Brawn: 'F1 busy responding to calls from Hamilton and Vettel'

Goal: F1 climate neutral by 2030

Due to the fossil fuels used to power the F1 cars, the sport has a bad image when it comes to dealing with the environment. Although the F1 cars have been powered by a partially electric power unit since 2014, progress does not seem to be fast enough. The sport has set itself the goal of becoming climate neutral by 2030.

In a list of numerous spearheads, a key component is the intention to introduce a fully sustainable fuel. With the new engine regulations in 2025 or 2026 this new type of fuel should also make its appearance. This will stop the use of fossil fuels and the accompanying CO2 emissions.

F1 chief Brawn says to The Guardian: "An F1 fan should be proud of being an F1 fan. That is not only about the excitement on track but showing that F1 can make a difference in society. We all genuinely feel that.” Brawn believes that the fierce competition in F1 can bring about lightning-fast developments and that this competition should therefore be exploited to the full.

F1 can take on 'climate race

Brawn compares it to the race to develop the corona vaccine and sees benefits in F1 engineers being 'selfish guys': “With the white-hot technology competition in F1 we will probably get there quicker than any other environment I can think of.”

“The vaccine race was impressive, suddenly we had a vaccine in a very short space of time. That had never been done before. We now have the climate race and we have to find solutions at the same speed." Brawn concludes: “Engineers of an F1 team are very selfish, they don’t waste an ounce of energy on anything other than making the car go faster. If we set them a challenge wrapped round this sustainable fuel objective they will put every effort into it when they know it will give them a potential competitive advantage.”