Rumours that Ferrari have the most fuel efficient engine, after improving it over the winter, may actually be incorrect as it was confirmed that Ferrari started the race in Bahrain with 10kg more fuel than the Renault-powered Red Bull cars.
Williams technical director, Sam Michael, believes that the engine in the F10 is looking to be one of the “thirstiest” on the grid and this could impact the results the Maranello-based team achieve as the refuelling ban means that fuel economy is paramount – the less fuel the car has to carry, the lighter, and quicker, it will be.
Race winner, Alonso, and team-mate Felipe Massa are expected to have been losing anything upto 0.4s a lap in the early stages of the race with the extra fuel on board. As the race went on this difference was expected to have evened out at 0.2s per lap – meaning that throughout the entire race distance, the Red Bull of Sebastien Vettel would have had a 9.8s advantage over the prancing horse.
According to BBC pit-lane pundit, Ted Kravitz, Michael has stated that RBR’s engine supplier, Renault, are the most fuel-efficient unit on the grid, “followed by Mercedes and Cosworth, with Ferrari the thirstiest.”
