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[racechick]

Apologies in advance for inaccuracies and lack of technical jargon

I was reading this weeks Autosport in Tesco ( don't currently have a subscription) and there was an article on ' Fuel is the new battleground' by Johnathon Noble. And now I have to try to remember what I read something I think like this..

Petrol is important like never before in F1. Mercedes have worked very closely with Petronas from the start and it has bought them gains. Shell and Mobil are now realising this and are looking to bring upgrades to their fuel. Petronas, while they have a substantial lead in this area, will only bring upgrades to the fuel if they are significant. What they are working on now ( can't remember if this is all of them of just Petronas) is the viscosity of the surface area of the fuel( might have got that hard bit wrong). This will affect the way the fuel is able to squirt better when pumping into the engine by the turbo.
does that make any sense guys?

Looks to me like fuel is not just boring old fuel any more but a crucial time gainer.

[stonemonkey]

By the sounds of it, it's the surface tension they're working on altering to affect how the droplets form when the fuel is injected, possibly to get as fine a mist as they can. However, I'm pretty sure F1 engines are direct injection which is directly into the cylinder so has nothing to do with the airflow from the turbo. Perhaps the higher pressure from the turbo has to be taken into account when engineering the fuel though, I don't know.

[racechick]

It was something to do with the droplets and the fineness...I think. Maybe it does make some sort of difference

[stonemonkey]

A finer mist of fuel will burn quicker.

[What's Burning?]

able to squirt better when pumping

yes, yes indeed.

[darwin dali]

able to squirt better when pumping

yes, yes indeed.

Naughty

[The Second Coming]

Apologies in advance for inaccuracies and lack of technical jargon

I was reading this weeks Autosport in Tesco ( don't currently have a subscription) and there was an article on ' Fuel is the new battleground' by Johnathon Noble. And now I have to try to remember what I read something I think like this..

Petrol is important like never before in F1. Mercedes have worked very closely with Petronas from the start and it has bought them gains. Shell and Mobil are now realising this and are looking to bring upgrades to their fuel. Petronas, while they have a substantial lead in this area, will only bring upgrades to the fuel if they are significant. What they are working on now ( can't remember if this is all of them of just Petronas) is the viscosity of the surface area of the fuel( might have got that hard bit wrong). This will affect the way the fuel is able to squirt better when pumping into the engine by the turbo.
does that make any sense guys?

Looks to me like fuel is not just boring old fuel any more but a crucial time gainer.

RC, I give you high marks for even attempting this. In general terms, I know what you/the article is getting at…and yes, fuel has become the new battleground. I find it interesting that Shell used to be well ahead in this area dating back to the Schumacher/Barichello days but have somehow fallen behind. There was a similar article recently focusing on Shell's recent activities…have to go dig around for it. Anyway, will be very curious to see the impacts as the year progresses.

Such fun!

[racechick]

Here us something about the importance of fuel
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/113980
But the more technical stuff, the actual Johnathan Noble article is subs only, it's on the 'click here' at the end

[spankyham]

I'm sure this was raised pre season and Petronas's lead in this area was highlighted.

[racechick]

Perhaps they didn't realise how important it would be then then. This is a current article .

[spankyham]

Perhaps they didn't realise how important it would be then then. This is a current article .

Or perhaps they were ahead of the media on this one

[Jabberwocky]

I am sure I read somewhere pre season that one of the teams had an issue with dieseling. So if teams are on the limit with that then a finer mist will push move that restriction

Sent using NCC-1701

[racechick]

Perhaps they didn't realise how important it would be then then. This is a current article .

Or perhaps they were ahead of the media on this one

I think you miss the point. The media are reporting what the teams are saying. The teams are saying the fuel is becoming more important than they thought, like tyres and aero have been.
Here's another article saying the same thing. It says in this one that Luca is now pushing to work more closely with Shell
http://thisisf1.com/2014/05/19/fuel-a-b ... wered-era/

[spankyham]

Did they say how important it might be? I mean is there a suggestion that it could be a significant part of the 1+ second lead Mercedes has over the rest of the field.

[What's Burning?]

At best fuel will give you a tenth or two. Where the is more of an impact is power produced in a variety of conditions, they may have four or five different fuel mixes for different circuits and weather conditions.