GW Researchers Model Formula 1’s Race to Net Zero

As the IndyCar Freedom 250 grand prix arrives Aug. 22-23 in Washington, D.C., the George Washington University community has the opportunity to see up close how complex and resource-intensive a major motorsports event is to stage.

In the sport's top international organization, Formula 1 (F1), thousands of people and tons of equipment travel a race circuit of 21 or more locations across five continents. With them is the staggering amount of fuel required to push 22 cars at speeds of over 200 miles an hour for a minimum distance of 190 miles per race. When F1 announced in 2019 that it aimed to reduce its carbon footprint to zero by 2030, the logistics involved were hard to fathom.

Two F1 fans at GW's School of Engineering and Applied Science have worked to make it all a little easier to visualize. On the F1 Net Zero 2030 Systems Simulation Dashboard, developed by Associate Professor of Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Caitlin Grady and lead researcher Sachi Nandurkar, M.S. '25, a lab manager in Grady's FEWslab, visitors can adjust the many variables contributing to the sport's carbon output and see how these changes affect the big picture.

The project sprung from a shared love for the sport, which Grady and Nandurkar discovered early in their time working together.

"We bonded over liking Formula 1," Nandurkar remembered. "I had just started working with Caitlin, and [F1 was] releasing updates on their progress through these sustainability goals."

After changing funding priorities led the duo away from an initial project on electric vehicle battery sustainability, they pivoted toward their shared interest. "We chose to work on a model of how [F1] would reach their goal and whether or not they would be able to," Nandurkar said.

"This was sort of a passion project for both of us," Grady said.

Some variables on the dashboard translate readily for a general audience, like the use of renewable energy sources including solar and wind, and the prevalence of remote work. Certain employees-think of pit crew mechanics-absolutely must travel to be physically present at every race location. But others, like broadcast operations staff, can do their work remotely, reducing their travel-related carbon footprint. Move the "Remote Work Rate" slider from its 2018 baseline of 0% to 50% and watch net emissions reduce by 15.5%. (In its 2025 sustainability update, F1 reported that approximately 140 personnel now work remotely every race weekend.)

Other terms, though perhaps more esoteric, have an equal or greater impact. Perhaps the most potentially impactful single issue, the researchers said, is "calendar regionalization," or the reorganization of race schedules to minimize travel distance and redundancy. If athletes, staff members, freight and fuel have to get from one race in Monaco to the next in Montreal, then back to Europe for another in Spain-as happened in 2024-that's a major carbon expenditure. It's preventable by scheduling races together in geographic blocks, and F1 has already begun adopting regionalization to address exactly this problem.

However, Nandurkar and Grady pointed out, regionalization is not just a question of rearranging a calendar. It's complicated by the political and economic interests of host countries, where organizers may prefer certain dates based on tradition, tourism, weather, coinciding local events or other variables.

"It is feasible, but it's still complicated," Grady said.

Also visible on the dashboard are potential solutions for the problem of air travel, which is a major emissions contributor. If 20% of travel and transport take place by rail or sea, emissions are reduced by 6%. Sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF, is a lower-emission alternative to traditional jet fuel. It is made from things such as used cooking oil or biomass from agricultural waste. Slide its adoption rate to 20% and net emissions fall by 11%.

Finally, the dashboard helps visualize the thorny question of carbon offsets, in which an individual or company purchases credits from organizations that directly reduce atmospheric carbon.

Carbon offset purchasing will probably have to play a significant role in order for F1 to hit its 2030 net-zero goal, Grady and Nandurkar said-and the credits they purchase will have to be effective, a difficult metric to guarantee. Dashboard users are invited to lean into that ambivalence, setting the slider for "offset effectiveness" to the level their own instincts or curiosity suggest.

Already the dashboard has made an impact in the industry. After Grady and Nandurkar published a piece in The Conversation in May, they were contacted by a high-level F1 corporate relations employee who said he'd forwarded it to the organization's sustainability team and discussed the possibility of shipping more freight by sea.

To be included in these kinds of internal conversations "feels amazing," Nandurkar said.

While it will be difficult for F1 to achieve its ambitious sustainability goals, Nandurkar and Grady said they feel hopeful about progress already being made.

Besides, when it comes to motorsports, they both love cheering for long shots.

"I don't have a favorite team, but I like rooting for the underdogs," Grady said. "I like when some of the less well-resourced teams win points and get interesting drivers and have interesting stories."