Motorsport runs on the cutting edge, and because of this, every component often operates within a very tight set of tolerances.
This especially includes the fuel system and the engine, which is why racing fuels are stored in safety tanks with pressure relief valves due to the often more volatile mixes.
The fuels are an often-underrated difference-maker in the world of motorsport, particularly compared to conventional petrol and diesel, and it has meant that the switch to more sustainable fuels has necessarily been implemented differently here than in the wider motoring world.
Here are some of the differences between racing fuels and petrol, how the two have converged closer and why they are likely to look completely different when fully sustainable fuels take over.
The Pump Fuel Rule In Formula One
There are a few rules in Formula One that have simultaneously formed the core bedrock of the sport and been interpreted in such wildly different ways as to force major changes to the sport as a whole.
Alongside the rule against “moveable aerodynamic devices” and specific rules surrounding engine size, the most widely misinterpreted rule is the so-called “fuel pump” rule, which stipulates that any fuels used in Formula One must resemble those used in road cars.
The problem with this is that the regulations were preoccupied with avoiding the use of particular adulterants or substances that would make the fuels radically different to conventional leaded petrol of the era, but the key to unlocking the power of petrol comes in the specifics of the blend rather than simply what ingredients are used.
For example, toluene is an ingredient found in varying amounts in road fuels, but if mixed in high enough amounts, it can lead to dramatic increases in power.
This was nicknamed “rocket fuel” based on an apocryphal link to fuels used in the latter stages of the Second World War, and led to tiny 1.5 litre engines having power outputs of as much as 1500 horsepower.
This was banned, but from the 1980s up until the early 2000s, so-called “pump fuel” was often very different from team to team depending on their car’s specific needs, and all of them were very different to the fuel used in road cars.
The Same Yet So Very Different
The biggest change came in 1996, when after years of trying to strictly regulate fuels largely failed to bear fruit, it was replaced with a relatively simpler rule that said that all F1 fuels had to conform to the then-universal Euro 95 standard.
This meant that they had to be unleaded and roughly conform to the same standards as petrol fuels. However, F1 technical experts knew exactly where and when they needed to actually conform to the letter of the law rather than the spirit, and fuels remain remarkably specialised.
This eventually changed to a more restrictive standard based on EN 228: 2005, which further limited the divergences from so-called “pump fuel”.
This would eventually evolve to a fuel mix incorporating at least 5.75 per cent sustainable biofuel, before that changed to fuels that meet the E10 specification found in a lot of road cars today.
Despite this, much like how different petrol brands available today have slightly different properties from each other, fuels are still tailored for the needs of certain teams. This is why so many F1 teams have both engine and fuel partners, who make blends that suit the dynamics of certain complex engines.
A Divergent Path
The E10 specifications are possibly the closest that Formula One racing fuels and conventional automobile fuels will come to each other, not least because road cars are increasingly moving away from using fuel at all and relying primarily or exclusively on battery power.
Whilst all-electric motorsport leagues do exist, such as Formula E, the idea that Formula One will follow the same path has already been rejected as being contrary to the spirit of motorsport.
Given that even the turbo-hybrid engines introduced in 2014 have remained controversial in this regard, dispensing with fuel entirely is not an option, even if it means that the cars, engines and fuels will continue to move further away from those used in conventional engines.
Similarly, whilst road cars are opting for biofuels, Formula One is moving towards a fully sustainable hydrocarbon electrofuel, which mixes hydrogen obtained through electrolysis with captured carbon, creating a theoretically carbon-negative fuel depending on the electricity source that could potentially be carbon neutral even with the travel and use.
The future fuel could potentially be very different indeed, depending on the engines they are developed for.
