The dawn of the e-fuel era in Formula 1 has drawn the attention of the Volkswagen Group, and especially Porsche, despite the fact that the automaker hasn’t been involved in F1 since 1991.
Porsche is betting big on e-fuels and F1 has committed to making them a part of the sport by 2025.
Speaking to the BBC, Porsche Motorsport vice-president Fritz Enzinger said that entering Formula 1 “would be of great interest” to the manufacturer, contingent on this green initiative coming to fruition.
“Should these aspects be confirmed, we will evaluate them in detail within the VW Group and discuss further steps,” Enzinger commented.
Porsche recently announced that it would begin testing synthetic fuels by 2021 and that it would produce as many as 55 million liters of it by 2024 with a partner. Formula 1 sent out its first barrel of e-fuel to teams in December and will depend on teams and third parties to produce the fuel.
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Porsche figures that e-fuels will be as green as EVs if you consider the production of batteries. The German manufacturer’s fuel is made by binding hydrogen to captured carbon to produce methanol.
“The general idea behind these synthetic fuels is that there is no change to the engine necessary, unlike what we have seen with E10 and E20, so really, everybody can use it, and we are testing with the regular specs of pump fuel,” said Frank Walliser, head of Porsche Motorsport. “It has no impact on performance – some horses more, so it’s going in the right direction – but emissions are way better; we see less particles, less NOx – so that’s going in the right direction.”
Naturally, F1 engines are much more precisely engineered, and highly stressed, than road car engines, so they will require some optimization.
Just how Porsche would enter the sport is a matter of speculation. In any case, there are only two ways: as a works team, like Mercedes, or as an engine supplier. There’s no shortage of teams that would welcome a Porsche engine and three have reportedly spoken to the German motorsports giant.
Red Bull Racing, who after Honda’s departure from the sport at the end of this season will take over its engine program, is an obvious candidate. Williams, whose new boss, Jost Capito, led Volkswagen Motorsport from 2012 to 2016 has also, apparently, been in talks with Porsche. Finally, McLaren, whose team principal Andreas Seidl was the former head of Porsche Motorsport and who cooperated with the Germans in the 1980s when Porsche supplied it with engines that were branded as TAG, has also reportedly been in talks with Stuttgart.
