Could F1 move to a future beyond carbon fibre?
Formula 1 has ambitious goals for improving its carbon footprint, but could this include banishing its favoured composite material? Pat Symonds considers the alternatives to carbon fibre and what use, if any, those materials have in a Formula 1 setting
When Formula 1 announced, in late 2019, its bold ambitions to become carbon net-zero by 2030, the focus was largely on fuels for the race cars. While only representing around 0.7% of the approximately 250,000 tons CO2 equivalent carbon footprint of the championship, the multiplier effect of such technology is enormous.
A much larger proportion of the total footprint lies in transport of both people and equipment around the globe, and this too is high on the agenda – with F1 engaging with the aircraft industry and academia on sustainable aviation fuels (SAF). Many people point out, however, that the cars themselves are built using a large amount of carbon fibre, and ask what effect that has on Formula 1’s carbon neutral ambitions and whether alternatives are being looked at.
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