Why Don't F1 Cars Refuel?

Formula 1 cars used to have refuelling in races, but why do they not do this anymore?

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[oenrn]

Watching a driver allow himself to be overtaken in order to save fuel has to be one of the most depressing scenes in modern F1.

[Stanley-rqvv]

Correction - refueling was actually banned in 1984. They allowed it back in 1994, to again ban it in 2010.

[benjaminschniedelruttler]

last time i watched Formula 1 was when i was a kid and Schumacher was driving for Ferrari battling with Hakkinen, good old times

[bc-guy]

Totally agree with the safety considerations you documented...
Totally understand why refueling was eliminated...
Totally want to see it back.

[cynickal_]

“Love of my life, Schumacher”. Charles Leclerc will remember that

[STK]

It's been so long since I've watched F1, that I never knew they were NOT refuelling anymore. :o

[sooweeq]

I liked the strategy back then. NASCAR has something called compression cautions which kinda help but are designed moreso to get the cars bunched again for a restart, but still have other pit windows. Fuel strategy had always been apart of all circuit racing, so I'm just used to it and it does hold an element of drama.

[SiVlog]

There was also a period of time from 1984-1993 where refueling was also banned. Where (during the 80's turbo era) they were made to work with an increasingly restrictive fuel tank size to slow down the cars during the races, force them to conserve fuel. It was reintroduced in 1994 and at the time there was understandable anxiety with the implementation. Jos Verstappen's pit fire at Hockenheim was what the teams had feared (a big fire in the pit lane) so as soon as the fuel splashed, they were reaching for fire extinguishers to douse it even as the fire ignited on the ~800°C brake discs. This is why the fire was contained so quickly and why there were no serious injuries

[ibosmit]

Fun fact:

During the F1 opening titles, when Max Verstappen comes on screen, the fuel incident of his father Jos is shown in the background.

[tharushsomashekar]

"The scream"
Nice move.


Kinda like VETTEL

[GuiPandini]

When I came back to watching F1, it didn't take long for me to notice the absence of refueling. IMO not only safer, it is actually a better way to judge driver's performance overall, reducing the overwhelming maths theorycraft the engineers have to do, whilst giving more of an equal plain field for the drivers to show their capabilities, which are almost overlooked as the championship develops to which team has the best chassis and engineers.

[gt]

The monetary and safety arguments against refueling in F1 seem ludicrous when you consider every other major racing series pulls it off using lower budgets and without cars turning into fireballs all the time. As for it making less of a difference because of smaller tanks - less difference is not the same as no difference. With the 0.3 sec per 10 kg rule of thumb a car with half a tank would still run 1.5 seconds faster per lap than one with a full tank and that's pretty significant.

Lastly, saying it's confusing to casual fans is funny when you consider all the other craziness F1 implements. So you mean to tell me putting gas in a car is more confusing to a spectator than some weird aerodynamic gimmick to allow overtaking that sometimes is available to a driver and sometimes not?

I'd like to see refueling back myself to add to race strategy and make things more unpredictable but one subtle argument against it that wasn't spelled out in this video is the environmental side. F1 made the switch to hybrid cars for environmental concerns despite most everyone knowing that the cars themselves are a drop in the ocean compared to the pollution moving the whole F1 circus around makes. By banning refueling F1 keeps up its image of environmental consciousness by not showing nasty, polluting gasoline being put in the cars during a race. Politics and image ultimately are two of the biggest factors in modern F1 and that environmental aspect will keep refueling out of F1 forever now.

[LottieTalksF]

Everytime I think refuels I just see Jos Verstappen

[ForeverF]

I always think about Massa from Singapore 2008 when I think about refuelling

[markhorton]

F1 races are short enough to not need refueling. I would like to see some long races as well.

[AnuragSharma]

I started watching F1 in recent years and I don't categorize myself as hard-core but something like refueling which adds another dimension to team strats would be fun to watch. We all love chaos.

[DeanElhard]

I love the blistering speed of the current pit stops. Somehow watching them leisurely change the tires while waiting for the fueling to complete doesn't have the same feel of precision and skill adding to the team effort to win...

[barkslife]

In Argentina, when Irvine started the race on extremely low fuel, shot off in front of everyone so he could allow Michael through, after his pit stop, and then hold up the pack. It made for an exciting race to see if they could pull it off. I don't think refuelling should return, but there needs to be an element added that creates another kink in the way teams think about strategy, that can be kept secret from all their competitors, and isn't revealed until the race is already under way.

[StoffelDilligas]

At the isle of man one team (Hector Neill? I think, not sure) checked the rules for replacing the fuel tank during a pit stop. Nothing in the rules regarding it. So on the pit stop, empty fuel tank was removed and replaced by a full fuel tank, and was out of the pits really quick. The main rival to that team I believe was Philip McCallen? Who saw his rival leaving pits, told his crew to hurry up, left the pits with not the right amount of fuel, ran out of fuel and had to retire. The team who replaced the fuel tank won the race. The rules were changed after to prevent this happening again....
However the point I am getting to is, what about a fuel tank that is primed and ready to go to be slotted in like a cartridge after the empty tank has been removed during a pit stop.

[DiabloOutdoors]

First time I see a video from this channel and ... wow! Very good video. Informative, entertaining and brilliant editing. I subscribed for those reasons.