Returning for the 2025 season and 75th anniversary year this weekend, the Formula 1 sport has released a round-up on the progress made towards its sustainability and social commitments last year. In the form of 2024 Impact Report, which will be released later this year, the progress made towards its sustainability and social commitments with Net Zero as the goal for 2030, the Formula 1 sport has – on the environmental front – made significant investments in Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) as part of its ultra-efficient logistics strategy. 
It has invested significantly in SAF as it delivers an estimated 80 percent reduction in associated carbon emissions per flight compared to the use of conventional aviation fuel. The combined investment in SAF with Global Partners DHL and Qatar Airways reduced total related emissions by more than 8,000 tCO2e (tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent), an approximate 19 percent reduction in related emissions– compared to traditional aviation fuel – for the air freight charter programme operated by Formula 1 across the flyaway events of the 2024 season.
The delivery of innovative low-carbon energy generation systems using renewable sources such as hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), biofuel, solar panels, and battery began testing in 2023. Last year, they were used at the Red Bull Ring, the Hungarian Grand Prix and the Italian Grand Prix in Monza. For the 2025 season, a programme will be rolled out to reduce more than 90 percent of carbon emissions at all European Grands Prix in key areas such as the Paddock, Pit Lane, and Event Technical Centre. 
As part of the sport’s ongoing efforts to reduce carbon emissions associated with travel and logistics, improvements were made to the geographical flow of races around the world in 2024. This included agreement from the Promoter in Japan to move the Suzuka race back from September to April to fit with the Asia Pacific segment of the schedule, while Azerbaijan took its slot to align with Singapore. The organisers of the Qatar Grand Prix also approved a move to the penultimate spot in the schedule, back-to-back with Abu Dhabi. From 2026 the Canadian Grand Prix will be hosted earlier in the year and the Monaco Grand Prix will take place on the first full weekend in June, consolidating the European leg of the F1 season into one period, removing an additional transatlantic crossing and delivering significant associated carbon reductions. 
Last year, F2 and F3 cars ran on 55 percent Aramco advanced sustainable fuel and the FIA medical and safety cars operated on 40 percent of it. In 2025, the F2 and F3 cars will move to 100 percent use of it, ahead of the Formula 1 cars adopting the fuels in 2026 in the new hybrid engines that will take to the circuit next year. 
The technology has implications for the automotive industry and existing petrol cars, as the fuel developed by Formula 1 will be a ‘drop-in’ that can be used in road cars without modification and will serve as a sustainable alternative of global benefit. 
Throughout the 2024 season, the cars all operated with FSC approved Pirelli tyres, which means the natural rubber in the type complies with the FSC’s strict standards for sustainable forestry. Some 80 percent of promoters powered aspects of their events using alternative energy sources such as solar panels, green tariffs, and biofuels. Over 90 precent of promoters began offering greener ways to travel to the race.
On the social commitments front, the Formula 1 sport – in 2024 season – marked the fourth year of its F1 Engineering Scholarships programme, which would support 50 underrepresented students by the end of 2025. The Scholarship covers the entire cost of the student’s tuition, together with living expenses for the full duration of their degree, enabling them to focus on their studies. It also offers them support to set them up for their careers, including work experience with one of the ten Formula 1 teams, as well as career workshops and mentoring. 
Formula 1 also launched the global education programme ‘Learning Sectors’ in collaboration with the British Council to inspire young learners in Brazil, India, South Africa, and the UK to pursue STEM subjects. The year long programme kicks off this year with 130,000 students in 700 schools. 
F1 Academy, the sport’s female-only series, competed alongside Formula 1 at seven events last year, completing 21 races. Through F1 Academy’s partnership with the international karting series, Champions of the Future, female participation in racing increased from five percent in 2023 to 25 percent in 2024. 
The sport also continued with hosting apprenticeships and workshops, such as The Next Grand Prix challenge in association with the Social Mobility Business Partnership (SMBP) charity, which challenges students aged between 16 and 18 from a breadth of backgrounds to assume a business leadership role and deliver a fictional bid for a new Formula One World Championship location. 
Ellen Jones, Head of ESG at Formula 1, said, “Innovation and community drove Formula 1's work in 2024. We are thrilled to outline our progress and continued work in this space. Formula 1 as a sport is uniquely positioned to take action through our global reach and technological leadership.”
 
 
 

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The ePlane Company has announced the completion of its full-scale electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, the e200X. Designated PT-01, the prototype has successfully integrated all core subsystems into a single structure, marking the transition from design and simulation to physical testing.

The e200X is designed as a single airframe versatile enough to serve three distinct markets – Passenger Air Taxi, Urban Cargo Carrier and Air Ambulance.

The company emphasises that the aircraft was designed to be compact, allowing it to integrate into existing urban infrastructure without requiring significant city redesigns.

Developed at the company's own facilities in Chennai, the e200X features in-house development of major components, including propellers, airframe structure, landing gear and battery pack.

This vertical integration provides the company with control over performance, manufacturing costs, and iteration speed, having reached this milestone on approximately USD 21 million in funding.

With assembly complete, the e200X will now undergo ground testing, flight testing and certification.

Prof. Satya Chakravarthy, Founder, The ePlane Company, said, "We set out to build an electric aircraft to a world-class benchmark, engineered and manufactured in depth in India for the World.  We deliberately designed the e200X to be compact, because an aircraft that asks a city to rebuild itself around it will not solve the problem it was built to solve. The same airframe can move people as an air taxi, carry goods as a cargo aircraft, and save lives as an air ambulance, and it can do all three using the infrastructure cities already have. That combination of real capability and capital efficiency is how we intend to compete, and win, in markets around the world.”

The company’s board includes prominent figures such as Vishesh Rajaram (Speciale Invest), Eash Sundaram (JetBlue) and Aditya Ghosh (Homage, Akasa Air). The venture, incubated at IIT Madras, has also received international recognition, including being showcased at Bharat Innovates 2026 and featured in Nvidia Founder Jensen Huang’s GTC keynote.

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Chinese technology company Xiaomi has marked a new milestone for its automotive product offering with its electric vehicle.

The company has announced a significant milestone in autonomous vehicle technology by completing the first official autonomous lap of the Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit in Germany with the Xiaomi YU7 GT, equipped with a Track Package, navigating the 20.8 km circuit without a human driver, recording a lap time of 10:29.483.

Following this performance, the Nurburgring has introduced a new official vehicle category: Autonomous Driving (under Electric Vehicles).

The Xiaomi YU7 GT autonomously navigated all 73 corners of the Nordschleife, managing 300 metres of elevation change and varying road surface conditions. The performance was driven by Xiaomi’s autonomous driving system, which integrates the Xiaomi XLA architecture and the MiMo-Embodied foundation model introduced in March 2026. The end-to-end architecture enabled the vehicle to coordinate steering, braking and power delivery in real-time, maintaining stability under high-speed and high-load conditions.

Xiaomi’s autonomous driving programme has evolved since the 2024 launch of Xiaomi HAD. The current system moves beyond simple behaviour imitation toward autonomous decision-making and deeper environmental interpretation. The company stated that the Nurburgring project serves as a critical testing ground to collect data for refining vehicle dynamics modelling, control strategy optimisation and safety redundancy mechanisms.

This achievement underscores Xiaomi’s commitment to advancing artificial intelligence in the automotive sector through rigorous real-world validation.

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QuantumScape Corporation has announced a multi-year joint research agreement with Honda R&D Co., a subsidiary of Honda Motor Co.

The collaboration focuses on advancing QuantumScape’s solid-state lithium-metal battery platform, including the development of associated manufacturing processes.

This agreement follows a successful technology evaluation period during which Honda conducted a technical study and competitive benchmarking of QuantumScape’s battery platform.

Atsushi Ogawa, Chief Operating Officer, Research Center of Excellence, Honda R&D Co, said, “QS technology demonstrated compelling and unique advantages during our evaluation. We see potential for QS technology to add value across a range of applications, including automotive, and we are excited to move forward into the next phase of our partnership.”

Dr. Siva Sivaram, CEO and President, QuantumScape, added, “Honda is a leading global automaker renowned for its engineering excellence and product quality across automotive and other applications worldwide, and its evaluation represents one of the most rigorous assessments of our technology to date. This agreement reflects the growing confidence in QS solid-state lithium-metal batteries to enable safer, higher-density energy storage.”

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Ola Cell Technologies (OCT), a subsidiary of Ola Electric, has become the first Indian company to receive Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) certification for its indigenously developed 46100 Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) cylindrical cell. The certification was granted under the IS 16046 (Part 2):2018 / IEC 62133-2:2017 standards.

In addition to BIS approval, the cell has qualified under IS 16893 (Parts 2 and 3) and UN 38.3 standards, following comprehensive electrical, mechanical and safety testing at an NABL-accredited laboratory.

The 46100 LFP cylindrical cell has a claimed energy density of over 170 Wh/kg, targeting over 4,000 charge-discharge cycles. It is optimised for applications where safety, lifecycle and cost-efficiency are critical.

The cell complements Ola Electric’s existing NMC 4680 Bharat Cell portfolio. By developing both chemistries on a common 46-series architecture, the company intends to increase domestic value addition and reduce reliance on imported battery technology.

‘The successful certification and qualification of this cell reflects the strength of our R&D, engineering, and manufacturing capabilities, while reinforcing our commitment to developing world-class battery technologies in India. As we continue to expand our in-house cell portfolio, we are creating the technological foundation required to accelerate EV adoption, support future energy storage solutions, and strengthen India’s energy independence,’ the company said in a statement.

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