F1 teams should be "forced" to work "for a greater cause" - Cyril Abiteboul

Formula 1

F1 teams should be "forced" to work "for a greater cause" - Abiteboul

The teams united to develop medical ventilators during Covid-19 pandemic

Sam Hall

Monday 28 December 2020 17:00

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Renault team principal Cyril Abiteboul has hailed the united efforts of Formula 1 teams involved in 'Project Pitlane' but has suggested they should be "forced" to devote a portion of time to projects away from racing in the future.

UK-based teams Renault, McLaren, Williams, Red Bull, Racing Point, Haas and Mercedes pulled together at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic to fast track the development and manufacturing of medical ventilators.

The project demonstrated the ability of F1 teams to turn their hands to tasks other than racing, leaving Abiteboul to suggest such 'sideline' activities should also play a part for all moving forward.

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"I wonder in the future if we should not have some form of obligation to allocate a part of our time, a part of our resources, of our facilities to a greater cause, to a different cause, other than Formula 1," said the Renault boss.

"Frankly, if we are not forced to do it, I’m afraid that simply it will be extremely marginal or occasional."

Describing the joint effort as "one of the positives of the crisis", he added: "The fact that we all had some time available and facilities and capacity available to do something else than what we normally do, has shown what actually we are capable of doing.

"It’s great because I guess the problem – the good thing and the bad thing about Formula 1 - is that we’ve got amazing facilities, people, skills, you name it.

"But we are all focused on what we need to do best which is building a fast car, and anything else that we do would be detrimental to our competitiveness.

"But on this very particular occasion, when the world stopped, we could do something else and advertise, basically, what we are capable of doing."