For the first time ever, all cars on the Formula 1 grid are running on 100% Advanced Sustainable Fuel. This is not a pilot programme, but the new regulation, mandated by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) for all power unit manufacturers from this season onwards.

 

 

 

Where does the fuel actually come from?

 

 

F1's Advanced Sustainable Fuel is produced from three main pathways: carbon capture (taking CO₂ directly from the air or industrial emissions), municipal waste and non-food biomass. Nothing in the fuel comes from crude oil, every molecule of carbon must originate from a non-fossil source, verified back to the feedstock. All fuels must deliver a greenhouse gas saving of at least 65%, and the production process itself must be powered by renewable electricity.

 

These are "drop-in" fuels, meaning they are designed to replace fossil fuel equivalents without requiring any adjustment to the engine. They would work in road cars, which is precisely what makes the F1 switch significant beyond motorsport. The same technology is scalable to conventional transport.

 

 

 

Why does this matter beyond the racetrack?

 

 

The fuel transition is part of a broader 2026 regulatory reset that also reshapes how power units work, with a new 50/50 split between internal combustion and electric power, up from 80/20 previously. Taken together, these changes signal something larger, namely that high-performance engineering and decarbonisation are no longer competing priorities.

 

At CarbonTool, we work every day with the same underlying question this regulation tries to answer. How do you make a sustainability claim verifiable, not just plausible? F1's fuel framework offers a concrete example of fixed feedstock categories, renewable production requirements and a minimum 65% emissions saving that must be proven, with supply chain documentation tracing back to the source material, not just the production facility. That level of traceability is exactly where the real work begins.