Ferrari Shine the Spotlight on F1 Rival Red Bull’s Chaotic Spanish GP Moment

All eyes were on Max Verstappen during the Spanish Grand Prix, as he was the last driver to leave his garage. His teammate Sergio Perez had headed out a bit earlier. An issue with the fuel temperature caught Red Bull out, and this has made Ferrari question the procedures. 

In line with Article 6.4.2 of the FIA technical regulations specifies that fuel cannot be more than 10 degrees centigrade below the officially declared ambient temperature. 

Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto wasn’t convinced and believed that fuel has to be minimum at all times. “Of course I don’t know what was going on there,” he said. “But I can imagine that it had something to do with the fuel temperatures in the tank, which can be a maximum of ten degrees below the ambient temperature.”

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“I think the rules should be followed at all times during a race weekend,” the Swiss-Italian insisted. “Not just when the car goes out on the track. But also in the box.”

So why did Red Bull have to worry about fuel temperatures?

Due to the new cars and new E10 fuel, teams had agreed to set the minimum fuel temperature at 64.4 degrees Fahrenheit (18 degrees centigrade) for the first five races. However, in Barcelona, the FIA switched things a bit. And considering the ambient temp, the fuel could not have been cooler than 77 degrees Fahrenheit (25 degrees centigrade). 

So why did this rule catch out Red Bull all of a sudden, and how did they solve it? Red Bull advisor, Helmut Marko, explained to F1insider.com. The Austrian said, “We had overlooked that the temperature had been changed. But we noticed it in time and left the engine running to warm up the petrol.”

However, at the start of the Spanish Grand Prix, he revealed that it was a last-minute adjustment due to the temperature. So it’s possible that Red Bull left the engine running in order to bring the fuel up to temperature. There is no doubt that the fuel temperature was legal because the FIA had no problems with it. 

 “I don’t think that starting the engine is enough, because the fuel should not deviate by more than ten degrees at any time during the event,” said a dissatisfied Mattia. “I can only trust the FIA ​​on this. I’m sure they checked that out.”

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However, Red Bull wasn’t the only one who has suffered this problem. Back in Miami, Aston Martin too suffered the same fate. For sure, fuel cooling and dipping below the legal temperature is going to be a subject of discussion sooner or later.