Here’s How F1 Cars Were Refueled In Mere Seconds (Before It Was Banned)

It’s been 15 years since Formula 1 banned in-race refueling and required that every car start each Grand Prix with enough fuel to complete the entire distance. Before the ban, F1 teams converged on a single extravagant solution to refuel cars in seconds: pressurized equipment initially conceived for filling the massive tanks on commercial airliners. While incredibly efficient, the rigs occasionally led to fiery incidents in the pit lane when stops went awry.

Brabham introduced modern refueling into F1 during the 1982 season. It was a strategy conceived by Gordon Murray to find a competitive advantage at the height of the world championship’s first turbo era. At the time, the 1,279-pound minimum weight regulation accounted for the fuel and other fluids loaded into the car. Murray correctly theorized that the Brabham BT50 could be weighed with a full tank, then take the start with only enough fuel to make it to a refueling stop halfway. The BT50 could spend the entire race at a lighter weight and have the capability of running at higher boost pressures.

Despite Brabham not winning a single race with refueling in 1982, the clear advantage that refueling created led every front-running team to adopt the strategy in 1983. Brabham was still able to capitalize on its accrued experience as the team’s Brazilian driver Nelson Piquet won three races and the world championship. However, the sport’s governing body banned refueling and introduced a fixed fuel-tank capacity in 1984, citing incidents during stops.

The most dangerous issue of the second modern refueling era was a driver pulling out of the pit box with the fuel hose still attached. Fuel was the last thing that drivers had to wait for, so it wasn’t uncommon for them to be inadvertently given the green light when the other crew members backed away from the car. 

It happened twice over the two prior seasons. Ferrari’s Felipe Massa left too soon during the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix. A year later, Heikki Kovalainen did the same with his McLaren in Brazil, except the fuel in the hose sprayed compatriot Kimi Räikkönen and his Ferrari before being ignited by the hot car. According to Crash.net, Räikkönen finished the race but admitted that he was briefly blinded by the flames.

Pit stops are far safer today. Tires are the primary constraint on pit-stop times in F1 today. If something goes wrong, it’s typically a lengthy pit stop because of a wheel gun issue or a driver pulls out of their pit box without a wheel attached. While F1 could bring back refueling with the gravity-fed systems used in endurance racing and IndyCar, I doubt anyone wants to see sub-three-second pit stops go away.

The FIA would reintroduce refueling a decade later in a more regulated environment to add a layer of strategic intrigue for fans. The teams in 1994 were provided with refueling rigs from Intertechnique, a French aviation equipment supplier. According to F1 technical expert Craig Scarborough, the rigs pumped in fuel at a rate of 12 liters per second. For comparison, the run-of-the-mill gas station pump in the U.S. has an EPA-mandated maximum of 0.63 liters per second. With such a high flow rate, the nozzle had an integrated breather to help vent air out of the tank while their gasoline was being pushed in.

Refueling would be banned again in 2010 due to cost concerns, safety risks and a desire to create more on-track action for fans. In the wake of the Great Recession, F1 was desperate to cut costs. In a 2006 TV vignette (seen above), Red Bull Racing explained that it took six people to operate the refueling rig. A refueling ban not only eliminated the cost of the system but also the personnel needed to operate it.