How Much Fuel Does An F1 Car Burn During A Race?
While the world may never know how many licks it takes to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop, we can figure out how much fuel a Formula 1 car burns in an average race fairly accurately. While all F11 cars get 110 kilograms (242.51 pounds) of fuel per race, that's not how much they necessarily burn, but how much they could if they wanted to. (F1 measures fuel by weight rather than volume because gasoline changes density as temperature fluctuates, but mass will remain the same.)
The average F1 car gets approximately 6.2 miles per gallon (we're sticking with English/Imperial/Freedom Units from now on for consistency). In 2023, the average circuit length was 3.227 miles, and Australia's Albert Park is a pretty-darn-close 3.279 miles. The race is 58 laps, or 190.2166 miles total. At a 6.2-mpg consumption rate, we get around 30.68 gallons of fuel burned during a race there.
But since F1 gives its cars gas by weight instead of volume, let's figure out how many pounds of gas the cars will use. Gas density typically sits at 6.073 lb/gal at 60 degrees Fahrenheit. So, at that temperature, 242.51 pounds of fuel equates to 39.93 gallons, leaving 9.25 gallons of fuel unused after racing at 60 degrees at Albert Park Circuit. Of course, various factors can affect fuel use, including ambient temperature, individual car weight, and circuit design.
This is a lot of numbers, but you did click on an article titled "How Much Fuel Does an F1 Car Burn During a Race," so it shouldn't be too surprising. If you're more interested in the drama of the sport, it's okay, talk among yourselves. Here, I'll give you a topic. Should Max Verstappen be disqualified from the 2025 F1 Championship? Discuss.
The unreal efficiency of F1 cars
That 6.2 mpg may sound ridiculously consumptive, but it's actually the result of impressive and clever engineering. F1 cars rock 1,000-hp turbocharged 1.6-liter V6 hybrid powertrains, and they're making this power on 87-octane E10 (90% gas/10% ethanol). While even the FIA president agrees it would be awesome to hear screaming V10s return to F1, just squash that dream right now. The turbo-hybrid setup achieves the efficiency F1 wants, and hybridization will only increase (more on that momentarily).
The YouTube channel Driver61 dove deep into Mercedes' F1 engine, and it's a great watch. A standard road car may have a thermal efficiency of 30%, meaning it can transform 30% of its fuel into forward motion. F1 engines can achieve more than 50% thermal efficiency. This is thanks largely to the MGU-H, a generator-like device attached to the turbocharger shaft, which transforms waste heat in the exhaust gas into rotational energy to recharge the battery, which can then power the crankshaft-mounted MGU-K electric motor/generator that puts out around 160 hp. Mercedes also split the turbo in half, putting the hot exhaust part on the front of the engine and the cooler compressor part on the back side, reducing the temperature of the air going to the intake. Cold air is dense air, and dense air makes more power.
Since Mercedes is a German car company, the system has to get even more complicated. The engine also has pre-chamber combustion, which features a little combustion chamber above the standard combustion chamber. This first chamber uses a rich fuel mixture (lots of gas, less air), where it ignites before shooting flame jets into the primary combustion chamber. The main chamber runs leaner (less gas, more air) to use less fuel, avoid knocking, and run cooler.
2026 will see increased power contribution from hybrid components
We've written before about the fuel-burning regulations in Formula One, among other restrictions, and it's all part of F1's obsession with achieving net-zero emissions by 2030. The organization wants a 100% sustainable fuel that comes solely from non-food biomass, municipal waste, and renewable but non-biological sources, which will supposedly begin use in 2026. It seems F1 is also planning on synthetic e-fuels made of water and carbon dioxide pulled directly from the surrounding environment, with nary a fossil source in sight.
The rules for powertrains are also changing. F1 engines currently use both the MGU-H and a crankshaft-mounted MGU-K, but in 2026, the MGU-H will get kicked to the curb, leaving the MGU-K. This means the hybrid portion of the go-fast bits will go from about 160 hp to around 470 hp. To make position changes more common, the system will allow for a quick burst of power when a driver is one second behind the car in front. Meanwhile, the internal combustion engine will drop from approximately 850 hp to less than 540 hp. 2026 F1 cars will also get lighter by 66 pounds and feature movable front and rear wings to reduce drag on straights but still give downforce around corners.
All this to say that answering how much fuel an F1 car burns during a race will require a new round of research starting in 2026. Oh well, time to start bookmarking articles and Engineering Explained videos now.
