Banco Santander and Formula 1 team up with technology for a green future

By

By

Leading the green transformation of the automotive sector is the objective they have Banco Santander, Ferrari and Formula One Management (FOM). The Spanish entity returns to the most famous motor competition, once again, as a sponsor of the Italian team. For the alliance, the technological development It is fundamental in seeking to improve the automotive world.

The president of Banco Santander, Ana Botinrecognizes the illusion of working again with Ferrari, an avant-garde brand and model in technologywhich also promotes the green transition: “Santander is committed to the fight against climate change and, as Europe’s leading car financier, we want to help make the car industry sustainable. This alliance with Ferrari will accelerate the development of both companies in this field.”

From the Italian team they are also convinced that an increasingly green Formula 1 is possible. “We thank Banco Santander for its support to achieve our priority objective of reaching carbon neutrality by 2030. The great innovations and technological advances of F1 are transferred to the entire industry, which benefits society as a whole”Explain John Elkann, Ferrari president.

Innovation for a green future pays off. The last weekend of October was held a very special awards ceremony in a space of the Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix. More than 600 entrepreneurial projects from 11 countries participated in Santander X Global Challenge | Countdown 2 Zero, the global entrepreneurship challenge promoted by Santander and FOM, owner of F1, to find solutions that promote sustainability in the automotive industry. The initiative is included within the entity’s return to competition as a sponsor of Ferrari.

Concrete4Change (United Kingdom), Staxy (UK) and ucaneo (Germany) have been the winning companies in the category of startup; while the Spanish cedrion, H2SITE Y Zeleros were chosen as the best Scaleup. The six winners will be able to continue developing their ideas driven by the 120,000 euros of prizes that have been distributed: 30,000 for startups and 90,000 for scaleups.

Diario AS has been able to speak with Andrés Galnares, CEO of H2SITE, who expresses his joy at receiving this award. “The recognition of an entity like Banco Santander makes us proud. It puts us in a higher league than we are. We appreciate technology, process engineering, mechanics… and Formula 1. The technical directors who were involved in this contest were in love,” she says.

The prize, according to Galnares, goes to your project that fights to decarbonize transport, whether heavy or maritime: “We are looking for CO2-free solutions. This contest was a fairly intense process where we had to go through several phases before juries who have challenged our proposals. We are very happy to have been awarded.”

This newspaper has also contacted Enrique Medina, co-founder and CEO of Cedrion. “For us it is a tremendous boost to our project. Seeing your name next to giants like Banco Santander, Formula 1 or Ferrari is a fantastic image,” she explains.

As an objective, Medina is clear: help the adoption of new electric vehicles. “The new cars are more like a mobile with wheels than a traditional car. And that electronics must be cooled, our technology is much smaller and lighter than the current ones allowing weight savings that directly means savings in consumptionwhich is one of the great challenges of this implementation”, he declares. The money will go directly to improve its facilities and laboratories in search of new developments.

The Santander-Ferrari-FOM tandem is committed to innovation for a more sustainable future. This is demonstrated by the projects that have been selected by the jury of the Santander X Global Challenge | Countdown 2 Zerosuch as those who drive a additive material to capture CO2 that will allow decarbonise construction with the latest technological advances; a apps to encourage the low-cost carpooling that contributes to reduce the carbon footprint of its users; a technology able to capture the CO2; cooling devices more efficient for electric cars; the production of renewable hydrogen on site for SMEs; or the offer of hyperloop for him transportation of passengers Y goods with zero direct emissions. Because the future passes through today’s work.

^{*This content sponsored by SANTANDER has been prepared by Diario AS.}