F1’s Fuels: Setting the Stage for a Sustainable Future

Transportation has been a leading source of carbon emissions globally. However, with growing concern from people around the world, recent efforts by governments and private sectors around the world to help combat our collective climate crisis have seen changes. In a sport fronted by cars, the expectation would be that they’re completely unsustainable and clinging to their carbon-filled fuels.

However, in many ways, F1 leads by example for other sports leagues to follow suit in their journey to a more sustainable future.

F1 aims to use all sustainable fuels in its racecars by 2026 and have net zero carbon by 2030. Not only are the league’s goals lofty, but it’s actively making strides to achieve them in a timely manner.

The league is already using E10 fuel, a mix of sustainable and traditional fuels, to power its cars on track. The fuel contains 10% high-quality, sustainable ethanol.

However, starting in 2026, their fuels will be modified to fit their sustainability goals. These new fuels are made of a variety of second-generation materials, ranging from agricultural waste to carbon captured from algae. All of these materials contain carbon, a needed material for making fuel. These fuels don’t contribute to additional carbon being released into the atmosphere, making them carbon neutral.

F1 sees something even more for its sustainable fuels; it envisions them being used globally as drop-in fuels. Drop-in fuels are designed to be placed in ordinary cars to replace the carbon-heavy fuel used today. This means that there would not need to be any dramatic changes to existing cars for them to be used. The research being done by various fuel companies across the sport is paving the way for the development of sustainable fuels’ implementation into everyday lives.

As these fuels progress from development to in-use, it’s only a matter of time until they hit the consumer market and contribute to lowering global carbon emissions.