F1 World Champion Jon Hilton Beating Ferrari with Flavio Briatore and Electrifying Classics

What happens when a world champion Formula One engineer takes on the energy transition? 

Jon Hilton, former Renault F1 technical director and winner of the 2005 and 2006 World Championships, went on to co-found Flybrid Automotive, developing KERS technology and selling the company for £16 million. He then applied F1 engineering to electrify Rolls-Royce Phantoms, Aston Martin DB5s, and even recycling trucks with Lunaz. Jon joins host Alex Wolfe to explore how high-performance racing insights can drive commercial clean-tech innovation. This week, Jon tells us what it’s like to have Flavio Briatore as your boss, from redundancy to scaling a breakthrough in flywheel systems, selling a business successfully and founding an electric car company as a result of a flight to Ibiza.

This week kicks off Part 2 of our special Summer Trilogy on the British Motor Show! We’re in-person at the show on Friday, 15th August. Click here to learn more about them and to donate: https://adrivingforce.co.uk/

• Be sure to check out Part 1 (last week's episode) where we review UK car manufactures facing £15K fines for every electric vehicle (EV) they fail to sell. 
• Part 3 wraps up the trilogy with insights, surprises, and key takeaways from the show itself.

It’s an auto & energy summer special you won’t want to miss!

Jon Hilton started his career with Rolls-Royce military engines group. His passion for engines led him to Formula One where he enjoyed fifteen years in senior posts at Cosworth, TWR Arrows and the Renault F1 Team.

In 2007 Jon co-formed Flybrid Automotive Limited to develop high-speed flywheel-based hybrid systems for automobile application. As Managing Director Jon ran the company until January 2014, when it was acquired by Torotrak PLC. In 2019 Jon co-founded the Lunaz group of companies, building electric classic cars and recycled electric trucks, where he worked until retirement in 2024. Jon was President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 2016/17. 

Wolfe Power Club is proud to be partnering with the Spectator Magazine to co-host their Energy Summit 2025 on November 24th. If you want to become a potential partner and have the last word on energy debates in 2025, please contact us. 

Season Two is in Partnership with The Spectator

Join Alex and Michael Gove as they co-host The Spectator Energy Summit on Monday 24th November in Westminster. Book your tickets for the final word in energy debates in 2025: https://events.spectator.co.uk/#upcoming

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Wolfe Power Club Production Team

Account Manager: Emilia Donovan

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Designer: Nick Pelekanos

Editor: Adam Woodward

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Recorded at Studio 55 - that has produced Breaking the Taboo and The ABTO Podcast

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction
• 2:08 History of Renault’s Turning Point
• 10:26 Engineering Differences from Midfield to World Champions
• 16:35 Lessons from Cosworth
• 23:54 F1 Stories to Shock and Amuse
• 28:07 From Smoke Plumes to Bulletproof Engines
• 36:30 Flybrid’s Founding
• 39:35 Jon on Being His Own Boss
• 43:00 Commercialising Flywheel KERS Technology
• 47:58 KERS and Cutting Future Energy Demand
• 50:57 Selling Flybrid, Professional Pride, and Retirement
• 1:07:16 Lunaz: Controversy, Classic Cars, and EV Genius
• 1:12:12 Barriers to Electrification Entrepreneurs
• 1:18:57 Building a Career in Engineering
• 1:23:01 Quick-Fire Questions