2021 Regulations Released

[Nitrodaze]

I watched an interview of Vettel and a group of school kids. It was fascinating as the kids asked very intelligent questions. But more importantly, Vettel was as transparent and insightful with his answers as l have yet to see of anybody on the F1 paddock.

One of the questions that caught my attention was about renewable fuels and Vettel's thoughts of whether F1 was doing enough to respond to climate change. In true German fashion, the four-time world champion answered no. He went on to say F1 was hypocritical with its use of fossil fuels for racing when promising a cleaner climate change sensitive racing.

There is a Nasa study that suggests that the earth's temperature has risen by 1.1 degrees Celsius since 1980. This suggests that this rise may increase further with time. This is expected to cause sea-level rise which may reshape the landmasses of the world we know. The study was very clear about the need to reduce the use of hydrocarbon fuels for transportation as a potential remedy.

Interestingly, F1M CEO Domencalli was very quick to get in front of the cameras to address the points raised by these kids and Vettels response in particular. He spoke of education programmes for kids and the work being done to develop a sustainable fuel that is not based on fossil fuel. The important thing to note here is that he was not talking about renewable fuels or electric powertrains. But a hydrocarbon which is manufactured in the lab to produce a higher efficiency and power output than its fossil fuel equivalent.

I stopped for a moment to think about his response and wondered if he really understood the points raise by Vettel. A manufactured hydrocarbon is still most likely to produce the CO2 that is causing the climate change. So it would seem F1 do not understand the issue here and as such are very slow on the uptake of where the sport is in conflict with the environmental issues related to racing with hydrocarbon fuels in this time where all the data is now beginning to suggest that global warming is real.

On thing that Vettel has raised, is the fact that F1 need to understand its environmental responsibilities and develop a principled commitment to addressing them. I have to commend Vettel for speaking up for the environment and calling out F1's social responsibility to environmental challenges facing our planet.