F1 news: Martin Brundle U-TURN on 'worst decision ever' claims

Martin Brundle is a Sky Sports TV pundit — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 News & Gossip

Brundle U-TURN on 'worst decision ever' claims

The former driver had slammed F1's move towards greener cars

Stuart Telford

Saturday 13 April 2024 13:57

Martin Brundle previously slammed Formula 1's plans to achieve net-zero by 2030, but the former driver has now distanced himself from that stance.

F1 first launched the plan in 2019 after a report revealed that the sport's environmental impact was tantamount to 256,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions that year.

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Greener steps have since been made, with the 2025 season set to be the last to feature the V6 hybrid turbo power unit formula, 100 per cent sustainably-fuelled hybrid engines replacing them for the following season.

The new engine change will have knock-on effects on the cars, with the vehicles set to be heavier and more wing movement to be expected, among other things.

Brundle (r.) remains at the forefront of F1

Brundle on 'fast and impressive' F1 cars

The hybrid era of F1 began back in 2014, with the previously standard noisy, petrol guzzling engines replaced by power units which had more of an electric emphasis, and had a significant change in the iconic noise of an F1 car.

On top of this, it made F1 cars heavier and more complex for drivers and teams to understand. Brundle recently revealed in commentary his strongly-worded thoughts on the 2014 changes.

"I expressed in commentary recently that I felt these hybrid engines were perhaps the worst decision that Formula 1 ever made in terms of the cars have become so big and so complex," he said on the Sky Sports F1 Podcast. "But my goodness, they're fast and impressive."

It is 22 months until the new, greener rules come into play, but Brundle does still think more parameters need to be set in stone ahead of the deadline.

"I think the teams will be getting quite edgy and angsty about what are we aiming at, what are the regulations, so we need to start putting some things to bed," he said.

"But luckily with the incredible resource that ingenuity of Formula 1, they will get it sorted out."

Max Verstappen Lewis Hamilton Formula 1 Martin Brundle