Bigger. Greener. Faster? Formula 1's 'net zero' gambit is a good start

F1 already uses 10% ethanol-blended fuel and has adopted green steps such as banning single-use plastics and powering garages, paddocks, and broadcast centres with solar energy and used vegetable oil

The 2026 season of the racing world’s apex competition — the Formula 1 championship — has just got off the block with an action-packed and somewhat chaotic Australian Grand Prix. Twenty-two cars competed, up from 20 last year, with Cadillac making a foray into the constructors’ league this time. Five could not finish the race, one finished 15 laps behind; the Mercedes drivers won, followed closely by the Ferraris. This may well read like any other race outcome, but there was a significant new challenge drivers were learning to cope with — battery management. Apart from expanding the starting grid for a record-equalling 24-race season, up from just seven races when F1 debuted back in 1950, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, or FIA, which governs many motor sports, including F1, is steering what may be the most significant transformation in the history of motor sport. For one, the 2026 F1 regulations mandate a complete overhaul of the cars to make them smaller and lighter, and not amenable to the ground effect, which allows drivers to use downforce pressures for better grip and speeds around corners. Instead, the cars can have active aerodynamics, which tweak the front and rear wings’ setup, depending on a car’s position on a race circuit. While this poses a design challenge for manufacturers, of greater importance is a shift in the cars’ power units. 

There is no change in the size of the 1.6-litre turbo-hybrid engine systems, introduced in 2014, but they now operate with a roughly 50:50 split between the internal combustion engine and electrical energy, and use 100 per cent advanced sustainable fuels instead of fossil fuels. The FIA has defined such fuels as those made from cutting-edge sources like carbon capture (taking carbon dioxide directly from the air or industrial emission), municipal waste, and non-food biomass. Moreover, the power lost during braking is being used to charge up the electric-motor battery, and different carmakers’ chemists can use different molecules for their sustainable non-crude fuel blend, throwing up many combinations.  

For a glamorous sport that involves ferrying tonnes of equipment and cars around the world and whose very essence is based on a carbon emission-intensive activity, this is a commendable statement of intent. F1’s fuel shift for cars is just one, albeit a critical element, of an ambitious commitment to turn “net zero” by 2030. While F1 has been using 10 per cent ethanol-blended fuels for a few years now, there are multiple small and large green measures in place, including a ban on single-use plastics, and the use of solar power and used-vegetable oil to power the garages, paddocks, and broadcast centres. It is not clear how many sports have, or are seeking to, make a green transition on this scale, and it is still some way for F1 itself to complete its green journey. Fossil fuels’ calorific value will be tough to match, but the FIA claims that sustainable fuels used in Formula 2 and 3 last year did not dramatically impact car performance. The big question for F1 audiences is the sport’s ability to balance these goals with the need for speed, overtaking possibilities, and ensuring a bang for their buck. But at a time the world is wrapped in energy insecurity, if Formula 1 gets this maiden season with green engines right, it could become a role model not only for other sports but also for millions of its spectators and the automotive industry, which has traditionally used motorsport as a testing ground for technologies to be used in passenger cars.