Results 1 to 3 of 3
  1. #1
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2019
    Posts
    1
    Like
    0
    Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts

    What did Lewis Hamilton mean by "equal fuel"?

    On the BBC Chequered Flag Canada preview podcast, they spoke with Lewis Hamilton about his first pole and win here in Canada in 2007. He mentioned that it was the first race the team had let him have "equal fuel" with Fernando Alonso. He/they didn't explain what that meant - does anyone here know?

  2. #2
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    Seville
    Posts
    1,562
    Like
    279
    Liked 203 Times in 148 Posts
    In 2007 they had this rule according to which you had to qualify with the amount of fuel you had at the start of the race. I assume that what Hamilton means is that up until that point, Alonso had been getting a preferential strategy, and from the Canadian GP they either gave them the same amount of fuel for qualifying.

    Funnily enough, that was also the same reason in which Alonso's well-known fuel-saving abilities made him save an extra lap of fuel, which caused him to pit during a safety car period, which was forbidden at the time, and ended up getting a 10-second stop-and-go penalty. People kind of shut up about Alonso's fuel saving after that.

  3. #3
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2002
    Location
    Birmingham, UK
    Posts
    3,230
    Like
    1
    Liked 23 Times in 16 Posts
    It's worth mentioning that they still had refuelling in F1 at that point, up until the end of 2009 in fact, which meant the amount of fuel you started with was likely to vary up and down the grid
    https://wordpress.com/stats/insights/stugrovesf1.wordpress.com

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •