Fuel in Formula One is a serious business and there’s much more to it than meets the eye.  On telly we see the sometimes dramatic pit stops with more than 20 gentlemen busy working around a £1,000,000 dollar motor under immense pressure at incredible speed and with impeccable timing.  Arguably the most difficult job in the pit crew is the re-fuelling, it takes up to three chaps to complete the re-fuelling part of a mid-race pit stop, where if something goes awry it can be nothing but catastrophic to a driver’s race, and often create an amusing or impressive spectacle at the same time (of course – thinking of Ferrari’s Singapore shambles in 2008)

The fuel tank of a F1 car is filled at the rate of 12 litres per second, and as a result there’s a massive amount of energy going through the hose, which can weigh up to 40kg – quite a hefty amount to handle on one shoulder.  If the chap driving the nozzle onto the car makes a mistake in taking it off or, even worse, gets it wrong trying to put it on, it’s a far from simple procedure to try again and could double the length of a pit stop, which is a life time in grand prix terms.

Obviously, all the teams practice again and again at getting the pit stop procedure spot on, and as a result they get it right 99.9% of the time.  Where’s the competition then?  As with all things in the sport, there’s plenty more that goes on behind the scenes in Formula 1 than the average punter gets to know about.  Fortunately F1 Badger spent some time in the Ferrari garage thanks to their Shell colleagues at this year’s British Grand Prix.  It’s not immediately obvious, but many of the teams have different fuel suppliers – McLaren and Mobil, Renault and Total, Williams and Petrobas, and so on.  Ferrari is the unique exception when it comes to fuel – they take their relationship with Shell to the next level and work more closely with their fuel partners than any other team.  Put it this way – no other team has a separate motorhome/lab at every European race for their fuel suppliers – Ferrari do and it’s known as the Shell Track Lab.

The ‘Track Lab’ looks like your childhood chemistry set on steroids…in a shed that’s more plush and shiny white than an Apple store.  Oh and this shed is actually on the top floor of one the many massive trucks you see parked up behind the pit lane garages.  The lab is run and all fuel tests and samples are looked after by a lady (yes, they do in fact have a presence in F1 some of the time) known as Lisa Lilley.  It’s a good name and she’s a great lady, with a massively serious and crucial job on her hands.

In a sport that’s governed by regulation after regulation it’s not surprising to learn that at any given point any team can be called up by the FIA to sample the fuel in the car.  It’s virtually guaranteed if you finish in a podium position and is definitely guaranteed if you’re short of fuel at the end of race.  The FIA test samples of each team’s fuel to ensure it fits the regulatory ingredients and they keep a fingerprint of the sample in a database, which is then used to test against should the fuel ever be called in for testing.  If the fingerprint is different then we can expect penalties, which would most likely be followed by at least one court case, going by recent issues that have cropped up.

So, the Track Lab run by Ms Lilley is responsible for ensuring the fuel used in the Ferrari cars is spot on for the entirety of a grand prix weekend.  The Badger learned that despite what you might think, the fuel used in the Ferrari F1 car seen zooming around the race tracks across the world is not all that different (generally) to the fuel you use to run an everyday car and that whatever fuel you use for your Ford Focus would power an F1 car just fine.

The V-Power fuel is some pretty impressive stuff, in that it looks after the engine more so than your average fuel and delivers that crucial bit of extra performance that everyone seeks in F1.  The fact that it looks after the engine by reducing friction on the moving parts leads to greater reliability for the F1 machines racing on the limits, so it will probably do your Focus’ power-plant some good too. Having the fuel in F1 being so close to ‘real’ car fuel is only good news and with the ever increasing ‘green’ awareness present in F1, all advances in this area will only mean good news for car owners across the land.  If you didn’t know already, F1 fuel regulations already state that more than 5% of it has to be bio-fuel, with a look to increase this percentage over the coming years.  The number of engines used per season being regulated is also a beneficial regulation for road cars because it means that the focus of developement on F1 fuel is ever more so with the aim to improve engine lifetime, prevent a build up of deposits and minimise wear.

So next time you’re at the pumps, just think that your motor could be running on the same fuel as the moody Mr Raikkonen and happy chappy Massa.  They’ve got V-Power, and Shell has been with Ferrari for over 60 years, powering the team to more race wins world championships than any other team – have you you got the power?

Massive thanks to Andy, Stewart, Anna and Sharon at Shell and their Public Relations crew who arranged and looked after us during the visit.

As far as we’re concerned it’s great that such large, well established organisations are looking to help and provide insight for independent publications such as F1 Badger - it was a pleasure and the Badger salutes you.

Further reading:

• Shell’s Interview with Lisa Lilley (video)
• Fancy working in Ferrari like Lisa – read her bio
• More on Shell V-Power (including some lovely vintage video)