The Challenge of Achieving Sustainable Logistics in Motorsport

The Sustainable Motorsport Roundup this week highlights the ongoing challenge of achieving sustainable logistics in motorsport. Though not impossible, these challenges are complex, with opinions divided—some believe progress is too slow, while others feel it’s being impeded. This edition also features a look at the FIA’s sustainability initiatives, the hurdles faced by Formula E, and a visit from Nissan’s Department of Futures. Dive into all this and more in the Sustainable Motorsport Roundup on Motorsport Prospects, your go-to source for sustainable high-performance motorsport news.


Sustainable Motorsport News

The Challenge of Achieving Sustainable Logistics in Motorsport

When analyzing the sustainability of motorsport, especially international motorsport, logistics are the place where motorsport has the largest carbon footprint. Series such as Formula 1 and Formula E have acknowledged this fact and are working hard to make the necessary changes. But as Jake Boxall-Legge in his Autosport+ article The 1% fuel focus distracting F1’s larger sustainability push points out, solutions are not easy to implement.

“The visible impact of the sport is the cars racing around the track, but it’s less than 1% of the total sport’s footprint,” says Mercedes’ head of sustainability Alice Ashpitel. “Actually the less glamorous side, how we get everyone and everything there to go racing 24 weekends of the year, is a huge chunk of the footprint.

I highly recommend reading the article as it is one of the most comprehensive look at sustainable motorsport logistics that I have come across.


Speaking of sustainable motorsport logistics, Formula E is celebrating 10 seasons of racing with DHL. “DHL offers multimodal transport solutions, including sea and road freight, to maximise efficiency. Additionally, from Season 7 to 10, Formula E has achieved a substantial reduction of greenhouse gas emissions utilising biofuels for road and sea freight. This year for the first time, Formula E piloted DHL’s GoGreen Plus service for aviation, which leverages Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), for two legs of this year’s Championship.”


While the FIA has had an environmental policy in place since 2020, the world has changed significantly in the last four years – environmentally and socially. The evolution of its strategy reflects the new landscape. Headed up by a new director, a newly-established sustainability department is now focused on addressing the “triple planetary crisis” and their impact on human beings.

In the feature interview A just and sustainable mobility transition, The Sustainability Report sat down with Barbara Silva, the FIA’s head of sustainability, and Sara Mariani, its new director, to explore how it aims to accelerate a “just transition” to a more sustainable approach to road transport through its championships and advocacy efforts.

“Despite efforts to shift perceptions of motorsport’s sustainability, the FIA’s carbon emissions have been rising. Barbara Silva, the FIA’s head of sustainability, explains this increase is due to more championships and personnel, a common issue for many sports organisations. Importantly, emissions intensity is decreasing, and Silva and Mariani recognise the need for the FIA to be seen not only as a climate leader in sports but also as a key player in the broader mobility sector.”


The Challenge of Achieving Sustainable Logistics in Motorsport

Nissan Formula E Team has released a global study, alongside OnePoll*, demonstrating the desire of young people for a future featuring electric mobility. The survey* was conducted among 6,000 participants aged between 8 and 16 across Brazil, Italy, Japan, Mexico, UK, and US.

The results fit with Nissan Formula E Team’s latest marketing campaign, ‘Department of Futures’. The playful video (see above), which is being released both on the Nismo and Nissan global social media channels, depicts a group of bright 7-10-year-olds challenging team drivers Oliver Rowland and Sacha Fenestraz, as well as team principal Tommaso Volpe, on the future of electric vehicles.

More than half of the survey’s recipients say they want to drive electric cars to help save the environment, and 68% claim they consider fighting climate change as important. These findings are well represented in the squad’s creative content, which shows the next generation holding key Nissan Formula E Team members to account, ensuring the marque keeps its promises. Those targets include Nissan’s Ambition 2030 pledge, and the introduction of 27 new electrified vehicles by the end of the decade.


In a report by The Race analyzing Toyota’s surprise negotiations with the Hass F1 team about a possible alliance, the report makes clear where Toyota’s ultimate focus lie over the next five years.

“Any Haas-Toyota deal is not set to be a fully-fledged Toyota works arrangement though. Toyota’s focus is on hydrogen technology for the next five years so a V6 turbo-hybrid F1 engine is out of the question, and Haas’s entire model is based around a Ferrari technical tie-up that includes an engine supply, which has now been extended until at least the end of 2028.”


Sustainable Motorsport Tech

Sustainable Motorsport Roundup

Racecar Engineering goes into the technical details of the Extreme H Pioneer 25 Hydrogen off-road racer. “The 75kW hydrogen fuel cell stack is the primary energy source. A typical hydrogen stack consists of several cells, each of which has an anode on one side and a cathode on the other. These are separated by an electrolyte membrane in the middle. Hydrogen molecules are injected from storage tanks (Pioneer 25 holds 2kg worth) into the anode, but only the protons are allowed to pass through the membrane to the cathode side; the electrons are redirected outside the cell through an electrical circuit.”


Sustainable Motorsport Roundup

Racecar Engineering also has a look at the NASCAR 1000kW electric prototype. “Power is generated by three UHP six-phase electric motors from STARD. One is positioned at the front and two are located at the rear. The 10000kW powertrain also includes a 78kWh liquid-cooled battery. Kinetic energy from regenerative braking is converted into power.”


SpeedCafe reports that Ford Motorsport boss Mark Rushbrook has revealed that F1 is already discussing the sound the championship will have beyond 2026 when the new hybrids come on board with a greater emphasis on electrification. But they won’t sound like Formula E cars.

“The intention is to make sure in the new regulation the engine [sound] itself will be higher because that’s part of our emotion,” he told 3AW. “It is really what our fans want to hear and that’s the duty for us to commit to that.”


Series News

As Formula E enters its final race of their Season 11, there has been no shortage of news regarding the championship.

The Challenge of Achieving Sustainable Logistics in Motorsport

Series CES Jeff Dodds appeared on the Front Office Sports podcast (see above) to explain how the series is paving its own past. “Like Formula 1, Formula E is a high-speed, international motorsport racing series with a twist — Formula E’s cars are exclusively powered by electric engines. CEO Jeff Dodds joins the show to discuss how the electric racing league is faring in a time where racing is more popular than ever, and how their forward-thinking strategy has grown a unique audience.”


Meanwhile The Race looks at what new majority owner Liberty Global means for Formula E. “I think the valuation now of that portfolio is over $3billion in value and growing, and what their investment means for them is they’re doubling down on what they think is a fast growth stock within their venture portfolio,” Formula E CEO Jeff Dodds tells The Race.


With the final race taking place in London where sustainability is taking center stage, the series has embarked on an interesting experiment to test the popularity of the series in the country that they are headquartered in and where a number of teams are based. They are going to broadcast the final races on free-to-air television in the UK.

“There’s a test happening in London, where it’s on TNT, but the actual race itself is also being broadcast on Quest, which is the free-to-air channel for Warner Bros. Discovery. So I’m going to see how that goes. I know they’re very interested to see how that goes.  We’ll kind of regroup and discuss the outcome of that test at the end of London and see what it might mean for next year.”


But what of the future of the race in London? Dodds has indicated that there are a number of options on the table including potential street races or racing at Silverstone or Brands Hatch.

“But we’re probably at a point where we’re right at the limits of what the track can allow us. It’s a shorter circuit, it’s a tight circuit, it’s got that slightly funky bit where you go inside to outside, which is a bit of a bottleneck. We’ve got Gen3 Evo coming, we don’t really want to be racing on a circuit where you’re depowering the cars, so we’re right at the edge of it.”


Ford Rally Car

Ford wants to keep the “opportunity to compete as a manufacturer” in the World Rally Championship in the future but has highlighted a need for an open set of 2027 regulations.

“At the launch, Ford Performance Motorsports global director Mark Rushbrook stated that he wants the marque to “own” rallying and says that the brand wants to commit to the WRC beyond 2026 if the future of Rally1 and Rally2 is “right for everybody”.”


When NASCAR debuted their EV prototype last week but indicated that they had no intention of actually racing, a lot of people wondered what was the point of the exercise, especially the die-hard fans of the series. Aside from taking into account fan feedback, Autosport explains why they pursued the concept and how the original reasoning changed from when the work initially started.

“We’ll have a story to tell as we learn. We’ll be in the driver’s seat wherever our future takes us. If you look out across the landscape, one thing that’s for certain is that change is accelerating all around us.”


With Audi announcing a new partnership with BP to produce sustainable fuels for their 2026 debut, Autsport+ explains the complications behind F1’s move to sustainable fuels.

“In short, all 2026 fuels must be produced in their entirety of “advanced sustainable” materials. The FIA defines this as “derived from a renewable feedstock of non-biological origin, municipal waste, or non-food biomass”. The FIA will homologate the fuels and, with the cooperation of the teams and suppliers, will trace the materials used to ensure that they comply with the notion of sustainability.”


Extreme H

With Extreme H moving closer to reality with its first public test run, The Race asks the question if Extreme H’s hydrogen relaunch goes far enough. “As it becomes a hydrogen series and then the FIA’s first hydrogen-powered world championship in 2026, Extreme H must focus on shining a light on the pros and pitfalls of hydrogen production, sourcing, and adoption – if it truly believes that is the future of mobility.”


While most people are excited about the progress made in sustainable motorsport, not all are on board and it must be said for good, sporting reasons. Count Indycar team owner and driver Ed Carpenter into the latter camp as he discusses the switch to hybrid engines.

“We can fix this. We’re spending a lot of money to make our racing worse. Show me the third OEM that’s coming in. Show me that Honda’s leaving. We have too much momentum to make decisions that are hurting our sport. That’s my feeling.”


Mark Boudreau
Author: Mark Boudreau

Mark is the publisher of Motorsport Prospects. As a former lawyer, he applies his legal background and research skills to assist race drivers by showcasing the resources they need to make their motorsport careers happen.