Formula One To Shift To Hybrid Technology In 2009

Earlier this week, FIA President Max Mosley delivered details of new rules in the sport designed to make the cars more energy efficient and be a development platform for implementing new technologies into road cars. Mosley presented the plan to an audience of leading automotive technology experts at the Geneva Motor Show.

In 2009 Formula One is going hybrid as the first stage of a programme to divert the vast research effort at the pinnacle of motor sport towards energy efficiency, Mosley said. The development of engines has been frozen, meaning that extra power can only be gained by making better use of energy, or by getting more useful work from the fuel burned.

Called KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System), this hybrid device is set to revolutionize Formula One. It will make the sport at once more environmentally friendly, road relevant, and at the cutting edge of future automotive technology. By bringing in rule changes which make these technologies the only means by which a power advantage can be obtained, we can ensure that the outstanding engineers and huge budgets available to Formula One will be deployed on energy recovery technologies which are directly relevant to the car industry’s efforts to reduce CO2 emissions as well as the average motorist’s fuel bill.

This may be good news for Toyota, who over the past few years have poured millions into Formula One with little success to show. Ironically they are probably taking a look at what they’ve already learned from their hybrid road car programs and seeing how it may apply to the new F1 rules. The 2008 Formula One season begins this weekend in Australia.

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