The factors that have kept Scuderia Ferrari HP and Shell together for so long
Presented by Shell
That Shell and Scuderia Ferrari HP are this season celebrating an incredible 75 years since their first Formula 1 race win together shows the remarkable longevity of this partnership.
But what is it about the two organisations that has led to their relationship enduring for so long?
Shell's Global Head of Motorsport Partnerships Tom Kassell puts it down to shared philosophies and the sheer value they extract from working together.
"Most sponsorships are primarily marketing relationships," he says. "Our partnership is built around technical collaboration.
"The relationship has endured because it is based on shared goals rather than short-term commercial objectives.
"Both organisations believe in the value of innovation, long-term investment and continuous improvement."
Shell's role at an F1 Grand Prix
For Scuderia Ferrari HP, Shell is a very active partner in the pursuit of both performance and reliability through every Formula 1 race weekend.
"At the heart of that collaboration is the Shell Trackside Laboratory, a mobile laboratory located within Scuderia Ferrari HP's garage and staffed by at least two Shell scientists at every Grand Prix,” explains Kassell.
"Working in a tightly controlled environment, our analysts continuously test and analyse the Shell V-Power race fuel and Shell Helix race lubricant used by the team.
"Their role is not only to monitor product performance, but also to ensure every product supplied meets FIA specifications and compliance requirements, working closely with both Scuderia Ferrari HP engineers and FIA stewards throughout the weekend."
And that is an even bigger volume of work than fans might expect.
"The scale of that operation often surprises people," admits Kassell.
"Across a race weekend, Shell analysts assess more than 150 samples, including race fuel and lubricants, while more than 25 fuel samples are tested specifically for compliance.
"The data generated is shared in real time with engineers both at the circuit and back at our technology centres, creating a constant feedback loop between trackside operations and R&D.
"In the 2025 season alone, Shell shared more than 50,000 data points with Scuderia Ferrari HP's engineers. Those insights help the team monitor engine health, optimise performance and make informed reliability decisions throughout the season.
"It's a highly integrated process built on continuous communication and a shared objective: maximising performance, reliability and efficiency."
How F1 fuel informs Shell's road fuels
The benefits of the partnership flow both ways. While Shell makes an active contribution to Scuderia Ferrari HP's on-track performance in F1, it also derives huge benefits for its road fuel programme from the work it does in motorsport.
Because the fuel used in the Scuderia Ferrari HP F1 cars is what Shell's Principal Scientist of Motorsports Valeria Loreti calls a "highly specialised formulation developed exclusively for Formula 1 and designed to meet a very specific set of technical and regulatory requirements", the motorsport programme feeds into Shell’s road fuels not in terms of direct ingredient comparisons, but through learning and technology developments.
"Formula 1 gives us one of the most demanding testing environments imaginable," explains Loreti.
"The pressures placed on our race fuels and lubricants are extreme, which means innovations can be evaluated far more quickly than in normal road conditions.
"The exact race fuel formulation used by Scuderia Ferrari HP is a bespoke product developed specifically for its power unit, but the learnings gained through developing, testing and analysing those formulations can feed directly into our wider research and commercial programmes.
"Over the years, technologies first explored through our motorsport partnership have influenced products such as Shell V-Power fuels and Shell Helix Ultra lubricants. That 'track-to-road' transfer remains one of the most important reasons Shell invests in motorsport today.
"Rather than focusing on ingredient comparisons, what is important is that the same performance-focused approach, scientific expertise and innovation mindset underpin both our race fuel development and our Shell V-Power road fuels.
"The partnership allows us to test ideas at the limits of performance and then apply those learnings to products used by millions of customers globally.
"That continuous transfer of knowledge is the connection between what happens on track and what customers experience at Shell stations."
Those mutual benefits and shared philosophies have endured so strongly since that first win together 75 years ago that Shell and Scuderia Ferrari HP's partnership looks set to endure for many more seasons and wins to come.
"Across generations of technology and regulation changes, that commitment to solving engineering challenges together has remained constant," says Kassell.
"The partnership continues because both sides derive real technical value from it."
