Spanish GP garage panic prompts F1 fuel temperature debate

Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly only just made it out of the Barcelona pitlane before it closed 30 minutes before the start of the race because the two Honda-powered teams were waiting for the fuel to rise to the legal minimum temperature.

The limit is 10C below ambient temperature as declared to the nearest round number by the FIA from the official timing screens two hours before the start. That coincides with the time when the fuel has to go into the cars.

Teams put fuel in at a level below the minimum, on the basis that the temperature will rise while it sits in the car in the two hours before the race and rise further, when the engines are started and run, as part of the usual pre-race procedures.

The official temperature shown around two hours before the Spanish GP on the FIA info system was in the 34C range, so teams thus expected to have to use 24C as the minimum.

However, the actual official figure declared by the FIA, and to which teams had to adhere, apparently just ticked to 35C – which meant fuel had to be 25C or over.

That difference was enough to leave some teams scrambling to generate the extra degree of fuel temperature at the last minute. The FIA monitors this live from the standard fuel flow meters in each car.

Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri AT03

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

In Spain, Red Bull and AlphaTauri used the time that they would usually use for laps through the pitlane and a practice start to keep the cars in the garages with their engines running.

Gasly and Verstappen finally left just seconds before the pitlane closed and were able to get to the grid. However, the drivers’ usual pre-race preparations were compromised.

Teams are now discussing when the official temperature is declared