
The inconvenient questions posed by Vettel’s Williams run
Sebastian Vettel's demo laps on board his own Williams FW14B was not only a great spectacle for the fans, but were carried out with a fully sustainable, carbon-neutral fuel. And it begs the question - for all of the money F1 has spent on championing hybrids and electric components, could it go back to V8s or V10s with a similar kind of fuel?
The grand prix paddock may be a piranha club at times, but there is no greater unifying force than a loud, iconic Formula 1 car putting in some demo laps.
Every time it has happened recently – whether it was Fernando Alonso reunited with his Renault R25 at Abu Dhabi in 2019, or Mick Schumacher in an F2004 at Mugello in 2020 – tools are downed in the pitlane and everyone finds time to admire the on-track action.

Jonathan Noble is Motorsport.com’s Formula 1 editor. Having graduated from University of Sussex Jonathan worked for sports news agency Collings Sports reporting on F1, F3, touring cars and other sports, with articles appearing in The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, Reuters, Autosport and other publications. In 1999 he moved to Haymarket Publishing to become a senior editor at Autosport Special Projects, and one year later he became Autosport’s grand prix editor. In 2015 he moved to Motorsport Network, becoming the F1 editor for Motorsport.com. He is also a member of the Guild of Motoring Writers, and sits on the FIA Media Council.
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