With Audi and Honda swelling F1’s ranks by committing to the sustainably fuelled turbo hybrid regulations from 2026, the significance of what is happening goes well beyond the spectacle of having six car makers going up against each other on track.
“Obviously when they [Honda] withdrew, it was because of electrification. And I think perhaps with sustainable fuels and zero emissions, plus the route that Formula 1 is going for 2026, combustion became relevant to them again.”After many years where governments led car-makers and the public down a path where an all-electric future was being mandated, the landscape has been shifting over recent months.
Just recently the G7 gathering in Japan made clear the future it saw for road cars, and it was of them being electrified, not just electric, and including the use of fuels. But there seems to be a more sensible approach opening up to policy and a growing reality that the combustion engine has a future – especially if it can be powered by carbon neutral fuel.Even Honda itself, which announced three years ago it was quitting F1 because of its shift to electric vehicles, says it is now open-minded about the future direction of road cars – even if its own plans have not yet been changed.
Speaking exclusively to Motorsport.com, Domenicali said: “When you talk about electrification, the approach that I personally don't like is this kind of religion when you say, ‘okay, the world will be full electric, and the internal combustion engine is the devil.’“The objective of being sustainable, in all the things we're doing, is the right one, but as always in life, transition is the key to success. If you push for something that is not deliverable, it's a mistake.
“We know today that in terms of complexity, electrification is huge. And therefore, I think that F1 will help with another way of arriving to this target, in a much more efficient way.Motorsport Images He singles out how ethical concerns about the use of Cobalt in some batteries shows electric is not the perfect solution, while it is also known that lithium extraction has its own environmental downsides.
And if F1 can succeed in changing the mindset that the only thing that matters is carbon neutral transport, whatever it is made up of, then why can’t it help keep the combustion engine a part of our everyday life?