The fuel used in Formula One cars is 99% the same as the kind
pumped into the hatchbacks, saloons or estate cars seen on roads all over the
world.
So what,
exactly, is in that missing 1% that makes elite motorsport so special?
"That's what I keep in my back pocket, I'm afraid,"
Mike Evans, head of the fuel development program at Shell -- which is supplier
to the Ferrari team -- told CNN's The Circuit ahead of this weekend's Hungarian
Grand Prix.
"This is
the special treatment we give to the fuel, to make sure it gives the ultimate
performance in the Ferrari engine, so unfortunately I'm sworn to secrecy on
that one."
As well as keeping their secret formula out of the public's
tanks, fuel suppliers also have to guard against curious rival companies.
"We go to
extreme extents (of secrecy)," Evans explains.
"The fuel
supplied is in our control the whole time, it'll be stored in a truck in Europe
or in a funded area at the races.
"There will be security over there, and after the race we
arrange for what's not been used to be disposed, locally adulterated, or
returned sometimes back to our laboratory in Germany.
"I mean
there is folklore -- and I've never witnessed this -- that people in the past
used to go along and drill on the underside of the drum and get a sample out.
"Obviously
on the top of the drum it looked great and then you'd suddenly realize it felt
a bit light.
"But those
days are long since gone, so it is one of the things I would love to know how
our fuels compare to our competitors'."
Much like
athletes are subjected to drug tests before, during or after competitions, so
too does the cars' fuel undergo a similar process to ensure it complies with
regulations.
The FIA, motorsport's governing body, puts fuels through a
rigorous test, while also regularly checking it over the course of a grand prix
weekend.
"They do
this 'blood' test -- the GC (Gas Chromatograph) test -- on it, like a
fingerprint of all the different compounds that are in the fuel," Evans
adds.
"The FIA are doing this 'blood' test to make sure that once
the fuel has been approved, we don't surreptitiously put this compound X in the
fuel and then use it at the races.
"They will
come round twice over the race weekend. We monitor it from when we take the
samples out of the drums, into the fueling rigs and into the car, to make sure
that there's no contamination."
The stakes are
high for Evans and his team, as any mistake can have huge implications for
Ferrari and its drivers throughout the championship.
In 1997, Mika
Hakkinen was stripped of his third place at the Belgium Grand Prix after the
FIA ruled his fuel was not the correct formula.
"You could
be disqualified or you could get a big fine," Evans said. "It's bad
news, basically.
"It would
be the team and the driver who would get the penalty -- so probably not Shell.
"If the
team were fined, they would come and see us. The driver can face the penalty as
well as the team, so we have to be very, very careful."
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