How Verstappen was nearly caught out by F1’s cool fuel rule

Verstappen was the last driver to go to the grid before the pitlane closed at 2.30pm – leaving his garage just seconds after Pierre Gasly of sister team AlphaTauri headed out onto the track. Sergio Perez in the other Red Bull had set off only slightly earlier.

Red Bull has said Verstappen’s late arrival at the grid was due to DRS issues, and indeed the team was observed checking the rear wing before the pitlane opened.

However it’s understood that the cars of both Honda-powered teams were delayed in leaving the garage because they had concerns about complying with the FIA regulations on minimum fuel temperature, something that also caught out Aston Martin in Miami, where both AMR22s had to start from the pitlane.

Article 6 of the FIA technical regulations specifies that fuel cannot be more than 10 degrees centigrade below the officially declared ambient temperature.

The rules state: “No fuel intended for immediate use in a car may be more than ten degrees centigrade below ambient temperature.

“When assessing compliance, the ambient temperature will be that recorded by the FIA appointed weather service provider one hour before any practice session or two hours before the race. This information will also be displayed on the timing monitors.

“The temperature of fuel intended for use in a car must be measured via an FIA approved and sealed sensor.”

For the first five races of this season with the new cars it was agreed by the teams and the FIA to peg minimum fuel temperature at 18 degrees – in effect using a notional 28 degrees ambient for Bahrain, Jeddah, Melbourne, Imola and Miami.

However the figure reverted to the original rule for Barcelona. The official FIA pre-race ambient temperature was 35 degrees, so the fuel could be no cooler than 25 degrees.

Teams have to put the fuel into their cars two hours before the start, and declare to the FIA how much is onboard.

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