philipbain
14th March 2010, 10:43
An issue which I feel hasnt really been discussed a lot in the run up to the season is relative performance of cars on full tanks vs. next to no fuel in qualifying. Obviously it goes without saying that in general the cars will be a significant amount slower on full tanks, which is obvious and has been highlighted a lot, however, it is relative performance between cars on full tanks that will be interesting.
What may happen is that a team who are particularly fast running on empty will qualify well but then on full tanks other cars that qualified less well will be able to go quicker due to tyre management or being able to run lighter due to better fuel consumption. This was something that used to occur back in the late 80s and early 90s where typically V8 runners would carry a chunk of fuel less than the V10/V12 runners and be able to make ground at the start of the races even when they were outpaced in qualifying, often being caught again later in the race as the fuel loads lightened and the V10s and V12s could use thier power more effectively.
The differences in fuel consumption are less dramatic these days but I feel that the relative closeness of the field in terms of performance will still make full fuel performance a real difference maker. Perhaps we will see this at play in today's season opener in Bahrain as the 2 cars of the front row are thought to be at the extremes of fuel consumption, the Renault engine is thought to be the most frugal, the Ferrari engine is thought to be the thirstiest, which is born out in the fact that the Ferrari engined cars are thought to have the biggest fuel tanks in F1, speculated to be in the region of 240 litres. The Renault engined cars could be carrying anything up to 30 litres less which could prove to be a big advantage in the early stages of the race.
What may happen is that a team who are particularly fast running on empty will qualify well but then on full tanks other cars that qualified less well will be able to go quicker due to tyre management or being able to run lighter due to better fuel consumption. This was something that used to occur back in the late 80s and early 90s where typically V8 runners would carry a chunk of fuel less than the V10/V12 runners and be able to make ground at the start of the races even when they were outpaced in qualifying, often being caught again later in the race as the fuel loads lightened and the V10s and V12s could use thier power more effectively.
The differences in fuel consumption are less dramatic these days but I feel that the relative closeness of the field in terms of performance will still make full fuel performance a real difference maker. Perhaps we will see this at play in today's season opener in Bahrain as the 2 cars of the front row are thought to be at the extremes of fuel consumption, the Renault engine is thought to be the most frugal, the Ferrari engine is thought to be the thirstiest, which is born out in the fact that the Ferrari engined cars are thought to have the biggest fuel tanks in F1, speculated to be in the region of 240 litres. The Renault engined cars could be carrying anything up to 30 litres less which could prove to be a big advantage in the early stages of the race.