Racing to the road.

How can a multi-million pound fire snorting F1 car have any relevance to the Focus I step into every day? I doubt you’ve ever really asked yourself that, but it is the question that is plaguing those who run the sport at the moment.

It’s a question that could hold the key to the very future of the sport. Without relevance to road technology there is no benefit to the manufacturers in taking part other than publicity, they could get more PR for a lot less money.

Today’s tight rules have restricted the development of new technologies in F1. Previously it was the proving ground for all sorts of new technologies that are in the road cars of today. Traction control had its infancy in the early 90s, developed as a major part of Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost’s championship winning Williams cars. Carbon brakes, paddle shift gearboxes, ABS, power steering and a multitude of things you take for granted began in F1.

In 2013 the sport will have a new set of rules complete with a raft of ‘green’ technologies. On the surface they may seem to be merely a bow to the environmentalist lobby, but in reality it provides an important lure for the manufacturers that have run from F1 in recent years. Not just that, it could provide a fast development race for the technologies the car industry needs over the next decade.

In future you can expect these technologies to filter into every day cars. Energy recovery systems from Williams are already appearing in Porsches, Mercedes has its own. These and the new efficiencies needed to get 700bhp from a 1.6 litre engine will provide the ordinary motorist with cleaner, more efficient cars in the future. It may not seem so, but the new rule changes in a billionaire’s playground may be some of the most important in motoring history.