Jenson Button backs F1 change that 'every driver' would LOVE

Jenson Button, Canada 2011. Credit: XPB Images — Photo: © LAT Images

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Button backs F1 change that 'every driver' would LOVE

The 2009 world champion made the revelation at the Goodwood Revival Festival

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Tuesday 12 September 2023 10:57

Jenson Button has said that 'every driver' would love it if Formula 1 were to return to fully combustible engines in the future, but only if sustainable fuels are used.

The 2009 world champion raced the majority of his career during the age of fully combustible engines, and believes that it was more exciting when the cars used these engines.

From 2014, F1's engines became hybrid, with normally aspirated 2.4-litre V8 engines replaced by new, 1.6-litre turbocharged V6 'power units' integrated with complex, hybrid energy recovery systems.

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These power units, as with the even more powerful systems that use even less fuel that are coming into the sport in 2026, are designed to minimise the impact the sport has on the environment, with F1 setting a carbon-neutrality target for 2030.

However, these engines have also affected the way the cars sound, and Button believes the feeling you get when driving an F1 car has been impacted in a negative way since the new power units were brought in.

And now, he has called for F1 to return to combustible engines, while using more sustainable fuels so that the impact on the environment is limited.

"I love that we're pushing different technologies and I love that we're pushing EV, hydrogen, but for me the most exciting has to be sustainable fuels because I love a combustion engine," he told Sky Sports.

"I think every driver would hope so [that Formula 1 will go back to combustion engines], we just love the sound of the engines and I think it doesn't matter how quick the car is if it sounds good, the fans love it as well.

"But, we have to be doing the right thing as well, and if we can work with sustainable fuel and we think it's the right direction, the great thing is we have three different options for the future in terms of road cars and racing cars.

"But the sustainable fuel one is the most exciting for people who are in this business already, we love the sound of a revving engine, we love how it feels underneath you in terms of the feeling you get from it, so if we can work that out that's great."

"It's probably the best weekend of the year" 🤩

Jenson Button explains how sustainable fuels are being used at Goodwood Rival 👏 pic.twitter.com/KMAu4t8qqr
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) September 8, 2023

A glimpse into the future of F1?

Button won the 2009 world championship with the Brawn GP team

Button was speaking at the Goodwood Revival Festival last weekend where, for the first time, they had a sustainable fuel category which they believe will help the event live long into the future.

F1 are set on the hybrid route, and they believe this will give them the most realistic chance of achieving carbon neutrality and securing the future of the sport.

However, this is not suitable for all motorsport categories and events.

"This year we have a sustainable fuel category, so we're all racing in Porsche's from the 1960s, and it's the first time they've ran on sustainable fuel, which is really important for Goodwood as a whole because this event wants to continue for decades to come," Button explained.

"It doesn't work if it's EV, it doesn't work if its hydrogen because you have to have them in period, that's the whole point of Goodwood revival, so to have that category is fantastic."