Bcomp embodies the first-ever F1 seat

Swiss Startup Bcomp, a sustainable lightweight materials provider and McLaren Racing specialist, inked a partnership last year to develop a cheaper and more sustainable alternative to carbon fibre. The two sought to create a natural fibre for the Formula 1 (F1) racing seat for Carlos Sainz and Lando Noris. This would be the first-ever F1 car part composed of renewable textile fibres. The seat is lighter, cheaper, safer and more sustainable.

During the 2021 British Grand Prix, McLaren’s Lando debuted his F1 seat, enabling McLaren to reach the next step in using sustainable composites in F1 races.

In a statement, Bcomp CEO Christian Fischer said, “Together with McLaren, we analysed the sustainability of the seat In Lando Norris’ seat we can make use of all the sustainability and performance benefits of ampliTex™ and powerRibs™, resulting in 85% lower CO2 emissions. That means, even when considering the emissions in raw material production and manufacturing processes, we can reduce the vast majority of the seat’s footprint by replacing all carbon fibre plies with an optimised ampliTex™ and powerRibs™ flax natural fibre layup.”

Thanks to the natural fibre embodying the seat, it is easier to replace and used for thermal energy recovery, turning approximately 80% of the energy stored in the seat into renewable energy.

The use of Bcomp’s sustainable lightweight solutions has been extended beyond racing cars. The team’s timing stand and engineers island are also newly based on ampliTex™ natural fibre composites. The high percentage of flax in the new design makes it cheaper to make five sets of the new timing stand and engineers’ island and transport them via sea freight, decreasing air freight and reducing carbon footprint. Thanks to Bcomp, the team has been able to reduce their travelling freight to 3,450 kg.

(Press release/RAN)