I know the kid in me does thrive on the sound of an F1 car screaming past, but the realist in me can see that this sport needs to be innovating towards what could be the next generation of road car, not harking back to the last. We have nostalgic race series for that.
Hydrogen can be relatively efficiently extracted from water using just electricity, and if the teams were encouraged to obtain their electricity from renewable sources, solar or wind for example then it could be quite efficient and environmentally clean.
we will have to disagree om the Format. lol
but hydrogen from water using electric? it has a much bigger carbon footprint, than charging the batteries up from the mains. true its. relatively, easy to do. but the efficiency (or lack of) of the process makes it worse for the environment not better. that's why Honda develop their "fuel cell" cars on a Pacific island, where the electricity is provided by Hydroelectric generators. ( a natural feature of the island is a mountain/ex volcano with a lake on top! hydrogen is also, incredibly dangerous. and in liquid form, not practical as a mass source of power.
true, F1 has been at the forefront of automotive development since its inception. but its value, to the road user, has been in all areas, and not as much as you think, has been Engine based. think of the innovations that have come from it:
disc brakes, ok so they started on bikes, but were developed by F1 for Road cars.
active suspension
monocoque chassis
safety cell technology
fly by wire control systems.
explode safe fuel tanks
traction control.
useful Automatic gear boxes.
if you look at the "Engine" only developments of F1
turbo charging
fuel injection
engine mapping
apart from the above, everything else in the engine department has been tinkering with, already, known technologies.
F1 will die without the internal combustion engine, and that may we happen. that does not mean we should encourage it.