Formula 1 hybrid rule risks more than vroom

Formula One is keen to shake off the image of being a sport for rich men, but does it risk losing fans?

Next year the race will mandate all teams drive 1.6 litre hybrid engines in a bid to help boost technology and green the sport’s image in an era where austerity has gripped its grassroots support base of Europe.

Teams admit the push to showcase the broader benefits of investment in the sport has a marketing purpose, given the hundreds of millions being spent on the sport each year. But no one knows yet whether this will prove detrimental to the overall objective – speed.

The boss of Formula One governing body FIA, Jean Todt, declined to comment on whether the push to hybrid engines would alienate petrolhead fans at a media briefing last Friday.

But he was at pains to stress messages about using the sport to improve road safety (he will meet politicians post race to discuss the matter) and boosting the number of people attending.

“All this kind of motor racing sport is being developed to allow as many people as possible to participate,” Mr Todt said, adding that safety initiatives on the circuit could be applied on roads also.

The Australian Financial Review got a rare glimpse inside the Infiniti Red Bull Racing team’s garage this week, where engineers are apparently split down the middle on the move to hybrid technology.

The biggest fear?

“No one knows what the engine will sound like, or if it will make any noise,” says our tour guide.

The FIA has not introduced any big changes to the technical specifications this year in a bid to give everyone as much time as possible to make the leap, meaning everyone expects a pretty even field for Sunday’s race.

2012 season champion Red Bull is on pole and Mark Webber is in the number two spot behind his team mate Sebastian Vettel.

AT&T sponsorship manager for the telecommunications giant’s relationship with Inifiniti Red Bull Racing, Pia Jensen, says a range of cost-cutting measures have been mandated in recent years. These include cutting down the number of days people can spend testing cars on a track, as well as limiting the number of engineers allowed in the garages at any race.

But Jensen doesn’t believe the moves have stopped the sport getting better.

“I don’t think it is [preventing developments],” she says.

“It’s where it’s become apparent to us that someone like AT&T can . . . drive technological development into a virtual environment.”

With only 45 engineers trackside now, getting real time information flow back to the team factory in Milton Keynes – where up to 100 engineers can be present – is paramount.

Each car is fitted with 100 to 200 sensors that send signals back, measuring up to 1000 performance parameters, all of which are used to develop team strategy in a real-time environment.

Alan Peasland, head of technical partnerships for Infiniti Red Bull Racing, says the ability to receive real-time information helps to ultimately improve performance in speed, handling and stability.

“Being able to share richer data with the race team and also report issues back to the owning design engineer at the factory ensures the car is built with ever increasing precision and accuracy, which has a direct impact on reliability,” he says.