BruceHamilton:

 

F1 fuel rules allow teams to have 5 different petrol blends for the season,  but can only use two of the blends for a race weekend. Petrol consists of 100s of hydrocarbons, and the F1 fuel blends must only contain components normally found in commercial fuels, so no nitromethane, propylene oxide, or friends. Playing with the hydrocarbon formulation can result in significantly different delivery of power and improved ability to handle ambient temperatures. In recent years cooled fuels ( contain more oxygen ) were banned, and the maximum volume of fuel was changed to a maximum mass of fuel ( 105kg? ). Mercedes moved from Mobil to Petronas, and BP has reentered F1 after 3 years away. Oil company participation is critical for optimising fuel and decreasing mechanical friction using specialist lubricants.

 

Each team must submit 5L of each blend to the FIA during race weekend, where it is tested for compliance. Each team is partered to a major oil company that will provided full fuel and oil analysis at the racetrack using mobile laboratories, as well as specific formulations for each track. FIA has reduced the unlimited fuel formulations rule up to 2016, to just 5 formulations for 2017.  Constraints on maximum power delivery were also changed, resulting in engines being redesigned to cope with extra power during racing.  With the introduction of turbulent jet ignition, fuels will be re-optimised to improve smoothness of power delivery and combustion efficiency. 2017 was expected to result in much greater stress on engines, hence the talk of using steel pistons and 3D printed components.

 

Ok, so why did Honda use a different fuel to build their engine upon?