Competition between Petronas and Shell will continue to sizzle in 2016. Just as Petronas introduced its new formulas for the Mercedes-AMG team at the 2015 Italian GP, Shell had also injected its Prancing Horses with new fuel.
Shell claimed that the Ferrari team gained up to half-a-second a lap with the new fuel, amounting to nearly a 30-seconds advantage over a full race. Mercedes-AMG Petronas team boss, Toto Wolff, responded to the claims by saying that it was, “interesting, but probably not quite where the reality lies.”
Global manufacturer liaison and motorsport manager in research and technology at Petronas, Andrea Dolfi, said that his company will keep pushing its own development to match that of Mercedes-AMG High Performance Powertrains (HPP).
“Since F1 solutions are truly tailor made to co-engineer with the fluids, we have to move along with them. If you want to visualise it, yes, it’s a technical race, and what matters at the end of the day are the results on the track,” said Dolfi. “There are contributions from all sides. We are working together, moving together and we are striving to achieve tangible, sensible improvements,” he concluded.
Petronas, title sponsor and key technical partner of the Mercedes-AMG F1 team, has said that it will be introducing a major fuel and oil upgrade for the 2016 Formula 1 World Championship season.
Speaking to Autosport at a recent event, Chan Ming-Yau, fuel technology and oil business manager, said, “we tend to launch a (new) fuel when we have sizeable gains, something we are sure can be taken advantage of.”
An often overlooked aspect of the sport by its fans, fuel and oils play a massive role in a Formula 1 car’s performance. Chan continued to explain, “we launched a new fuel at the Italian GP earlier this year, together with the new-spec engine, and time gains were made. We are looking at doing something for the new season, and for the start (2016 season) if we can, but if not, as soon as we can.
“As we go along and find numbers we are happy with, then we will introduce (the new fuel and oil),” he continued. “When we launched the formulation of the new fuel for 2014 I thought there was not much room for improvement, but actually we found it. That was a surprise. So let’s keep on working and eventually we will find something,” concluded Chan.
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
Mobil too did some super fuel for the Honda engine. Rumour was it was a huge boost in power. Sadly, the recovery section of the Honda PU (which of course does not use any fuel) was not up to scratch, so in the end it made no difference when compared to the competition.
another interesting info is , Lotus F1 , who has Total as one of its title sponsors , where using Mercedes engines on condition that it had to be used with the Petronas fuels n NOT Total fuels as it wd degrade its performance!
When I read the title, I thought next year I can buy Petronas LEGO set when refueling. Maybe a PROTON Petronas collection, Mercedes F1 Petronas LEGO collection.
I’m proud of Petronas and their achievements in fuel and lubricants R&D. Please keep up the good work and make Malaysia proud
As a normal car user, I hope some of the fuel technology used in F1 engines, will eventually be filtered down to commercial fuel at our local PETRONAS station. This should translate into better fuel consumption, more useful power and cleaner emissions.
Any fuel and lubricant technology by Petronas, which results showed significant improvements in performance in both capacity and mechanical properties will pushed to end user by improving Petronas RON.
Perhaps my assumption only, but my machines which using Petronas RON95 will significantly consumed much more fuel compare to peer. I’m proud with Petronas, but Im not willing to spend few dolars extra on for the same millage