If you've been following Formula 1 over the past few seasons, you may have seen a common thread from each team's challenger.
black.
reason? The team is turning to bare carbon fiber, not painted surfaces, as a way to save weight on the car. New regulations in place for the 2022 season made the cars heavier than ever, and the team was rushing to meet the minimum weight requirements.
It came out in colour, was black and contained bare carbon fiber.
Advances the 2025 Formula 1 season, Mercedes announced its first initiative. According to the team, they are embarking on the program using sustainable carbon fiber, which has never been done in Formula 1.
Specifically, this means that we qualify and apply sustainable carbon [fiber] It will be synthesized into a race car during the 2025 Formula 1 season and will not sacrificed on-track performance.
carbon [fiber] The composite material forms about 75% of race cars and helps to achieve the highest levels of performance and safety. These materials innovations provide an important opportunity to reduce the carbon footprint of our cars and support our goal of achieving net zero across all scopes by 2040.
According to the team, “[w]It is closely surrounded by the FIA within the scope of relevant regulations, and aims to demonstrate its sustainable carbon. [fiber] Composites can be implemented to meet the same technically demanding requirements as traditional materials. ”
Mercedes has two projects to produce sustainable carbon fiber. One is two projects for the resins needed to bond the fibers themselves with the fibers.
To achieve sustainable carbon [fiber] Composite, both components – the [fiber] Resin System – Must be addressed. Working together with the supply chain, the team is working on two separate projects to introduce later this year. [fibers] They themselves.
Mercedes believes this technology could extend beyond the F1 grid.
Our work on these pioneering sustainable materials projects in F1 provides an important opportunity to expand this innovation beyond motorsports. Innovation drives performance, and these developments can shape the future of the industry, from aerospace to aerospace to technological performance fabrics.
Toto Wolf, the principal of the Mercedes F1 team, welcomed the news.
“Combining performance and innovation makes progress,” Wolff said. “We would like to thank our partners for supporting our drive for material innovation and the FIA for testing these materials. Collectively, we are driving our sustainable product dials, indicating that F1 remains the fastest lab in the world.”
The 2025 F1 season will begin next week with the Australian Grand Prix.
