula One should stay electric.
Another reason for why I think Formula One should stay with combustion engines is that battery technology is still in its very early stages and to have such a high performance sport switch isn’t worth the risk.And in general the disadvantages outweigh the positives and having a fully developed motorsport switch to being electric is going to be a huge task and may not be worth it in the long run if new technology can developed in time for the combustion engines of F1 cars to be efficient enough.
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