Williams deputy boss Claire Williams has voiced opposition to Formula 1 reintroducing refuelling from 2021.
As the sport tries to agree on regulations which make for more exciting racing, reducing weight through allowing fuel stops is a solution that has been suggested,
After five years with the current V6 hybrid units only using around 100kg of fuel per race, Williams believes the message, that is already understated, would be completely undone.
“We don’t talk enough about what we have done to make this sport greener,” she told RaceFans.
“That is the image, isn’t it? It’s people thinking Formula 1 is a gas-guzzling sport, and we haven’t done enough to stamp out that image and actually talk up the real positive steps forward that we’ve made, particularly [with] these new power units.
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“Hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested into them, the technologies within them will filter down into the road manufacturers. We don’t talk about them and we should.
“One of the conversations on the table at the moment is refuelling. I don’t see how that does not completely contradict and take us 10 steps backwards from how we are looking at trying to promote this sport and the virtues of F1 from an environmental perspective.”
While Williams may fear fuel usage could go up, it’s hard to see how that can be the case if the current limits on fuel and fuel flow can be maintained.
Instead, the bigger arguments are over safety and whether the reintroduction of refuelling would produce the better racing that some believe or whether it’s simply wanting to go back to the good old days.