What’s so special about Shell V-Power – and what does Scuderia Ferrari HP have to do with it?

Shell’s Innovation Partnership with Scuderia Ferrari HP is one of the longest and most successful in motorsport. The partnership began in Formula One more than 75 years ago, ahead of the inaugural FIA Formula One World Championship in 1950, and has since delivered race wins, world titles and a considerable amount of very clever chemistry.

The partnership has also produced – and continually refined – the Shell V-Power race fuel that propels Scuderia Ferrari HP’s cars on track, which in turn has helped shape the Shell V-Power fuel used in millions of road cars every single day.

In fact, according to Shell, 100% of the performance-boosting technology used in its V-Power road fuel is also used by Scuderia Ferrari HP on track. Of course, filling your tank with Shell V-Power won’t turn your morning commute into a qualifying lap, but it does mean you’ll be choosing a premium fuel that’s backed by decades of research and is designed to keep your engine running like new.

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The lab behind the lap times

Unbelievably, a high-precision mobile laboratory staffed by Shell chemical engineers and fuel scientists, forms part of Scuderia Ferrari HP’s trackside operation at every single race.

It sits inside the garage, a glossy red-and-white cocoon positioned near the entrance. So, while the drivers, mechanics and strategists focus on getting the cars out on track, Shell’s team is busy carrying out critical fuel and engine oil analysis behind the scenes.

Fluid samples taken from Scuderia Ferrari HP’s engines are fed into highly sensitive machines that can detect trace chemical compounds to ensure the fuel complies with FIA regulations and enables the team to study its performance. Data gathered at the circuit is then sent back to Shell’s Technology Centre in Hamburg, where specialists interpret the findings and feed them back to Scuderia Ferrari HP’s engineers.

For Shell, the real benefit is a deeper knowledge of combustion chemistry. Shell’s motorsport programme effectively acts as a high-speed research and development project, helping to understand how fuel technology behaves under extreme conditions – and how that knowledge can be applied to its premium road fuels.  

The road to Shell V-Power

- 1998: Shell launches Shell V-Power as its premium petrol product, following its World Championship-winning success with Scuderia Ferrari.

- 2014: Shell launches Shell Helix Ultra with PurePlus Technology, bringing gas-to-liquid technology to the track with Scuderia Ferrari for the first time.

- 2017: New friction modifiers used in Shell DYNAFLEX Technology are co-engineered with Scuderia Ferrari and see race action for the first time. The innovation is later transferred to new Shell V-Power unleaded road fuels.

- 2022–2025: To comply with FIA F1 regulations, Shell supplies Scuderia Ferrari with a Shell V-Power race fuel containing 10% second-generation bioethanol supplied by Raízen.

- 2025: Shell is recognised as the world’s number one Global Lubricants Supplier for the 19^th consecutive year by Kline.  

A new F1 formula

For the 2026 season, Formula One cars can only be powered by fuel made from components derived from approved advanced sustainable sources, such as biofuels produced from organic waste and e-fuels.

Far more emphasis has also been placed on electrification, moving from approximately 75% combustion power and 25% electrical power to a roughly 50:50 split between internal combustion and electric power. No pressure, then.

But development of Shell’s Advanced Sustainable Shell V-Power race fuel for 2026 actually began in March 2022 – and proved far more complex than previous projects. Its development has involved an enormous amount of teamwork, with more than 100 specialists (from chemists to experts in certification, CO₂ calculations, regulations and supply chains) dedicating over 30,000 hours to it in 2025 alone.  

Fuelling the future

Because Shell is working with one specific power unit – Scuderia Ferrari HP’s engine for the 2026 season – its scientists have a fixed and tightly controlled environment in which to develop the new fuel. This allows them to run more than two million digital fuel formulations, test different compositions and combinations, and narrow down the most promising candidates for physical development.

The result is more than just a fuel developed for one F1 power unit. It gives Shell a deeper understanding of how different fuel components behave – knowledge that helps inform Shell V-Power fuels for a wide range of cars and everyday driving situations beyond the track.  

Why use Shell V-Power in your car?

As the only fuel used, trusted and recommended by Scuderia Ferrari HP, Shell V-Power:

• cleans critical engine parts up to 100%
• protects critical engine parts up to 100%
• helps keep your engine performing like new

You’ve seen the science behind Shell V-Power at work in Formula One. So, ready to try it yourself now?

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