If you want to see into the future of car making, the Formula One rulebook has often been a good place to start. But the sport's new regulations suggest that car makers are not pinning all their hopes on electrification. In 2026, F1 cars will be powered by hybrid engines with a 50:50 split between electric-power and internal combustion; crucially, the combustion engine will be powered by synthetic e-fuels. Another is Audi, which left Formula E in 2021 to join F1 in 2026, the same year that the German automotive company will stop producing new combustion engine cars and only release electric vehicles. One of the products Audi is ramping up is synthetic e-fuels, which use renewably-generated electricity to break water into hydrogen and oxygen before combining them with carbon dioxide.

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Persons: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Pat Symonds, Madeleine Orr, Alex Keynes Organizations: Petronas, Team, Prix, Monaco, CNBC, Honda, Audi, E, University of Toronto Locations: Montecarlo, Monaco