Find out how everyday motorists benefit from Shell's technical partnership with Ferrari and other giants of the motorsport world.
The glamour of international motorsport might seem a million miles away from a rainy forecourt on the side of an A-road, but Formula One sponsorship is more than mere advertising.
For Shell it's a technical partnership, and the ultimate beneficiary is the consumer who can drive away from the forecourt with the knowledge that there's a little bit of F1 technology in the tank.
Shell has had a technical partnership with the Ferrari Formula One team - and Ferrari's road car division - for more than half a century. It's a partnership that has powered Ferrari to 10 Formula One World Constructors’ titles, and helped bring Michael Schumacher successive Grand Prix championships, but it's also helped shape the fuels we use in our cars on a day-to-day basis.
Stuart Humm, Shell's global sponsorship activation manager explains: 'Shell and Ferrari have had a shared passion for performance for over 60 years. It's the longest partnership in Formula One. What that gives us is a very in depth technical partnership, not only in the Formula One space but also on the road car side.
'If you then take what we learn at the racetrack through our partnership with Formula One we've got years of knowledge in the ultimate test bed for our products, Shell V-Power fuels and the Shell Helix Ultra lubricants, to learn the most effective way to develop our products for the consumer.'
In essence the petrol used in Formula One is the same petrol Shell sells on the forecourt. It is produced in (relatively) small batches at Shell's R&D facility, rather than at commercial refineries, but it's essentially the same fuel.
Says Humm, 'The Shell V-Power fuels are very similar to the type of fuel the consumer will fill up at a Shell filling station because the actual blend of the fuels is mandated by the sport's governing body, the FIA, to be so.'
But it wasn't always this way. Shell's technology manager for Ferrari, Lisa Lilley explains that current FIA regulations move Formula One away from the 'rocket fuels' that were prevalent in the 1980s.
'That had no relevance at all to the average customer,' says Lilley, 'so the regulation actually states that the types of components that we're using in the Formula One fuel have to be very similar to the types of components that we'd use in a commercial fuel. So, to all intents and purposes, the Formula One fuel has to look like a commercial gasoline.
'When we launched our Shell V-Power fuel in the UK, for example, we ran a Ferrari Formula One car on Shell V-Power road fuel. And, similarly, I can give you some Formula One race fuel and you can put it in your car, so long as it's not a diesel, and it's going to work.'
Developing a fuel for Formula One is about pushing boundaries, reading the FIA regulations and getting the absolute maximum performance from within these strict parameters.
'When we get the approval from the FIA we're looking to be right on the edge,' explains Lilley, 'so if we get a couple of warnings because we're borderline that's a good thing because it tells us that we're really pushing the limits of what we can do.
'The real difference between Formula One fuel and commercial fuel is that Formula One fuel is tailor-made for the best performance in one car whereas when we make a commercial fuel it has to be able to run in any make, any model, any age of vehicle – so it has to be a little more generic.'
But surely the demands of a Formula One car are completely different from the needs of the everyday driver, who demands fuel economy over performance? Not so, suggests Lilley: 'Fuel economy is critical in Formula One. Although performance is our primary goal, our secondary goal is fuel economy. Certainly next year, when there's no refuelling, fuel economy is and will be increasingly important.'
Surprisingly, efficiency is not just something that makers of frugal superminis worry about. Ferrari's new 458 Italia supercar has wowed the motoring press with its gorgeous looks (it's probably the best-looking Ferrari in 20 years) and promised performance. But it's also Ferrari's greenest supercar to date.
Humm says, 'Ferrari is challenged to meet the European mandates on emissions as well as not compromising their core brand beliefs and very essence – the power and performance. The Ferrari 458 Italia will actually be Ferrari's most fuel efficient car. But also it will be the class leader for fuel economy. They have very much been working with us at Shell to develop the fuels and the lubricants that will help them to achieve those figures.'
What a supercar or an F1 car needs from its fuel is not all that different from what your average car needs.
Shell invests approximately 18,000 hours a year into research and development to give Ferrari the competitive edge in Formula One, but Shell's commitment to using motorsport as the ultimate test bed for its fuels goes deeper than its relationship with Ferrari. Audi has dominated the Le Mans endurance event this century with a car running on a formula similar to the Shell V-Power Diesel available at pumps.
And Shell has a similar relationship with Ducati in motorcycling MotoGP events, which has similar benefits to those on two wheels that its relationship with Ferrari brings to those on four.
Next time you see a Shell logo at a motorsport event, you'll realise that it's more than mere sponsorship.
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