The FIA (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile) will take advantage of the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort to test filters designed to retain tire wear particles, microplastics, and other pollutants before they are washed into the environment by rain.
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Developed in partnership with the Technical University of Berlin and the German startup Urbanfilter, the project aims to validate a technology that could, in the future, be used on public roads.
Two units were installed in the circuit’s drainage network, covering about 3,300 square meters in the pit lane and Turn 1 areas. For Nicolas Aubourg, FIA Head of R&D, the main challenge now is to confirm the performance observed in the laboratory under real conditions:
“It’s a very smart system,” he said. “In laboratory tests, the system captured up to 99% of the particles in the water that passed through it, with a maintenance interval of about one year. What we need to establish now is how a prototype behaves in real conditions at a racetrack.”
The concern has a global dimension. A 2024 OECD report estimated that 2.7 million tons of microplastics entered the environment in 2020 alone, a volume expected to double by 2040. According to a study led by the University of Portsmouth, tire particles represent about 28% of the microplastics entering the global environment.
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The FIA highlights that the contribution from motorsport is minimal, as only 22 cars compete on a closed circuit during a Grand Prix weekend. The bet is to use the controlled environment of races to develop a solution applicable to regular traffic.
“If we can convince promoters of other street circuits that we can install these filters, we could race with fewer particles leaving the site and then leave the filters for everyday road traffic,” said Aubourg. “That would represent a significant amount of particles not going into the environment.”
The coastal location of Zandvoort favored the choice of the circuit. All development, from sample collection to prototype manufacturing, was completed in just over a year.
“We designed the filter and, a year later, we are here in Zandvoort with the prototypes,” added Aubourg. “If we show it’s working, then next year, with their help and all the tests we have done, we hope to start discussing the concept with other circuits. They are already interested.”
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