Hydrogen racing: Extreme H leads with first championship. Will F1 follow?

“Le Mans has used hydrogen, Dakar [too] but they’re not going to be all-hydrogen championships.

“We are going to be the only hydrogen championship for many years [through an exclusivity deal with the FIA] – that gives us a unique position.”

Agag is keen to point out where would-be partnership funds could come from – “Ineos [Mercedes F1 sponsor and co-owner], they don’t want to touch batteries, but if you go to their website the first thing they speak about is hydrogen. They are all over it, many [companies] are.

“What is also interesting is what is going on outside the car. The big hope for hydrogen: it’s used to transport green energy. Store the power of the sun from solar panels in countries with deserts like Namibia, Chile, Saudi then take it elsewhere. A championship like Extreme H could be a platform where all these technologies can be tested.”

The final country mentioned by Agag is key – the hydrogen arm of Saudi’s proposed tech city Neom is a big partner of Extreme E. It sponsors both the 60sec ‘Hyperdrive’ power boost available to drivers mid-race and its branding is plastered everywhere at championship events. The opening round of every season has been held in Saudi Arabia, the latter two at Neom.

Next year Neom opens its first hydrogen plant producing the fuel source for domestic vehicles. A larger factory focused on exports will operate from 2026.

The country’s officials appear highly enthusiastic for Extreme E’s hydrogen change, with its energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman al-Saud emphasising that it intends to become the top exporter as it diversifies its energy portfolio.

“We want to showcase ourselves as an energy exporting country, because we will be working hard in exporting hydrogen along with oil, along with liquid gases,” he told Reuters last year.

Motor Sport put it to Extreme E managing director Ali Russell, who has been with Agag for the duration of Formula E and Extreme E, that “unique business opportunities” might be behind the rapid switch to hydrogen.

“This isn’t something that Alejandro just dreamt up in the shower – we’ve seen the value in being first to the market”

“This isn’t something that Alejandro just dreamt up in the shower,” he replied.

“This is something that’s a very considered and calculated move and something we’ve discussed for many years now.

“I think we’ve seen with Formula E the value of being first to market, and I think we really want to do that on hydrogen development.”

When Saudi Arabia’s influence over the championship’s direction was mooted, he said: “There are many governments around the world looking at how they can move into it.

“You’ve got countries like Morocco, Namibia, Brazil – there’s a huge amount looking at the opportunities that hydrogen presents, and that’s what’s so interesting about it.”

The championship plans to modify its existing Spark Odyssey 21 car, switching out the existing battery packs for onboard fuel cells which convert hydrogen to water, releasing electrical energy which then powers the vehicles. The car will also have q much longer ranger than its current electric predecessor.

Rosberg is not the only team boss on board with the change.

Michael Andretti has said “he would love” to move to a new energy frontier. Acciona Sainz principal Joan Orus agreed, citing the business opportunities available for its zero-emissions vehicle-manufacturing backer QEV. But both he and team owner, WRC legend Carlos Sainz, are behind a hydrogen-only series with the latter telling Motor Sport “we don’t want two championships fighting one another.”

However certain Extreme E teams are largely in the series due to its promotion of electric mobility, and their future involvement looks uncertain at best.

“I think if we go hydrogen we would then probably lose both GM and Cupra – it’s a fact,” he says.

“I’ve had discussions with both: one is definitely leaving, I might be able to persuade one to stay.”

The Abt-run Cupra team has already confirmed its exit, while a question mark remains over the Chip Ganassi squad which is sponsored by Hummer; neither brand produces hydrogen-powered customer vehicles. McLaren is also thought to have mixed feelings about the switch away from racing EVs.

Ganassi team principal Dave Berkenfield told Motor Sport: “We want to be part of the championship” but that “Chip goes where the manufacturers go.”

Agag appears unconcerned, apparently confident in the benefits hydrogen will reap.

He suggests that after a period the technology on the ‘spec’ car could be opened up for development by manufacturers, similar to the path followed by Formula E where different powertrains are now used in a mandatory chassis.

“I would love to talk to Toyota, I would love to talk to Hyundai, BMW’s going into hydrogen now – you could have three teams each [per brand, using their power trains]. We have time to figure it out.”

But will the car be ready on time? Extreme E’s technical director Mark Grain explained the development for the hydrogen mule car – a machine which is set to race in February 2025 has so far only had a run around the Spark factory car park, and is still having its safety regulations defined by the FIA as it goes along.

“A lot of ground-breaking work with the FIA has been done with this car,” he says.

“Regarding the current infrastructure in the hydrogen fuel cell and so on, for how all that can sustain a large impact in racing conditions, we’ve been working very closely with the FIA to understand and define different tests, speeds, G-ratings, what the impact structure will look like and where those impacts also take place in the car.

“We’ve demonstrated EVs can cope with very harsh environments and racing in hard conditions, so moving to Extreme H is a natural progression. We want demonstrate to the world that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles can be exciting, they can be rugged, they can be very robust. We want to carry through that development.”

Grain also refutes the idea that hydrogen vehicles are less efficient, saying performance levels “will at least match” the current car’s 0-60mph time of 4.5sec and top speed of 124mph.

Will it all be ready with a rapid race to February 2025? Time will tell.

Le Mans and Formula 1 look at hydrogen 

The idea of hydrogen racing has been mooted in other disciplines of motor sport. Le Mans has now slated 2027 – delayed from 2026 – for a hydrogen category, with the plan to make the top class fully hydrogen by 2030.

Toyota has already unveiled a LMP1/Hypercar-style hydrogen prototype, and believes it could win with a hydrogen car first time out.

“Everything is possible with a technological push,” team principal Pascal Vasselon said to Autosport at this year’s La Sarthe event.

Though F1’s hybrid engine rules are set in stone for 2026, former sporting director Ross Brawn has tentatively opened up the possibility of switching to hydrogen in 2030.

“Maybe hydrogen is the route that Formula 1 can have where we keep the noise, we keep the emotion but we move into a different solution,” Brawn suggested to the BBC.

Former Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi has previously said hydrogen is an interesting option for a manufacturer which is attempting to modernise its image.

“To us, it’s kind of like a good way to kill a lot of birds with one stone. It’s cleaner, for sure,” he said last year. “It’s not fully clean, granted, but it’s much more improved compared to traditional fuel.