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**Volkswagen's Environmental Efforts and Their Impact on Formula One**

The recent vow by Volkswagen to be more environmentally conscious is a step in the right direction. Even going so far as to announce that they will not be involved in any gasoline combustion-powered motorsports, it's a pretty good look. Provided they follow through and actually push the electric motorsports forward, the move should result in a huge leap in technology.

However, there's one major downside: Volkswagen might have inadvertently killed Formula One, a sport they're not even involved in. A big thank you to our sponsor this week, Raycon. I've said it before, and I'll say it again - I love my Raycon wireless earbuds. They are the best. The sound is great, the bass is amazing, and the battery lasts for a really long time.

**The Story Behind Volkswagen's Emissions Scandal**

Let's go back to 2015 when Volkswagen was caught cheating on their emissions tests. Their two-liter diesel engines were pumping out crazy amounts of pollution - far above the legal limit in the US. The cars were equipped with defeat devices that could detect when the car was being tested, and change how it ran on the fly so it would pass.

Once the testing was over, the car would go back to running normally, high on power and emissions. The whole thing was called Dieselgate, and it was a huge freakin' deal. Lots of people high up in Volkswagen's ranks knew about it, and they were arrested. Volkswagen was fined billions of dollars and forced to buy back hundreds of thousands of cars all over the world.

**The Aftermath and Volkswagen's Attempt to Clean Up Their Image**

The whole scandal left a huge black eye on the company. But what's worse is that we also found out that they weren't the only ones doing it. In the years since, Volkswagen has been trying to clean up their image. They've installed hundreds of electric car charging stations all over the US and hyped up new electric concept cars.

Volkswagen's entire concept line is based on their modular electric drive matrix platform (MEB). Don't ask me why there's a B in there because I don't know! If I'm being totally honest, the lineup looks great. There's the I.D., a futuristic little hatchback city car thing; and a freakin' tasty retrovan called the I.D. Buzz.

**The Threat to Formula One**

Then in November, Volkswagen unveiled my favorite one - the I.D. Space Vizzion with two Zs. This thing's all-wheel drive can allegedly do zero to 60 in under five seconds! If you've been watching the show for a while, you know I'm a huge wagon guy, so I freakin' love this thing.

But there's one MEB car in particular that threatens the balance of the entire motorsports ecosystem. It's called the I.D. R (upbeat music). You've probably heard about this car and how it smashed every lap record in the world. It set an all-time lap record at Pikes Peak, the fastest electric car to ever lap Nurburgring, and it set the all-time record at Goodwood.

**The I.D. R's Impact on Formula One**

The Volkswagen I.D. R is proof that electric cars can hang with the very best internal combustion cars in the world. And it's a testament to Volkswagen's commitment to electric mobility. But the I.D. R's speed isn't what threatens gas-powered race cars. It's what the I.D. R represents to Volkswagen that does.

In November of last year, Volkswagen announced that they will quote, "be focusing their motorsport efforts on electric vehicles only." This means that they won't be involved in any gasoline combustion-powered motorsports, including Formula One.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en(car engine revving)- Volkswagen recently vowed to bemore environmentally conscious.Even going so far to announcethat the corporation willnot involved themselvesin any gasoline combustionpowered motorsports.(engines revving)Honestly, it's a pretty good look.And provided they follow through,and actually push theelectric motorsports forward,the move should result ina huge leap in technology.But there's one major downside.Volkswagen might haveinadvertently killed Formula One,a sport they're not even involved in.A big thank you to oursponsor this week, Raycon.I've said it before and I'll say it again,I love my Raycon wireless earbuds.They are the best.They have a great sound,the bass is amazing,and the battery lastsfor a really long time,it feels like forever.They can be charged up tofour times from the casebefore it needs to be re-charged.The quality is the sameas premium earbuds,but Raycons cost almost half the price.Their latest model, the E25,these are their best ones yet,with six hours of playtime,seamless Bluetooth pairing,more bass, and a more compact designthat gives you a nice,noise-isolating fit.It also comes in new fun colors,and when you work in a office with James,it's easy to get distractedokay, that dude is loud.So click the link in the description,or head over to buyraycon.com/donutand get 15% off your order.Thank you Raycon.Just goin' off script real quick,I truly love my Raycons,I never leave the house without 'em.Get yourself some today.Formula One is the onlysport I watch regularly.So this story means a lot to me.But I know a lot of youaren't super into F1,so I'm gonna do my best to laythe foundation for the storywithout you having to knowanything about the sport.We will get to the racing stuff.But for this to make sense,we gotta go back a few years.In 2015, Volkswagen was caught cheatingon their emissions tests.Their two-liter dieselengines were pumping outcrazy amounts of pollution.Far above the legal limit in the US.Their cars were equippedwith defeat devicesthat could detect whenthe car was being tested,and change how it ran onthe fly so it would pass.Once the testing was over,the car would go back to running normally,high on power and emissions.The whole thing was called Dieselgate,and it was a huge freakin' deal.Lots of people high up inVolkswagen's ranks knew about itand they were arrested.Volkswagen was fined billions of dollars,and forced to buybackhundreds of thousands of carsall over the world.The whole scandal left a hugeblack eye on the company.And what's worse,we also found out that theyweren't the only ones doing it.In the years since,Volkswagen has been tryingto clean up their image.They've installed hundreds ofelectric car charging stationsall over the US, and hypedup new electric concept cars.Volkswagen's entire conceptline is based off theirmodular electric drivematrix platform, or MEB.Don't ask me why there'sa B in there because IDK.If I'm being totally honest,the lineup looks great.There's the I.D.,a futuristic littlehatchback city car thing.There's a freakin' tasty retrovan, called the I.D. Buzz.Then in November, Volkswagenunveiled my favorite one,the I.D. Space Vizzion with two Zs.This thing's all wheel drivecan allegedly do zero to 60in under five seconds.If you've been watchingthe show for awhile,you know I'm a huge wagon guy,so I freakin' love this thing.But there's one MEB car in particularthat threatens the balanceof the entire motorsports ecosystem.It's called the I.D. R.(upbeat music)You've probably heard about this car.And how it smashed everylap record in the world.It set an all-time laprecord at Pikes Peak,the fastest electric carto ever lap Nurburgring,and it set the all-timerecord at Goodwood.The Volkswagen I.D. R isproof that electric carscan hang with the very bestinternal combustion carsin the world.And it's a testament toVolkswagen's commitmentto electric mobility.But the I.D. R's speedisn't what threatensgas-powered race cars.It's what the I.D. R representsto Volkswagen that does.In November of last year,Volkswagen announced that they will quote,"be focusing their motorsportstrategy on e-mobility."In this press release,they remind everyonethat the I.D. R was freakin' sick.And that motorsport is the ultimate quote,"dynamic laboratory for the development"of future productioncars and on the other,"as a convincing marketingplatform to inspire people"even more towards electric mobility."What Volkswagen is sayingis that they're so confidentin their electric future,that when people see theircars at a race track,they'll be like, wellthose things kick ass,guess I should go buythat space wagon now.But what the press release didn't sayis how deeply this move willaffect the entire racing world.Volkswagen is not a small company.They own a lot of brands thatyou've definitely heard of.Audi, Porsche, Lamborghini,Bentley, Skoda.Even motorcycle maker, Ducati.All of these brands havea racing department.And all of them will be affected.And by extension, sowill all of the classesthat these brands race in.Can you imagine touring carracing without Audi and Porsche?What about Modo GP without Ducati?What about rally without Skoda?Didn't think I would saytheir name again did you?Now before I get too doom and gloom,I have to point out that thisplan won't happen overnight.In that press release, Volkswagen says"Volkswagen Motorsport'scustomer sport program"will also be electrified."The first stage will involvedifferent disciplines,"platforms and vehicle typesbeing examined and evaluated."So it sounds like they're gonna do iton a sport by sport basis,and hopefully slowly.Also it should be mentionedthat this only goes for factory teams.When it comes to people running turnkey,Volkswagen race cars like the Golf GTI TCRand Polo GTI R5, customerservice and spare part supplywill be guaranteed in the long term.So it sounds like privateteams will be ableto run Porsches and Audis all they want,and will probably getsome sort of support.But if you wanna buy a race cardirect from the manufacturer,I wouldn't count on itunless it's electric.So, how does all this affect Formula One?A sport that no Volkswagenbrand is even involved with?Well to answer that question,we need to enter the Speculation Zone.(upbeat music)I found this super interesting articleon thejudge13.com, inwhich the author lays outa pretty good argument.That Volkswagen's move to goall in on electric on the trackwill lead to a series of eventsin which every current agent supplierpulls out of the sport,and Formula One becomes aspec series like Indy Car,where all the cars arepretty much the same.I'll leave a link to thearticle in the descriptionbecause it blew my mind, andI think you should read it.The article argues thatVolkswagen's decisionis very motivated for PR reasons.And that they wanna distance themselvesas far as possible from Dieselgate.They wanna go from being a huge polluterto having no hand inclimate change at all.And since Volkswagen is so big,the author believes othermanufacturers might follow suit,so they don't look likehuge polluters themselves.Two manufacturers thatcould do this are Renaultfrom France, and Honda from Japan.Both Renault and Honda supplyengines to Formula One teams.In 2019, Renault builtengines for their factory teamin McLaren.Honda built engines for twoteams, RedBull and Toro Rosso.The rest of the field ispowered by either Mercedesor Ferrari-built power units.If Honda pulled out of Formula One,the consequences for RedBulland Toro Rosso would be dire.The RedBull car is actuallyreally freakin' good,and was able to bring the fight to Mercand Ferrari last year,with their less powerful Honda engine.Will Ferrari or Mercedeswillingly sell their enginesto their biggest threat?I don't think so.And that's just what wouldhappen if Honda left.What if Renault left too?It could happen.Since the downfall of disgracedRenault CEO, Carlos Ghosn,the boardroom over there has been insane.According to motorsport.com,Clotilde Delbos,I butchered that, Reanult'sinterim chief executive,raised eyebrows when sheconfirmed a deep reviewof the company's business,which included its continuedparticipation in F1.Renault is looking intothe possibility of exiting.No doubt they saw VW's electricmotorsport announcementand thought, hmm, maybe wecould pull the chute too.That's my French.If both Honda and Renault left Formula Onearound the same time, the chainreaction that would followwould most likely change the entire sportin a massive way.(upbeat music)We're seeing the electric car markettake off as we speak.If everyone starts buying electric carsover gas-powered ones,Honda and Renault probablyaren't gonna see anyreason to keep developingtheir gas engines, heck,Mercedes already thinks this.You might remember from a few weeks ago,but Mercedes stopped developmenton their internal combustion enginesbecause as far as they're concerned,theirs is as good asthey're ever gonna make it.So they have to be asking,why keep spending moneyon new racing engines ifwe're done perfecting thosefor the consumer?A key point for the Honda pullout theorythat The Judge 13 bringsup is that Honda recentlycommitted to poweringRedBull through 2021.But no word on anything after that.On top of that, Honda announced last yearat the Geneva Autoshow thatthey plan on only sellingelectric cars in Europe by 2025.That's some pretty compelling evidence.But I'm not convincedthat a Honda exit would happen overnight.In early January, lead RedBulldriver, Max Verstappen,extended his contractwith RedBull to 2023.This is pretty huge.Max is insanely talented,and can easily fight for a championshipin a Mercedes or Ferrari if he wanted to.Staying with RedBull for three more yearstells me that Honda willprobably stick around that longto support him.But of course, I could be totally wrong.This is the Speculation Zone after all.Maybe Honda does leave in 2021,with Renault right behind them.Maybe Mercedes says peaceout and focuses on theirFormula E electric racing effort,fighting against Porsche,a Volkswagen brand.Maybe all the top F1talent moves to Formula Eas the cars get even better.Maybe there will be a day wherethat electric Formula E cartotally embarrasses a FormulaOne car at a classic circuitlike Monaco.Maybe the cars will beso unbelievably fastthat we'll forget whatwe were worried aboutin the first place.I'm sold man, I'm sold.This is just sick right, look at this go!And just watch some good-ass racing.Maybe.All right so what do you think?Is Formula One doomed?I mean a theme in all of the electric carwheelhouse episodes is thatit is gonna happen eventually,the takeover.It's gonna happen.It's just inevitable.But I don't think it'll be asfast as people are afraid of.Like I get it, I love the engine noise.I, I mean,you go to a drag strip,gas-powered cars just soundbetter, that's the truth.But I don't think it's as badas people might be fearing.I think it's okay.What do you think?Am I totally off the mark here?Is this an interesting theory?Be kind, I'll see you next time.