Formula One goes Green
What's coming in 2013?
Formula One has made a few steps towards going green in the past few years including the ‘kers’ (kinetic energy recovery system.) which received mixed reactions from the teams.
On December 10th the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) signed off on the most dramatic of these steps. They approved new regulations which will see the engines go smaller again moving from the 2.4 litre V8s to four cylinder 1.6L turbo engines.
Saving Money and Fuel
This new initiative should also save the teams a few pennies over the season, which will be a great help for the smaller teams. It is thought that the new engines, to be introduced in 2013, will save as much as 35% on fuel compared with the current models.
Another significant change in the engines will be the limits, which drop from 18,000 to 12,000 all in an attempt to make the cars more relevant to commercial road cars. The rule change that will strike fear in to the hearts of some teams like Ferrari, who had problems with their engines, is the restrictions on how many they can use in a season.
Four Engines a Season
Initially for 2013 the engine quota will be reduced to five, but it will come down even further to four in the following years. With the race calendar possibly moving to 21 races an engine could do as many as five races. This may sound a lot, after some of the teams struggled to get theirs to work for multiple races, but the reduced stresses on the engines should make it an easier target.
It is hoped that the greener approach will bring some more manufacturers to fill the gaps left by recent departures from the sport. It is hoped that Audi might enter their Porsche brand who already run one of the support races that follow Formula One around Europe. It could alternatively push more manufacturers away who don’t want to go through the expense of designing new engines.
Posted by Sadhbh O'Shea - Follow her on twitter @SadhbhOS.
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Last Comment Posted »
Half of me thinks the sport needs to keep evolving the other half says keep it pure!
by Jimmy@enterF1
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Recent comments on this article:
#1 Sadhbh | 12 Dec 2010, 21:03 Reply »
i am glad that in the recent years formula one has got with it and going green, but it still has a long way to go. It is difficult to really be green with petrol powered cars. I would love to see the same guys who make formula one work do some sort of green car championship I'm sure they could make it good, something better than electricity though because they are certainly not the cars of the future.
#2 Jimmy@enterF1 | 12 Dec 2010, 22:01 Reply »
I'm really in 2 minds...
Yes, F1 has to go greener because of the times, society, climate change, the car industry - it totally makes sense.
But they'll always be a part of most F1 fan's hearts that ultimately want to see the teams and designers build the fastest and the most on the limit racing cars possible, that can race in an environment that is as safe as possible.
I guess they are still doing that, but to a set of regulations where much more emphasis is on costs and being green, rather than outright speed...
#3 Hugo | 13 Dec 2010, 02:17 Reply »
What a resilient business Bernie has put together that can resist all the FIA mismanagement... Changing rules every year, and when possible more frequently only makes our F1more expensive and unpredictable. Too many employees at Place de la Concorde: They have plenty of time to reinvent the wheel every other day.
#4 MartyP | 13 Dec 2010, 04:53 Reply »
It's been awhile since the engine regulations have been changed significantly so I think it will be quite exciting. Hopefully it does attract the likes of Porsche because the sport could do with some more manufacturers.
Part of me is surprised the FIA didn't go even further with their green push. If you want some new automotive technology developed quickly and efficiently by the world's best engineers, than F1 is the place to do it. I'm sure the rules will become even more 'green' in the years ahead, but I'm with you Jimmy, I just hope they don't ruin the spectacle in the process.
#5 Jimmy@enterF1 | 15 Dec 2010, 09:07 Reply »
Half of me thinks the sport needs to keep evolving the other half says keep it pure!
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