New Fuel Will Move Ferrari Up Grid Says Ferrari Engineer

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engineer in charge of Engine and KERS Operation Mattia Binotto says that the new Shell fuel that the team will be using this weekend will be good for a bump of one grid position in terms of lap time. Quantitatively, that means that the new fuel is probably good for about 0.05 of a second per lap. 

The new fuel, developed by Shell, has been in evaluation by Ferrari for the last several months. Ferrari would not go into detail about what exactly made the new fuel better for the car. The process begins with Shell sending possible fuel candidates to Ferrari who test in on a dyno who look at "combustion efficiency, speed of combustion, consumption and also power output," said Binotto.

"I would say that if it works as planned then it should be good enough to improve your grid position by one place, at a time when qualifying performances are so close. In fact, given the engine freeze, there is very little one can do to enhance the performance of our 056, but this is one way that is allowed," said Binotto.

Ferrari hinted that they are experimenting with two further fuel developments that could be implemented by the end of the season.