How F1's future fuels can shape the automotive sector

There’s a quite a few pages in the calendar left to turn until Formula 1’s plans for a powertrain overhaul for 2026 come to pass, but it’s undoubtedly worth thinking about now. As motorsport moves towards a crossroads, F1 must choose its own fate and consider its place in the wider automotive world – which is due its own seismic shift within the next 20 years.

The plan remains for F1 to introduce completely sustainable fuels for the 2026 season, in its efforts to become far more relevant to the changes prevalent within the automotive industry. In short, that means the fuel is going to be derived from biological sources and developed by the petrochemicals companies involved within the championship to ensure its performance points meet the demands of the world’s most powerful racing cars.

F1 had already introduced E10 fuels for 2022, where 10% of the fuel mass is comprised of bio-ethanol. With that 10% comparatively underdeveloped to the remaining 90%, where the specialised teams of engineers working on the fuel compositions have iterated their fuel blends to provide greater efficiency under combustion, and draw out more power from the internal combustion engine, it produced an initial drop in efficacy.

Former Honda engineer Yasuaki Asagi, now involved in the Red Bull Powertrains project, discussed some of the upsides and limitations of E10 fuel with Autosport earlier this year.

"When it comes to E10 fuel, the power and energy that it has with the same weight are reduced. That is the characteristic of alcohol fuel," Asagi said. "On the other hand, the abnormal combustion (knocking) of the old fuel will be easier to control now. We are aiming for maximum efficiency, but with E10 fuel, the power of the engine will also decrease and the amount of power generation will also decrease."

That’s simply because ethanol has less energy within compared to a fossil fuel, and so the exothermic reaction under the combustion process would kick out less grunt assuming a similar level of efficiency.

What this doesn’t mean is that F1 will, in 2026, simply switch to a fully bioethanol fuel and go from there – that would require a completely different fuel system to contend with the vastly different characteristics, and would also have considerably less energy density – meaning that power output is further diminished.

Red Bull endured a number of fuel system issues early on in 2022

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

The E10 fuels, while not specifically cited by Red Bull as an issue during either of its fuel system-instigated retirements from Bahrain and Australia this year, do cause problems for conventional systems due to the increased heat transfer and solvency. The differences in viscosity and density will also have a knock-on effect for fuel systems, particularly as the fuel systems are a standard-spec component and the fuels used by each team vary.

What F1 needs is a “drop-in” fuel, which can be used by a pre-existing engine build as a direct replacement for fossil fuels. Thus, the fuel needs to be made up of hydrocarbons to satisfy that – alcohols contain an OH molecule that precludes it from being a like-for-like replacement. And there’s two different variants currently having billions invested into them to satisfy the changing market.

Biofuel, or biogasoline, is probably the most familiar, and the methods in producing them have advanced away from using food crops to form them. This is largely borne from the necessity of not interrupting the global food chains, but non-food feedstocks such as biowaste can have their plant sugars extracted and converted into hydrocarbons to produce a fuel. This is known as a second-generation biofuel, as the first-generation variants use crops like corn, soy and sugar to produce fuels.

It’s no secret that both Porsche and Audi are on the cusp of agreeing to Formula 1’s terms and conditions for 2026, and both brands are likely to champion the use of e-fuels

This is something that F1 has already trialled at the end of 2020 in anticipation of introducing a fully sustainable fuel, and thus seems like the logical option for the championship to follow. The biofuel has future innovations already being trilled, and as such manufacturers have found that the oils in algae are perfect for producing a fuel. This being said, producing biofuels from algae has yet to hit the commercial mainstream, as the algae has to be grown and processed to extract their oils. Microalgae photosynthesise, drawing in energy from light and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. There, they can produce lipids that can be processed into biodiesel, and the algae matter itself can be employed in a similar fashion to plant matter to produce biogasoline.

However, car manufacturers are investing large sums of cash into e-fuels – which have become increasingly popular. These are purely synthetic fuels that employ waste carbon dioxide, hydrogen (which can be sourced through the electrolysis of water) and electricity to produce the reaction between the two to produce the requisite hydrocarbon fuel. Like biogasoline, e-fuels can be ‘dropped in’ to an existing internal combustion engine and used normally.

Where that electricity comes from is the biggest plot point of how sustainable the e-fuel is, and thus should come from an equally sustainable source. Thus, this should allow for e-fuel producers to build plants that operate on wind and solar power to deliver the requisite power without creating problems for their dreams of a zero-carbon future.

Here’s the most pertinent point why e-fuels would also be a likely source of energy for F1’s next breed of cars – this year, Porsche has invested $75million in the Chilean company HIF Global LLC, which in partnership with Porsche, Siemens and ExxonMobil is building an e-fuel production plant in Punta Arenas. This plant will be operated on wind power, with Porsche expecting e-fuel production to begin there this year.

Porsche has invested heavily in e-fuels, and intends on using them in their factory motorsport operations

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

The initial plan is to use those e-fuels in the Porsche Supercup, and then continue developing those fuels for consumer use and beyond. And, it’s no secret that both Porsche and Audi are on the cusp of agreeing to Formula 1’s terms and conditions for 2026. And thus, we have a link. Both Volkswagen Group brands are likely to champion the use of e-fuels as a replacement for fossil fuels in F1 for 2026 and beyond, citing their position as a – if you do the numbers – carbon-neutral fuel. That’s theoretically possible if you’re taking as much carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere as the fuels produce in combustion.

In 2022, the case for e-fuels has grown given two knock-on effects of Russia’s invading of Ukraine. Firstly, the world has become particularly reliant on Russian oil, and shortages from sanctions on the Eurasian superpower have pushed fuel prices through the roof. Secondly, biofuels have taken a hit owing to the reduction in exports of rapeseed from Ukraine, the European Union’s biggest producer. Thus, with market fluctuations due to both naturally occurring fuels and sources thereof, the idea of being to synthesise your own with just the constituent elements could become considerably more lucrative.

But, that doesn’t quite sway environmentalists, who cite the low efficiency used to produce e-fuels from factory to car. The International Council on Clean Transportation states that “the e-fuels production process is inherently inefficient, converting at best half of the energy in the electricity into liquid or gaseous fuels.” While the costs associated with setting up wind farms and solar arrays are dropping year on year, this is still energy wasted. Perhaps the development of e-fuels, still largely in its infancy even though the process to produce them dates back to 1925 with the Fischer-Tropsch process, will help to slash the loss of energy. But that development will ultimately face diminishing returns.

Therein lies the exact same problem in extracting hydrogen that has inhibited the growth of the hydrogen-electric car in the mainstream. So, perhaps a cynical mind could ask why big automakers are so willing to put their money into developing their hydrogen sources for an e-fuel, but not to power a car bearing a hydrogen fuel cell...

Regardless, F1 is not yet going to give up the internal combustion engine – and nor will the world. Although 45 different countries, multiple automakers and some of the world’s biggest cities all pledged to phase out the sales of new internal combustion engine cars by 2040 at COP26, there will still be millions of cars all using ICE-derived propulsion systems – likely as part of a hybrid powertrain. Those will all need to be serviced even as the globe ends its reliance on fossil fuels, which is arguably long overdue.

Automakers are still expanding their portfolios with electric vehicles, with Nissan in particular seeking to ensure that 50% of its range is populated by EV options by 2030. But that’s a journey F1 cannot tread at this moment, as Formula E is still deep within its exclusivity deal with the FIA to run an all-electric single-seater championship. Of course, many suggest that the two could theoretically merge if F1 wants to take an all-electric future, but for now, F1’s duty is to prolong the life of the ICE through new fuels.

The next 10 years will herald huge change for both the automotive industry and for motorsport by association – and the act of sucking dead dinosaurs out of the ground is going to face its own world-ending comet.

Fuel from 2022-25 in F1 is an E10 composition - but sustainable drop-in fuels are the future

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images