Formula One Technology Explained - Engine

Shell works with Scuderia Ferrari to ensure that Shell V-Power Racing fuel and Shell Helix Ultra lubricant enables the engine to retain the highest possible performance and is kept in its optimum condition.

Every Formula One engine is a 2.4litre V8 engine, capable of producing around 800 horsepower. The Fédération International de l’Automobile (FIA) introduced a regulation at the start of 2009 which restricts engines to 18,000 rpm (rather than 19,000 rpm in 2008). This prolongs the lives of the eight engines allowed per driver per season and reduces horsepower output, making the racing safer and more cost effective.

The lifeblood of the engine, Shell Helix Ultra lubricates the rotating and oscillating parts. This allows the parts to move more freely and hugely reduces friction inside the cylinders and pistons. The Shell Helix Ultra is sprayed at speeds of up to 150mph inside the engine onto the underside of the piston heads to lubricate the movement up and down. The lubricant reduces wear inside the engine and, with only eight engines in 2009, keeps them operating at their maximum level and prolongs the life of the engines.

Formula One fuel is the most tightly regulated racing fuel in the world with at least 5.75% biofuel mandatory in its composition. Shell V-Power Racing fuel is cooled in the fuelling rig to 10°C below the atmospheric temperature making it denser and allowing more fuel to fit inside the tank.

Fuel is pumped from the fuelling rig into the car at a rate of 12.1 litres per second, filling an empty car in less than eight seconds.  The fuel tank is constructed from flexible Kevlar and rubber, located underneath and behind the driver.

Fuel vapour from the tank mixes with the air in the inlet trumpet before it is pumped past the valve into the cylinder. The fuel mixture is ignited when the piston is at the top of its stroke, forcing it back down.  This process is synchronised over all eight cylinders at a maximum speed of 18,000 rpm.