Environmental Graffiti

Save big game hunting, Formula One motor racing is about the least environmentally friendly sport out there. The racing cars burn a staggering litre of fuel per kilometre and each one emits 17 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. It’s an entire sport built around a wanton consumption of fossil fuels.

It seems hard to believe, therefore, that Formula One bosses have decided that the sport needs to go green. “Unless Formula One can become a contributor to the technology that might help the environment, it’s likely it will become a dinosaur,” Says Nick Fry, team principal of Honda racing.

The sport’s governing body, the FIA, has proposed a raft of measures supported by most of the teams, including Ferrari and Mercedes. By 2011 all the cars should be running on biofuels, and a device will be fixed to the cars to preserve brake energy. Nick Fry and others believe that if Formula One embraces these changes, it could become a technological pioneer for a greener automobile industry