Ferrari Shows Off Its Embrace Of Biofuels In F1 With Brazilian GP

Ferrari has put up a strange social media post that shows off an F1 car-shaped bare patch on a sugarcane field in Brazil. What does this mean? Well, this is Ferrari hinting at its embrace of biofuels in F1. In 2022, the new engines will feature a 10 percent E10 ethanol-based fuel mixture while in 2026 onwards, F1 has already announced that it will be utilizing a fully sustainable fuel in tandem with a bigger electrical element but the controversial MGU-H will be nixed.

F1 is working with ARAMCO for the development of this 100 percent sustainable biofuel. Ferrari is also likely working with its long-time partner Shell which has been part of the prancing horse's journey through its storied 70 plus year history in F1. In fact, Shell and Ferrari are going to be partners till the end of this decade which means this partnership will be older than a century.

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Ferrari's team principal Mattia Binotto was one of the bigger proponents for biofuel in F1. He was against the idea of a fully electric powertrain for F1 which ties in with what Ferrari as a motorcar company has been doing. Ferrari will unveil its first fully electric car only in 2025 while it finally now has a few hybrid cars. Even the current engines in F1 use a 5 percent biofuel mixture and have 52 percent efficiency. In fact, F1 touts the fact the current V6 turbo hybrid engines are the most efficient internal combustion engines in the world. 

Ferrari is not the only manufacturer that wants to follow the path of biofuels which is something being explored by Mercedes and even the Volkswagen group has been pushing for as it wants to enter F1. Of course, going forward, F1 by 2026 will have fully sustainable engines which run in a combination of biofuel and electrical motors. This weekend F1 has also introduced a new graphic that promotes the green credentials of the current engines and showcases how efficient they are.