Stuck in Dirty Air: A Proposed Framework to Benchmark Sustainability for Formula 1 Teams
Date of Award
Fall 12-2025
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science (BS)
Abstract
Formula 1 (F1) has positioned itself as a leader in sustainable innovation, yet team-level sustainability practices remain uneven, opaque, and constrained by the sport's high-performance and logistics-intensive structure. This thesis develops a context-specific sustainability framework for Formula 1 teams by integrating archival analysis of team sustainability reports with practitioner interviews from the motorsport industry. Structured content analysis of the three teams with dedicated, team-level sustainability reports – Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team, Atlassian Williams Racing, and Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team – reveals progress in areas such as carbon reduction, renewable energy adoption, community engagement, and supplier monitoring. However, it also highlights persistent gaps in logistics emissions, circularity, and Scope 3 standardization. Practitioner interviews offer critical insights into the motivations, barriers, and cultural dynamics that shape the implementation of sustainability on the ground. While teams are motivated by brand identity, sponsor expectations, and performance-linked efficiency gains, they also face structural obstacles, including race calendar constraints, global freight dependencies, resource disparities, and frameworks not designed for motorsport realities. Comparing public narratives with practitioner accounts reveals that sustainability is often presented as cohesive and strategic, whereas in practice, progress is opportunistic, conditional, and deeply influenced by feasibility and performance pressures. Synthesizing these findings, this thesis proposes a scalable sustainability framework tailored to the unique constraints and capabilities of F1 teams, aiming to bring value to Formula 1. The framework centers logistics as a core category, incorporates both quantitative and qualitative indicators, and accounts for inequities in team size and resources.
Recommended Citation
Lui, Julianne, "Stuck in Dirty Air: A Proposed Framework to Benchmark Sustainability for Formula 1 Teams" (2025). Gabelli School of Business Honors Thesis Collection. 172.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/gabelli_thesis/172
