Piero Ferrari: “F1 is attentive to hybrid and electric”

For many seasons, motorsports have begun the ecological shift with the emergence of various initiatives aimed at making the often-criticized sport more eco-compatible. For instance, the Andros Trophy now offers an electric version of its championship, while the 2012 lineup at the 24 Hours of Le Mans will feature electric cars and a summit duel between Toyota and Audi, armed with hybrid prototypes. Meanwhile, Jean Todt recently expressed hope to see hybrid engine cars participate in the World Rally Championship by 2015. In single-seaters, an electric formula – Formula E – is already on track for 2013, while in Formula One, the introduction of KERS represents a first step towards a Formula One more conscientious of its environment. This issue is being addressed by the various teams and partners of the world championship, whether it’s Pirelli striving to combat tire waste or McLaren claiming the title of the first carbon-neutral Formula One team.

Often boasting of being a technological showcase, Formula One must therefore align itself with ecological concerns, which, in these times of economic crisis, sometimes serve as solutions. Present in Modena for the Motorsport ExpoTech, Piero Ferrari, vice president of Ferrari S.p.a., believes that the development of ecological solutions for auto racing can only aid their development for the everyday consumer’s car: « Even the world of motorsports is in the phase of rationalization […]: transforming races into a spectacle will leave more space and resources for research and development of new technologies that will become increasingly “democratic”. Auto racing, including Formula One, is paying close attention to hybrid and electric vehicles, and this is simply the way forward: the solutions that will be imagined, experimented with, and used on the track in auto competitions will have a faster impact on series-production vehicles, compared to what was happening until recently. »

For Piero Ferrari, Formula 1 is at the origin of this ecological turn that motorsports are taking today, thanks to the introduction of KERS in 2009: « Besides, it is now evident that Formula 1 has helped launch the hybrid. It will be a very interesting challenge from a technological point of view that will not take away from the excitement of the race. We will see! »