Shell products contributed 21% of Ferrari F1 engine's 2018 gains

Ferrari fuel and oil supplier Shell says data has confirmed its products contributed to an impressive 21% of the Formula 1 team's engine performance gains in 2018

Shell had estimated contributions in that region when it introduced a new fuel at the Belgian Grand Prix last year, but Ferrari has gone through dyno data at its Maranello base to find the exact figure.

Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto praised Shell's efforts during an appearance at the Albert Park circuit on Thursday.

"Obviously 21% is a huge number," said Binotto.

"It is a significant portion of the power unit lap time that we gained in development, and that I think it is simply showing the importance of our partnership, and the importance of Shell for the development of our car and power units.

"The lap time is pure performance, but you need to achieve it through reliability, and when you know you have only got three engines per drivers per season, and you are pushing the limit of the performance of the engine, you need to do that in a reliable way."

Guy Lovett, Shell Motorsport's innovation manager, said: "If we look over the last few seasons with Ferrari, we have been able to sustain a good level of performance contribution to the red cars.

"If we specifically look at the data from 2018, we have been able to calculate that 21% of Ferrari's power unit lap-time gain has come from our racing fuels and oils.

"That is something we are very proud of and something that we continue to strive for this season."

Shell and Ferrari have worked closer than ever ahead of a 2019 season that the team starts as favourite, but Binotto said there was a lot of work still to do even though he was happy with the job done so far.

"I feel ready, as the entire team is ready," he said.

"We had eight days of testing in Barcelona, where we tried somehow to understand the limits of the performance of the car and the limits of reliability of the car itself.

"We have been back from Barcelona with a lot of homework, and we had very few days to try to address all of them. But we did our best and somehow it is a never ending story.

"There is still a lot to be done, still a lot to be developed, still a lot to be addressed, but I think we did a proper job for the start of the season."