Research: F1 teams need to work on governance transparency

Research by Standard Ethics Group has found that Formula 1 teams need to do more to make clear their views on environmental, social and governance issues. Only three of the 10 race teams have a publicly available code of ethics on key sustainability issues and so transparency was also rated as inadequate.

The Standard Ethics Group conducted independent research, they were not directly commissioned to analyse Formula 1 formations. Nevertheless, the results of their research are being taken seriously. In fact, several teams have since sent more information to the research firm about how they deal with certain sustainability issues and how they plan to improve on them in the future.

The problem is not that racing teams do nothing at all with these pillars, but that there is a total lack of transparency about what teams do. The research included the following issues: whether a code of ethics has been published, the quality of reporting on ESG (environment, social & governance) issues, whether there is a human rights policy and whether teams disclose environmental targets.

Work to be done for F1 teams

Only information that was freely accessible to the researchers was included in the published report. As such, the researchers note that this study was an "essential test of the transparency it believes is key to positive sustainability policies".

"There is work to do for the governance side, this is the most important,” said Schettini, the director of research at Standard Ethics in conversation with The Guardian. “It is very, very important to see a long-term commitment to sustainability. A long-term commitment comes from crucial important documents like a code of ethics or a sustainability plan or policies on specific issues."