Formula 1 says it wants to reduce its environmental impact, but does the opposite. F1 says it wants to reduce its environmental impact, but does the opposite.

During the past season, Formula 1 had detailed a rather ambitious plan to drastically reduce its environmental impact. The main motorsport world championship, which traditionally has stages all over the world, has set itself as a goal for 2030 not only a generic reduction, but even a net zero one: the condition in which for every ton of CO2 or other greenhouse gas that spreads in the atmosphere, the same number is removed, resorting to compensations and renewable energies.

In 2019, the last season which took place without limitations caused by the pandemic, the Formula 1 championship generated direct and indirect emissions estimated at 256 thousand tons of carbon dioxide. In this estimate, only eight per cent concerned racing and circuit activity on race weekends. Most of the emissions (about 70 percent of the total) were instead generated by logistics, transport and operational structures (not to mention that the estimate did not include all the branch activities of the ten teams in the championship).

The “Net Zero Carbon” plan was explained in detail on 28 September, just one week after the presentation of the race calendar for the following season, the longest and most busy in the history of the championship. To the 22 races held in 2022 – that already was a record – two more have been added for a total of 24 races scheduled between 5 March and 26 November (one of these, the Chinese Grand Prix, has eventually been canceled).

Bearing in mind the environmental commitment made by Formula 1 and the emissions calculated in the last season before the pandemic – moreover shorter than three races – the new calendar does not seem to go in the same direction at all, quite the contrary. The movements and therefore all the logistics necessary to move a huge organization made up of ten teams, thousands of people involved, dozens of cars and tons of equipment around the world, this year will be even more complex.

For example, the season will start in March with two races in the Arabian peninsula, and then move on to Melbourne, Australia, the venue of the third Grand Prix. But during the season, Formula 1 will return to the countries of the Persian Gulf twice more: on 8 October it will race in Qatar after arriving from Japan, and on 26 November it will be in the nearby United Arab Emirates for the last race of the season, just a week after running for the first time, and at night, in Las Vegas, USA.

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The Azerbaijan Grand Prix is scheduled for 30 April in Baku, on the shores of the Caspian Sea. Just a week later, another United States race in the World Championship will take place in Miami, after which Formula 1 will return to Europe again for a series of races: Imola, Monaco and Barcelona. At the end of this period, Formula 1 will return to North America to race in Montreal, Canada, and soon after the championship will revisit Europe before moving on to Asia.

If there was no other world championship with such a vast organization before, in 2023 the logistics of Formula 1 will reach a complexity never seen before, caused in particular by a calendar that does not take into account geographical criteria. One therefore wonders how this global expansion of Formula 1, dictated by a moment of great popularity, can fit into its environmental plans.

Formula 1 divided its plan into two phases. By 2025 it aims to reduce emissions by reducing waste and optimizing materials and habits of staff and spectators. By 2030, however, the diffusion of renewable energies is foreseen, where possible, and the use of biofuels in competitions. However, the question of transport and logistics is not mentioned, except with vague optimization intentions in collaboration with DHL, the logistics multinational that assists Formula 1 in its movements.

For a championship that cannot help but travel from country to country, reorganizing the calendars on a geographical basis so that they are more logical and have less impact is the only way to drastically reduce emissions, as shown by the estimates of past years. Yet an intervention in this direction remains only a hypothesis, as explained by the CEO of Formula 1 himself, the Italian Stefano Domenicali: «It is something we are working very hard on, but it will take time. There are many things that need to be considered, including commercial interests and specific requests from promoters.” – the former Ferrari boss pointed out.

Ross Brawn, general manager of Formula 1, who has been in racing for over forty years and is close to retirement, also spoke about it. He said in September: “We are working with our partner DHL to find ways to travel with much less impact on the planet. Part of this reasoning concerns the regionalization of the calendars to bring together the North American races, the European races, the Middle Eastern races and the Asian races. But it is not an easy problem to solve and it will still take some time.” – he concluded.