3 May

This is the greatest engine ever built. The Mercedes turbo-hybrid F1. The battery is on the right. Normal combustion engines run at a thermal efficiency (how much fuel energy they convert into movement) of 29%, max, road cars closer to 20%. This engine has a thermal efficiency of over 50%, it’s a massive engineering achievement. Mercedes were asked about where engine development will go from here: “Do you see a future for internal combustion engines which aren’t hybrids? No. I think there’s a beautiful partnership between high voltage hybrid systems and internal combustion engines, where they can help each other.” One of the highlights of my day is driving a hybrid 120km in a return trip to work. Not just because it cut my fuel bill so massively, but because of the incredible performance of the hybrid engine. Effortless power on demand, no gears, ‘drive-by-wire’ technology where the combustion engine and battery just create energy, which computers then transmit to the wheels through a hybrid transmission, precisely as you need it. Pure driving joy. I love to smoke petrols at red lights, listening to them revving the guts out of their engines in short bursts of acceleration with each gear change, trying to get to peak torque and power. While the hybrid creates maximum torque and power totally smoothly, at every speed, as they disappear behind me.