mep wrote:bigpat wrote:3. Roadside fuel here, is $1.55 per litre. F1 spec fuel sells for $6.50 - $8.00 per Litre. Now you tell me how different they are...
Seriously why should somebody buy fuel that is 5 times more expensive?
It is clearly not worth it. Even the regular price of 1.55 is prolly already overprised.
Yes we in Australia think $1.55 for 91 octane is expensive too!
But F1 fuel DOES cost $6.50 per litre. Why would you buy it? Because it is best blend of fuel for what the current rules allow. The fuel will be composed of the most pure (synthetic where possible) additives, and precisely weighed and blended, on occasion for specific tracks, within the tolerances that the FIA allow for fuels.
Regular pump fuel varies a great deal in quality, so car manufacturers detune the engines somewhat to allow for this. F1 engines are designed and built to operate at the limit of what the fuels can give them, so the quality control of their fuel is much stricter.
Oh, and by the way, a team CAN use a different brand of fuel if they so wish (eg: sign a sponsorship deal mid season). It's the fuel suppliers that must supply the chromatograph footprint, not the teams.
In any case, besides Shell, Mobil, and Petronas, most of the grid use Elf/ Total fuel anyway.....