F1: Racing To Save The Planet

With another Formula 1 season now behind us, CSM Sport & Entertainment’s Managing Director – Strategy and Insights, Aled Rees, explains why the ‘gas guzzling’ stereotypes are obsolete as the sport puts the planet on pole.

“I get quite upset when I see the words ‘gas guzzling’ right next to Formula One” was the impassioned feeling of Pat Symonds, the sport’s Chief Technology Officer. He has a point, but right now, it is too well hidden.

To the uninitiated, the annual global tour of rubber-stained asphalt chicanes, roaring engines, adoring ‘petrolheads’ and champagne-fuelled celebrities – particularly when set against its silent, electronic sibling – appears to be purposeless. Entertainment at the expense of the planet.

However, the problem is perception. The reality is that Formula One is at the forefront of the industry when it comes to identifying solutions that may help address the climate emergency.

Among global sporting products, it’s in pole position in the race to save the planet. Here is why.

THE MASTERS OF INNOVATION

There is already a case study for F1 using its significant resource –   and tech – to provide rapid, and reliable, solutions to a global crisis. Back in March 2020, as the garage doors were shut for an indefinite period, the teams united to form ‘Project Pit Lane’ and a raft of innovations in response to Covid-19.

While 1.5 tonnes of unused, and otherwise wasted, food from the cancelled Australian Grand Prix was being distributed to 17 different charities in the state, back in Britain, seven teams opened their factories to their competitors and set to work, together. The outcome was 10,000 ventilators, designed and gifted to a healthcare system which was short on both time and equipment.

Similar stories followed across Europe, and a snapshot was forming of the real-world value that these world-leading innovators could offer. Now, the sole recipient of this cross-team and cross-sport endeavour, is the planet and its people.

FUELLING THE FUTURE

In 2020, F1 ignored PR protocol and came clean on its carbon footprint, laying bare all 256,551 tonnes of CO2E emission. The message to the planet was simple. Here is the debt, and – through its ‘We Race As One’ ESG strategy – here is how we are going to clear it.

The report highlighted a few areas of concern regarding the sport’s CO2 emissions, however the cars ‘guzzling gas’ was not one of them. It found that the carbon cost of the cars – just 0.7% of total emissions – was less than a single Boeing 747 crossing of the Atlantic. Why then is the sport making such a minor carbon cost such a major priority?

By 2026, the ambition is to have laboratory-created ‘drop-in’ fuel which can be used in any craft – light or heavy – road, air, or water – without modification. These 100% advanced sustainable fuels – which will achieve greenhouse gas emission savings relative to regular petrol of at least 65% – will feature an advanced component that comes from either a carbon capture scheme, municipal waste, or non-food ‘biomass.’

It is still two decades away from the mass market, but the carbon capture concept is another technology with the potential to make a mark well beyond the race circuit.

Given that Bloomberg predicts that only 8% of the world’s 1.8 billion cars, a decade from now, will be electric, then this ‘drop in’ fuel has the potential to be a ground-breaking, planet-aiding remedy.

MAKING THE RIGHT NOISES

This fuel will be ‘dropped’ in engines which have been the world’s most efficient since 2014, and currently achieve 52% thermal efficiency – compared to an average of 30% – while using 25% less fuel.

This gap in efficiency is set to be stretched further in 2026 with the introduction of new power unit regulations. Paradoxically, the new MGU-K engines will triple the amount of electrical power produced, reduce the fuel use, and retain the horsepower. Louder, faster, yet more efficient. In 2013, 160kg of fuel was used in a race; in 2020 it was 100kg, and the ambition for 2026 is 70kg.

This speed of innovation is synonymous with a sport decided by marginal gains. Margins created by highly skilled engineers who are prepared to fail, so long as it is fast. This rapid prototyping is part of the day job, and part of the culture of a sport which is quietly leading the automotive world in energy efficient and low carbon innovation.

BRANDS BUY DEEDS NOT WORDS

Sport possesses rarefied influence over fans, which is why it can play such a pivotal role in creating a more sustainably-minded society. For F1 this thinking is emphasised at every touchpoint, including allowing fans to offset the carbon footprint of their travel when purchasing tickets, and incentivising greener routes to races. In September, the Dutch managed to encourage 65,000 of the ‘Orange Army’ to arrive by bike or foot.

Executing a genuine and ambitious sustainability strategy is a commercial draw. Just ask Forest Green Rovers – ‘the world’s greenest football club’ – whose partnership revenue grew fivefold in three otherwise stagnant Covid-affected years. For F1, the clear action on sustainability is bringing brands back to the paddock, with both Hugo Boss and Santander citing this as a key motivator for their return.

While brands will align Forest Green Rovers on values, they cannot – yet – rely on them for scale. Here – at the apex of size and sentiment – you will find Formula One. No other purpose-led product – Formula E or otherwise – offers brands such a significant platform.

Cumulative TV viewers, across the 2021 season, was 1.55 billion, while unique viewers were up 3% to 445 million. This promising trend is fuelled by media-savvy owners who orchestrated Netflix’s highly successful ‘Drive To Survive’ series. The fourth season found its way into the platform’s Top 10 in 56 different countries.

New households meant new converts. New fans who are young – 56% under 24 – balanced – 43% female – and conscious – 72% vs. the general population av. of 61% favour brands that support the environment. Fertile ground for future-focussed brands.

A GRANULAR TO GLOBAL STRATEGY

The big chunks of the CO2 pie include the whirring team facilities and factories (19.3%), the vast logistics required to put on the growing number of races (45%), and all the business travel that goes with this moveable feast (27.7%).

To achieve the lofty ambition of fully sustainable events by 2025, and net zero by 2030, the whole sport needs to buy-in. From the ponds – with Williams Racing becoming a biodiversity steward for the rare chalk streams which run through its facility – to the podium ­ – with influential figures like Sebastian Vettel taking a stand by wearing a provocative t-shirt declaring that Miami 2060 would be ‘the first Grand Prix under water.’

The team bases are transitioning to 100% renewable energy, and the tracks also, with the Circuit de Catalunya and Sakhir International Circuit already at zero. There is a new fixed base for the broadcast as a remote production model looks to reduce cargo, and discussions are said to be underway on a regional calendar to reduce travel.

OPEN DOOR POLICY

Like with the race against Covid, the race for the planet consists of ten teams and one sport driving in the same direction. Transparent team strategies contributing to a single shared goal of being net zero by 2030. A race to three stars – the FIA’s highest accreditation for sustainability management – and net zero. The very definition of ‘healthy competition.’

Mercedes F1 – whose strategic ambition is to be the world’s most sustainable professional sports team – are betting on Sustainable Aviation Fuel – which employ either renewable or waste-derived materials – in a bid to reduce the team’s air travel footprint by some 50%. For the trucks they achieved a staggering 89% reduction in freight emissions by using biofuels to power the trucks across a three-race trial at the end of the European season. McLaren is working towards the first fully circular F1 car, has aligned its overall strategy to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and requires all new partners to sign a values-based agreement. Williams Racing, a team who helped British supermarkets reduce their energy consumption by 25% thanks to an Aerofoil device,  has the ambition of being the first team to go beyond zero – F1’s chequered flag – to become climate positive and doing so before 2030. While at Red Bull the ‘NO BULL’ strategy has been created with the sole purpose of eradicating its footprint.

While the racing on the track will continue to claim the headlines, brands, fans, rights holders, and conscious consumers should be tuning into, and cheering on, this other race.

The race to save the planet.

“The carbon cost of the cars – just 0.7% of total emissions – was less than a single Boeing 747 crossing of the Atlantic.”