Ferrari Power Unit Hardware & Software

[AR3-GP]

That last bit isn't right.

A customer team can dyno test any fuel/lube on the PU to help them find an alternative fuel supply and/or sponsorship. The only condition is that it can't be made by the works fuel supplier. The customer team doesn't need to have an existing partnership/sponsorship with the alternative fuel supplier.

I can't really comment on feasibility of the story, but it doesn't sound as though it would breech any regs.

That is what the "last bit" says.

Cadillac also isn't allowed to test any fuel pertaining to Ferrari PU, because they do not have an alternative fuel supplier.

Shell is not an "alternate" fuel supplier. If Cadillac have an alternate fuel supplier, then Ferrari are compelled by regulations to allow them to use it. In reality no customer team would bother with this in 2026. They don't know better than the factory team. The PU is too complicated.

Back in 2017, Renault and Red Bull used different fuels for the Renault engine. BP in the factory cars and Exxon Mobil in the Red Bull cars. Mclaren had even negotiated to use Petrobras fuels in the Renault engine so that would have made 3 different fuels in the Renault engine before the deal collapsed.

[UserUnknown]

That is what the "last bit" says.

Cadillac also isn't allowed to test any fuel pertaining to Ferrari PU, because they do not have an alternative fuel supplier.

Shell is not an "alternate" fuel supplier. If Cadillac have an alternate fuel supplier, then Ferrari are compelled by regulations to allow them to use it. In reality no customer team would bother with this in 2026. They don't know better than the factory team. The PU is too complicated.

Ah okay that makes perfect sense now, I was arguing based on this comment from the original article, where there’s no mention of Shell making the alternative fuel:

But on the subject of petrol, an interesting background was suggested to us by a source close to the red. At the beginning of the season, it seems that Shell had approved its fuel specification for the Scuderia, just as Cadillac had prepared its own version, following the instructions of the team and the supplier.

[ispano6]

The notion that Cadillac is incapable of suggesting a possibly better formulation than the works Ferrari team is the point I contend. Cadillac has it's own fuel development and are in a unique position to be able to make a direct comparison. The previous comments about Cadillac by others just comes off as arrogance. As if they don't know how to dyno and run their own development program.

Cadillac could have found something in their own fuel development and may have tipped Shell to try out their additive or molecular properties. The reports on the fuel alluded to being able to run at higher temps.