F1 veteran and former Mercedes man Paddy Lowe is definitely interested in introducing fossil-free fuel in the sport. Since leaving F1 in 2019, Paddy has co-founded Zero Petroleum, a synthetic fuel company that is the first in Britain to create petroleum-based products using fully fossil-free production methods.
Paddy’s company also ended up with a Guinness World Record last November for fueling the first aircraft powered by synthetic fuel. Such was the landmark status of that flight that the Science Museum in London has also taken some of the materials used from the day of the flight for use in an exhibition due to its significance in how sustainable fuel could be used in the future.
Speaking to Planet F1, the veteran who has worked with teams like Mercedes, McLaren, and Williams, said that his organization would definitely want to be involved. Paddy Lowe said:
“We’re definitely interested to be in the mix there. It’s not completely clear what’s wanted by Formula 1 as it seems to chop and change a bit, but as the requirements really firm up it will be definitely something we would consider and be interested in discussing.”
Expanding on the importance of petroleum in day-to-day life, Lowe talked about the importance that the resource has to people across the world. To add to that, he talked about the importance of finding a replacement for the same. He said:
“Actually, it’s a fantastic set of materials that allow us to have a really high standard of living and standard of enjoyment in living, and you’re not going to stop that. You know, people want to do things, they want to live , they want to enjoy their lives. Huge amounts of the population on the planet don’t have all the luxuries we have in Western countries, and they aspire to have those same standards of living, and why shouldn’t they?”
He further explained:
“So the task here is not to stop doing stuff or to say it’s all wrong, the task is actually to invent the ways of doing it properly, and doing it sustainably. And part of that is creating petroleum that isn’t fossil petroleum, but it’s synthetic petroleum which is indefinitely sustainable and moving to that full circular world where everything we do is reused, including fuels and hydrocarbons, which is part of the core of it, but it extends to plastics and all hydrocarbons as well.”
“This was a legacy of Paddy Lowe vacating the role of Technical Director and the team opting not to fill it under previous management. You must go back to the period before that, when Pat Symonds was the technical lead, to find Williams’ most recent sustained success”
“This was a legacy of Paddy Lowe vacating the role of Technical Director and the team opting not to fill it under previous management. You must go back to the period before that, when Pat Symonds was the technical lead, to find Williams’ most recent sustained success”
F1 has a huge role to play in the transition to synthetic fuel
Expanding on his point, the former Mercedes engineer said that F1 had a huge role to play in terms of helping with the process. He said:
“If you look to Formula 1, well, F1 has to play a part in that process. It’s just a fantastic platform for achieving things and a kind of showpiece of it, and I’d like to see F1 being a showpiece around that story.”
A demonstration of synthetic fuel was done earlier this year by Sebastian Vettel when he drove Nigel Mansell’s championship-winning Williams around Silverstone. The car was run on synthetic fuel and there could not have been a better demonstration of the transition to synthetic fuel in this modern day and age.
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