Petronas, fuel supplier to Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, is set to introduce a new fuel for the start of the season, with Mercedes hoping it will give them an edge over their competitors.
The new Primax fuel is the result of months of research at their Italian centre, and is set to be evaluated at the Barcelona test this week, alongside the new Syntium lubricants.
Power will prove more crucial in 2017 than it has in previous years due to the increase in drag resulting from the changes in regulations. But so too will reliability as teams are limited to only four engines for the entire season. Mercedes has stated that their engine has undergone radical changes in design, providing an unrivalled leap forward in performance.
Andrea Dolfi, Petronas’ motorsport manager, told Motorsport.com that the need for better energy deployment drove the fuel’s development, as any car losing electrical energy prematurely on the straights would suffer a great disadvantage.
“The new power unit will seek better performance by moving the limits in terms of duration of energy conversion,” he said.
“For this reason, the Petronas Primax new fuel and Petronas Syntium engine oil were reformulated to meet the demands of the Mercedes engineers.”
When asked to quantify the fuel’s advantage, Dolfi added: “The value in performance is significant. I can’t say more because the data is sensitive, but we are satisfied with the work that has been done.”
If all is well during its Barcelona evaluation, the fuel will be supplied for use at the Australian Grand Prix next month.