Sebastian Vettel was the star of his ‘Race without Trace’ drive at the 2023 Goodwood Festival of Speed with his use of fossil-free P1 sustainable fuel. The fuel powered his 1992 Williams and 1993 McLaren F1 cars that took Nigel Mansell to the world championship and Ayrton Senna to his final Monaco race win, respectively.
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With no new CO2 emissions coming from the synthetic P1 fuel in the iconic race cars, the four-time F1 World Champion is proving on a world stage that any petrol-powered car can run on sustainable fuel. These cars can be driven without releasing any further CO2 into the atmosphere and without any modification to the engine.
Having won 53 Grands Prix with contemporary prototype cars, Vettel is now spearheading a new approach to saving the environment through his use of P1 Fuels both at Goodwood and at the Red Bull Formula Nurburgring in September. In front of a capacity crowd on Sunday, the German took people back in time to the early 1990s battles between Mansell and Senna with his immaculate cars and cool Senna replica crash helmet. After which, he spoke to the crowd on site and to the world through the live stream TV about how important it is that we all push for environmental change with synthetic fuels.
The jaw-dropping Fiat S70 ‘Beast of Turin’ from 1910, with its staggering 28-litre four-cylinder engine, also ran on P1 fuel. Together with a 1907 Mercedes Benz, this shows that a 21st-century pioneering fuel can be used in a car that’s 116 years old. Duncan Pittaway said at Goodwood, “We did a test with the Fiat before we got here to Goodwood, and what we’ve found is that it starts on the cranking handle easier, runs smoother, cooler and uses less fuel for the runs we’ve been doing here compared to previous years. It really is quite amazing.”
Ben Collings drove the 1907 Mercedes Benz with his familiar gusto up the famous hill climb and said, “In the run-up to the Festival, we did a back-to-back test with the P1 fuel against our existing fuel and what we found was that the engine ran smoother for us which is fantastic. That we’re reducing further CO2 emissions is the way forward not just for motorsport but for everyday cars too, so to be part of that here this weekend is a proud moment for all of us.”
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The entire P1 Fuels team worked long hours to showcase the e-fuels on the world stage, with CEO Martin Popilka experiencing a never-to-forget ride in the P1 powered Beast of Turin up the hill climb, “To be showing the world that P1 Fuel can run across a range for cars from the 1900s to the 1990s Williams and McLaren right up to a WRC Toyota with someone as passionate about the environment as Sebastian Vettel behind the wheel has made it another milestone in stepping towards a world with less CO2 emissions thanks to our synthetic fuel. To be running our fuel in the Beast of Turin is the ultimate proof of the flexibility of the fuel across in such an incredible engine over a century old. I can say after being a passenger in the Beast of Turin up the hill climb that we certainly have a future continuing to enjoy old racing cars with technology that will be part of our future – an experience I will never forget!”
P1 Fuels supplies all the runners in the FIA World Rally Championship and the FIA Karting Championship with sustainable fuel. In addition to this, the Mercedes Benz Museum cars on the Mille Miglia and supercars on the 2023 Gumball Rally are supplied by P1 Fuels too.