{"id":14163,"date":"2010-04-15T13:20:31","date_gmt":"2010-04-15T12:20:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.influx.co.uk\/wordpress\/?p=14163"},"modified":"2022-06-22T16:55:02","modified_gmt":"2022-06-22T15:55:02","slug":"formula-for-environmental-disaster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/features\/formula-for-environmental-disaster\/","title":{"rendered":"Formula For (Environmental) Disaster?"},"content":{"rendered":"

When it comes to environmental issues Formula 1 is not exactly \u2018on message.\u2019 A Grand Prix car is a high-revving, incredibly noisy projectile and its sole purpose is to go quickly. Not, as yet, to go quickly economically. It\u2019s a wholly anti-social animal if that\u2019s the way you want to see it.<\/p>\n

Life changes and with even Australians lamenting the \u2018Nanny state\u2019, is Formula 1 at risk of falling victim to an argument that, like boxing, it belongs to a bygone age? Is it harmful, socially unacceptable and ultimately heading for a ban?<\/p>\n

As Frank Williams said recently, while discussing the reintroduction of KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems), \u201cF1 needs a totem. KERS is a very meaningful thing for emissions control, it does save power. It\u2019s expensive, it\u2019s difficult technology and a big swallow, but sooner or later F1 is going to get aggro from one of these bodies that causes aggro…\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n

That is something that former FIA president Max Mosley concluded some time ago. He realised the need for F1 to be seen to be as green as possible, which is why he wanted to introduce KERS, reduce engine capacities and curb spending which, across F1\u2019s manufacturers, had reached a billion dollars annually.<\/p>\n

Suddenly, instead of being a global advertising platform irresistible to companies such as Honda, Toyota and Renault as well as premium brands like Ferrari, Mercedes and BMW, F1 found all the rats deserting a sinking ship. In quick succession, Honda, Toyota and BMW all left and Renault, you suspect, might have followed suit had it not been for its involvement in the Singapore \u2018Crashgate\u2019 saga. Instead, it sold 75% of the shareholding in its F1 operation.<\/p>\n

The driving force behind this was not the environment itself, so much as the financial environment — the credit crunch. With sales figures catastrophic and redundancies and reduced working weeks a reality, it became ever more politically difficult for manufacturers to justify money spent on an F1 programme. And it wasn\u2019t just car manufacturers. Bookings for F1\u2019s Paddock Club (where corporate guests are entertained lavishly at considerable expense) nosedived too. Suddenly it wasn\u2019t very PC for the likes of RBS to be seen to be glad-handing lavishly while worldwide economies went bust.<\/p>\n

But what the credit crunch has also done is accelerate a change in advertising emphasis. Look at car advertising now, even for the likes of BMW, and it\u2019s not performance oriented anymore. It\u2019s all about frugality and pleasant experiences. Drives in the country, things like that.
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Look at the tyre manufacturers too. Bridgestone has used F1 to great effect as a brand building exercise but recently announced its withdrawal. Why? Not, whatever it might say, because of cost. It\u2019s F1 spend relative to its profit is insignificant. It\u2019s because the head honcho is behind a \u2018green\u2019 marketing strategy and has a problem squaring that with Formula 1.<\/p>\n

Michelin has recently signalled interest in a return to the F1 arena it left in 2006. But, significantly, it wants to be able to demonstrate the energy efficiency of its tyres. Only recently, leading Autosport F1 journalist Mark Hughes has been writing about the possibility of linking a tyre\u2019s rolling resistance with permitted fuel density. His suggestion is, the lower the rolling resistance of your tyres, the denser your fuel is allowed to be, allowing you to carry more fuel energy for less weight and go quicker. He advocates getting the tyre and fuel companies working hand-in-glove to improve efficiency across the board.<\/p>\n

Thus far, F1 and eco-friendliness have been no more than nodding acquaintances. It was deeply ironic that having introduced KERS, F1 failed to make it compulsory. The likes of Ferrari, McLaren and Renault spent serious money developing KERS systems for 2009 (McLaren-Mercedes is reckoned to have spent \u00a350 million) only to see Red Bull and Brawn decide that the effects of a KERS system on chassis bulk outweighed its advantages, and blow them into the weeds!<\/p>\n

Frank Williams is probably right. Sooner or later F1 will flag up on someone\u2019s radar and it\u2019s \u2018need to be green\u2019 may have to be more than a token gesture.
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Could F1 ever have a green future? Tony Dodgins reports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1779,6],"tags":[236,82,183],"class_list":["post-14163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cars","category-features","tag-f1","tag-ferrari","tag-motorsport"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFormula For (Environmental) Disaster? - Influx<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Could F1 ever have a green future? Tony Dodgins reports\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/features\/formula-for-environmental-disaster\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Formula For (Environmental) Disaster? - Influx\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Could F1 ever have a green future? Tony Dodgins reports\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/features\/formula-for-environmental-disaster\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Influx Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-04-15T12:20:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-06-22T15:55:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/Frank_Williams.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tony Dodgins\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@influxmag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@influxmag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tony Dodgins\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/features\/formula-for-environmental-disaster\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/features\/formula-for-environmental-disaster\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tony Dodgins\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/#\/schema\/person\/c2de715a43cc0d82b5243f363f646011\"},\"headline\":\"Formula For (Environmental) Disaster?\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-04-15T12:20:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-06-22T15:55:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/features\/formula-for-environmental-disaster\/\"},\"wordCount\":700,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/features\/formula-for-environmental-disaster\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/Frank_Williams.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"F1\",\"Ferrari\",\"motorsport\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Cars\",\"Features\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/features\/formula-for-environmental-disaster\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/features\/formula-for-environmental-disaster\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/features\/formula-for-environmental-disaster\/\",\"name\":\"Formula For (Environmental) Disaster? - Influx\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/features\/formula-for-environmental-disaster\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/features\/formula-for-environmental-disaster\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/Frank_Williams.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-04-15T12:20:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-06-22T15:55:02+00:00\",\"description\":\"Could F1 ever have a green future? Tony Dodgins reports\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/features\/formula-for-environmental-disaster\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/features\/formula-for-environmental-disaster\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/features\/formula-for-environmental-disaster\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/Frank_Williams.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/Frank_Williams.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/features\/formula-for-environmental-disaster\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Formula For (Environmental) Disaster?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/\",\"name\":\"Influx Magazine\",\"description\":\"Cars, Bikes, People, Culture\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Influx Magazine\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cdn-influx-wp.adrianflux.co.uk\/uploads\/2016\/06\/influx-logo.gif\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn-influx-wp.adrianflux.co.uk\/uploads\/2016\/06\/influx-logo.gif\",\"width\":300,\"height\":60,\"caption\":\"Influx Magazine\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/x.com\/influxmag\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/#\/schema\/person\/c2de715a43cc0d82b5243f363f646011\",\"name\":\"Tony Dodgins\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f8f766f2b89035e9e98435c1a2750e1b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f8f766f2b89035e9e98435c1a2750e1b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Tony Dodgins\"},\"description\":\"Tony Dodgins, 48, won the Williams Lyons Award for young motoring writers 30 years ago. He has covered F1 for Autosport, F1 Racing, a number of US and Japanese publications and contributes regularly to The Guardian.\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Formula For (Environmental) Disaster? - Influx","description":"Could F1 ever have a green future? Tony Dodgins reports","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/features\/formula-for-environmental-disaster\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Formula For (Environmental) Disaster? - Influx","og_description":"Could F1 ever have a green future? Tony Dodgins reports","og_url":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/features\/formula-for-environmental-disaster\/","og_site_name":"Influx Magazine","article_published_time":"2010-04-15T12:20:31+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-06-22T15:55:02+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/Frank_Williams.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Tony Dodgins","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@influxmag","twitter_site":"@influxmag","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Tony Dodgins","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/features\/formula-for-environmental-disaster\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/features\/formula-for-environmental-disaster\/"},"author":{"name":"Tony Dodgins","@id":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/#\/schema\/person\/c2de715a43cc0d82b5243f363f646011"},"headline":"Formula For (Environmental) Disaster?","datePublished":"2010-04-15T12:20:31+00:00","dateModified":"2022-06-22T15:55:02+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/features\/formula-for-environmental-disaster\/"},"wordCount":700,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/features\/formula-for-environmental-disaster\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/Frank_Williams.jpg","keywords":["F1","Ferrari","motorsport"],"articleSection":["Cars","Features"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/features\/formula-for-environmental-disaster\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/features\/formula-for-environmental-disaster\/","url":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/features\/formula-for-environmental-disaster\/","name":"Formula For (Environmental) Disaster? - Influx","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/features\/formula-for-environmental-disaster\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/features\/formula-for-environmental-disaster\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/Frank_Williams.jpg","datePublished":"2010-04-15T12:20:31+00:00","dateModified":"2022-06-22T15:55:02+00:00","description":"Could F1 ever have a green future? Tony Dodgins reports","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/features\/formula-for-environmental-disaster\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/features\/formula-for-environmental-disaster\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/features\/formula-for-environmental-disaster\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/Frank_Williams.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/Frank_Williams.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/features\/formula-for-environmental-disaster\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Formula For (Environmental) Disaster?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/","name":"Influx Magazine","description":"Cars, Bikes, People, Culture","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/#organization","name":"Influx Magazine","url":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cdn-influx-wp.adrianflux.co.uk\/uploads\/2016\/06\/influx-logo.gif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cdn-influx-wp.adrianflux.co.uk\/uploads\/2016\/06\/influx-logo.gif","width":300,"height":60,"caption":"Influx Magazine"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/influxmag"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/#\/schema\/person\/c2de715a43cc0d82b5243f363f646011","name":"Tony Dodgins","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f8f766f2b89035e9e98435c1a2750e1b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f8f766f2b89035e9e98435c1a2750e1b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Tony Dodgins"},"description":"Tony Dodgins, 48, won the Williams Lyons Award for young motoring writers 30 years ago. He has covered F1 for Autosport, F1 Racing, a number of US and Japanese publications and contributes regularly to The Guardian."}]}},"Feature Image":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/formula-disaster-feature.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14163"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14163\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36245,"href":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14163\/revisions\/36245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}