Formula 1 has only recently agreed its new technical regulations for the 2026 season, but already thoughts are turning to what comes next.
The series is pinning high hopes on the introduction of ‘sustainable’ fuel for the season after next, alongside the most powerful hybrid power units the series has seen so far.
But F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali is already talking up the possibility that using a synthetic substitute for fossil fuels will allow F1 to move away from hybrid power altogether. And he’s not thinking many years away – earlier this year Domenicali suggested it could happen as early as 2030, which would coincide with F1’s much-touted deadline of achieving ‘net zero’ carbon emissions.
That appeal of doing away with hybrids is obvious from a sporting point of view: The batteries and motors add weight and complexity. F1 car weights will rise to 800 kilograms next year, 158kg more than in the season before the current hybrids were introduced, though not all of that rise is down to the power units.
Domenicali hopes F1 will be able to consider doing away with hybrids “if sustainable fuels work.” Anyone who’s seen the many F1 cars already running on sustainable fuels, such as those demonstrated by Sebastian Vettel, knows the question of chemistry is not in doubt. The real question over whether sustainable fuels ‘work’ is whether they can be produced cost-effectively at the scale needed to replace the fossil fuels many of us pump into our cars.
Does F1 need to be concerned about that? Would it be ‘bad optics’ for the series to run on a fuel which is sustainable but largely unavailable? Or should it lead the way by showing a sustainable solution exists, however difficult it may be to obtain?
For
Formula 1 is supposed to be about pushing the boundaries of performance. If sustainable fuels offer a way to do this while reducing emissions, why not exploit them to their fullest?
Few will mourn the passing of the current era of heavy cars and complex, expensive hybrid power units. The FIA is eager to use the opportunity of the 2026 regulations change to push teams towards creating lighter cars. But they are hamstrung by the weight of the power units and teams doubt even the meagre 30kg weight saving targeted is achievable.
F1 cars are built from many materials and substances which are out of reach to the average motorist. The climate crisis does not mean that should change for fuel.
Against
A ‘sustainable’ product hasn’t been sustained if it can’t be obtained. And for ordinary people that will remain the case for a long, long time.
The idea that fossil fuels could immediately be replaced by sustainable products as the source of the billions of barrels of fuel required by motorists is a pipe dream. Even more so given the huge competing demands of aviation, shipping and other industries.
Of course F1 should introduce sustainable fuels. But ditching the electrical components which will contribute half the cars’ power output in 2026, and instead relying solely on a largely unobtainable fuel which still produces carbon emissions as today’s fossil fuels do, F1’s supposed solution to the climate crisis would be exposed as an irrelevance for ordinary people.
I say
The potency of petrol is an extremely difficult thing to recreate and replace, which is why there is no ‘silver bullet’ solution to the urgent need to phase out fossil fuels. ‘Sustainable’ fuels may well be part of the solution, but the jury is out on whether chemists can solve the challenge of manufacturing them emissions-free at scale.
F1 has already started heaping hype on these fuels, extolling their virtues as a ‘drop-in’ replacement for fossil fuels which will work in any existing combustion engine. But that publicity will be worthless when people learn they can’t actually go out and buy it. Worse, it could lead some to question why the relatively tiny quantity of sustainable fuels is being wasted by making a handful of cars go around in loops.
Like hybrids, sustainable fuels feel like part of a step towards a solution, but not the whole answer. I have no trouble understanding the distaste for the current hybrid engines, but ditching them and using sustainable fuels as the justification when the scalability of the technology is a long way from being proved feels like a hasty mistake F1 is eager to make.
You say
Should F1 wait until sustainable fuels are widely available for motorists before ditching hybrids? Cast your vote below and have your say in the comments:
Do you agree F1 should wait until sustainable fuels are widely available for motorists before ditching hybrids?
- No opinion (4%)
- Strongly disagree (30%)
- Slightly disagree (15%)
- Neither agree nor disagree (9%)
- Slightly agree (20%)
- Strongly agree (22%)
Total Voters: 46
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