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Refuelling will damage F1's green credentials - Williams

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Williams deputy team principal Claire Williams believes that reintroducing refueling in Grand Prix racing would be counterproductive to the sport's image and to the energy-efficient technology promoted by its manufacturers.

Speaking at the Autosport International show on Saturday, Williams reinforced her opposition against bringing back refueling in F1, a stance which appears widespread amongst the sport's ranks.

"The manufacturers have just spent hundreds of millions on these new hybrid power units," Williams explained.

"They are much more relevant to the road industry, and to the energy-efficient conversations that we need to have in society now.

"To bring back refueling, and to make F1 again appear as a gas-guzzling sport, just completely steps all over that message. So I am very anti-refueling."

Williams technical director Pat Symonds echoed his team principal's view always for different reasons as he insisted on the negative impact on racing such a decision would inevitably produce.

"Refueling takes away from the spectacle of the racing, and the uncertainty of the racing," he said.

"I think what it leads to is deterministic racing; what I mean by that is that at the moment we can determine a strategy, and then we take a more tactical view as we get into the race.

"In other words, we determine our pit stops based on what our tyres are doing, which won't necessarily be what we've predicted, and what's happening with our competitors around us.

"The minute you've got refueling, it becomes deterministic - if you put in fuel to get to lap 24, you stop on lap 24.

"You obviously can't go further than that, and if you stop earlier than that, the penalty is way too high. So you tend to get these races when you're stopping when you don't really want to.

"If we think back a few years to when we had refueling, we saw much better racing afterwards. So I think it's a very retrograde step."

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Phillip van Osten

Motor racing was a backdrop from the outset in Phillip van Osten's life. Born in Southern California, Phillip grew up with the sights and sounds of fast cars thanks to his father, Dick van Osten, an editor and writer for Auto Speed and Sport and Motor Trend. Phillip's passion for racing grew even more when his family moved to Europe and he became acquainted with the extraordinary world of Grand Prix racing. He was an early contributor to the monthly French F1i Magazine, often providing a historic or business perspective on Formula 1's affairs. In 2012, he co-authored along with fellow journalist Pierre Van Vliet the English-language adaptation of a limited edition book devoted to the great Belgian driver Jacky Ickx. He also authored "The American Legacy in Formula 1", a book which recounts the trials and tribulations of American drivers in Grand Prix racing. Phillip is also a commentator for Belgian broadcaster Be.TV for the US Indycar series.