Speaking at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this month, days after revealing that the sport has lost money for the second successive year, Chase Carey revealed that his main targets for the coming season are to make the sport more open and accessible as well as making the wider world more aware of its technical achievements.

Admitting that the sport must build "not just on our technological leadership, but the incredible achievements in efficiency and sustainability for our cars and hybrid engines", he said "we'll continue to invest in opportunities to further reduce carbon emissions and other initiatives to be at the forefront of road relevant technology."

The teams tend to agree that the sport hasn't made the most of its tremendous success in terms of the hybrid formula's efficiency.

"The efficiency of these engines is so understated," admits Christian Horner. "The fuel economy that these engines are achieving is mind-boggling, so actually what Formula One is managing to do, in terms of furthering this technology, is truly impressive and I think it's a message we need to get across more.

"We've all come here on aeroplanes from across the world and been burning fuel at 38,000 feet which is obviously a far bigger carbon footprint than anything that's going on in Melbourne this weekend but I think in terms of the messaging that Formula One is achieving, I think it should be actually praised. The technology that the manufacturers have brought in through these engines and the economy that's now being achieved is quite phenomenal."

"The average efficiency of an internal combustion engine is in the region of 30 per cent to 35 per cent," added Cyril Abiteboul, Renault having been the main driving force behind the introduction of the htbrid formula, even if it has never quite mastered it.

"We are above fifty per cent in Formula One, that's massive," he continues. "If this type of efficiency was affordable for all mass markets products that would be a massive contribution to CO2 emission. So that's something we need to keep at the edge of in future.

"We are talking about e-Fuel, fuel that will not be composed of fossil energy. This type will be a game-changer, I think. We need to make sure that Formula One remains a demonstration for game-changers."

"We need to communicate it better," agreed Mattia Binotto. "What is good is when you see that such technology will be transferred into the automotive industry and certainly our, let me say, turbo technology at the moment is of interest to the entire automotive industry so that again F1 is showing on the edge of technology and in this case really pushing the message so it's down to us really to explain it and make sure it's happening."

"I've read, most recently, that the 15 largest container ships burn or have as much emission as 760 million cars," said Toto Wolff, "and the plastic that ends up in the seas is a phenomenon that we can even see in Europe every summer and I think these things need to be tackled and when we look into our micro-cosmos it's like Christian and Mattia said, those engines have all the energy recovery that you can find in the most modern road cars.

"We have battery technology, we have energy recovery through various systems and they have become more and more efficient and they are very much at the forefront of technology that eventually ends up in road cars and each of us has the duty, be it in our little small world, of not using plastic bottles any more or looking after our own environment and in the same way as the guys being involved in Formula One, making sure the right message is transported into the world, that these engines are the most efficient and the most green engines that have ever existed."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by GarH, 25/03/2019 9:38

"@Yeyox02

It was Guido Franch who disappeared after he came up with Mota-Fuel.

He disappeared off to prison in 1979."

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2. Posted by Yeyox02, 24/03/2019 15:59

"Some individuals talk about pollution as if normal citizens were the cause of it.
All the manufacturers of all kinds of vehicles that have engines that use fossil fuels, all the industry that uses fossil fuels in its processes, the oil companies, the politicians and the governments are the direct cause of the pollution of the planet because there is a protection plan between them. Why are they now blaming those of us who only use all that garbage? We, the ordinary citizens, only buy and use the scraps and the disgusting fuels that exist in the market and all this allowed by the governments and all the powerful economic interests that exist behind this whole deadly circle. Why didn't governments stop using plastics when they started? Now it is very easy to blame the masses who used what they allowed to enter the market. I blame directly all the countries of the "first world" and that are said to be highly industrialized for all the pollution that is affecting not only the planet but all the species that live on it and because it all began with the "industrial revolution" where? Does anyone know where the industrial revolution began? Does anyone know where coal began to be used in monstrous amounts? Now the superpowers and rich mafias who control this planet have decided that we should all stop using plastics and that we should use hybrid technology when ordinary citizens who earn the minimum wage cannot buy what only the super-rich can? Why are there industrial facilities around the world that still use fossil coal as fuels? In the years 70´s of the last century a person discovered how simple water could be used in internal combustion engines separating hydrogen and oxygen; that person died in a mysterious accident that was never clarified.
"

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3. Posted by nonickname, 23/03/2019 11:56

"To help stamp out pollution stamp out races outside of Europe."

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4. Posted by GarH, 23/03/2019 0:57

"I got the hint Toto, now which of the teams promote the wastage of millions of plastic bottles every year?"

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5. Posted by gearsau, 22/03/2019 23:20

"It's just boring. Thank heavens that Melbourne was the only race i will see on TV this year. It was a " borefest ". I look forward to the MotoGP season. Real racing, and " The Winner is always a Grinner " "

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6. Posted by nonickname, 22/03/2019 19:40

"Who cares??? So the rugby boots improve, the golf balls improve the cricket bats improve. The fans don't care they go for the show."

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7. Posted by klmn, 22/03/2019 17:16

"And the guys forget to praise the road relevant big snow shovel at the front of the car."

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Teams agree that F1 doesn't publicise its technical success enough

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