Why do we have a fuel allowance and a max fuel flow rate??

[Stu]

Wasn't there a thing years ago where a team or two had extra fuel tanks, so they put more fuel than was required in, but then dumped it as a way of gaming the minimum weight of the car regs? (or a cheeky way of distributing ballast?) The rule could be because of that? I could be remembering that a bit wrongly, though.

water tanks for "brake cooling" on the last put stop they dropped a tungsten ball into the tank to get the weight up too

That was Tyrell, wasn’t it? Martin Brundle was driving for them in his first stint of F1. 1984? They got caught in Detroit, US GP, if I remember correctly.

[Big Tea]

Wasn't there a thing years ago where a team or two had extra fuel tanks, so they put more fuel than was required in, but then dumped it as a way of gaming the minimum weight of the car regs? (or a cheeky way of distributing ballast?) The rule could be because of that? I could be remembering that a bit wrongly, though.

water tanks for "brake cooling" on the last put stop they dropped a tungsten ball into the tank to get the weight up too

That was Tyrell, wasn’t it? Martin Brundle was driving for them in his first stint of F1. 1984? They got caught in Detroit, US GP, if I remember correctly.

If my memory works, often it does not, they put the balls in the air venting side while the fuel its self was open for anyone to inspect. As fuel vapour was not to be vented to air, a mechanic held what looked like a milk churn over the vent hole, but it allegedly took 2 guys to lift it to his shoulder before use.

[NL_Fer]

Maybe it is also to prevent the topteams to develop several fueltank configurations. Like a chassis with a bigger tank in Monza and a smaller tank in Monaco. This pressures the smaller teams to do the same and spend extra money on such a bullshit.

[ENGINE TUNER]

Else teams would give the car a 180 kg of fuel and run the PU 100% all of the time (as in, during braking, mid corner, etc) to charge up the e-systems.

…and the cars would be the size of a London bus…

…as opposed to a mini-bus!!

The cars are large/long for aero reasons, not because of the fuel tank or the hybrid PU. If you look you will notice that the 2013 v8 kers Merc has the same wheelbase and overall length as the 2014 hybrid PU merc. The teams started lengthening the cars in order to increase downforce and to lower drag because they were widened for 2017. Most of that extra length is empty space between the clutch and the rear axle. Wheelbase is limited by the 2022 regs, but not by much.