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Pit Stop

Energy

It's ironic as we head to the gas-guzzling States that the chatter around the paddock has been about the greening of F1. The concept, unthinkable a few years ago, has been gaining currency for some time, but now concrete proposals have emerged and they would revolutionise the nature of the sport.

Petrol would be replaced by biofuels, which would power a smaller 2.2-litre engine with the revs capped at 10,000rpm, something that would save up to 30 per cent on current fuel consumption. Turbochargers would make a return to a V6 unit, although it would still produce 100 horsepower less than at the moment. The engines would have to last for five races, and energy recovered in braking would be made available to drivers as a power boost for overtaking.

It's not going to please some of the more traditional petrol heads (soon to be biofuel heads). For them, the more grunt the better, no matter how much waste goes into producing it. They want no-holds-barred racing with a rule book if not thrown out of the window, then pared down to a brief pamphlet. Small government is good government for them.

But F1 has always seen big rule changes. Remember the bans on turbo chargers and ground effect to name but two? The sport took a step backwards in terms of speed, but the FIA has always acted to keep a lid on developments that could be dangerous. Now they are acting to green the sport, keep costs down, and make F1 more relevant to road cars. On all three counts they should be congratulated.

If these proposals are accepted, cars may lap slower (for a while anyway). But the racing will still be as fierce as ever, and if drivers have an engine-boost button we may even get the novelty of overtaking returning to the sport. It will still be the pinnacle of motorsport because the engineering genius of the teams will still be free to make the most of the rules. As long as a common chassis isn't imposed on teams, F1 will still have the same spirit.

Let's be honest, it's high time that F1 became a bit more responsible. Attending the Monaco Grand Prix is a lesson in conspicuous consumption, and while excess away from the track may not be reined in, it's high time that the sport, like everyone else, started to address the problems of global warming.

The big problem of course is that it is largely symbolic. Motor racing will never truly be green. Even if the cars themselves are models of virtue, the whole circus that surrounds it will never be. It will take a whole lot of fuel and attendant carbon to fly all the teams and equipment to the more far-flung races. Even at the European races it would take a small forest to carbon-offset all the private jets heading to the circuits.

But like everything else in life, you have to start somewhere and for once let's take our hats off to the FIA for starting the debate. Greening the sport may not grab everyone, but if they can ally that with technology that will affect the cars that you and I drive in then we may just have arrived at a win-win situation.

Of course, the world of F1 is a lot like that of politics. There can be a lot of hot air and posturing, and not a lot of end product. The proposals that have surfaced may have sunk again without trace before long.

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