Seeing as safety in F1 seems to be the topic on everybodies minds maybe somebody can answer this question for me. Do current F1 cars use and/or mandated to use self sealing fuel tanks?
For those that don't know, they are fuel tanks that consist of two solid layers with a gel like material underneath. When a hole is formed in the fuel tank, the gel will react with the fuel, harden up and block the hole to stop the leak. They were extensively, and still are, used on military aircraft with a wide application during WWII.
They all use the ATL fuel cell, which I'm not sure if it's actually self-sealing or just really durable but it has been many moons since an F1 car leaked any significant amount of fuel in a crash.
Not that I know. Aero Tec Laboratories, Premier Fuel Systems and Pronal, the only FIA approved makers of fuel tanks, have a different approach: fuel cells are practically indestructible.
Chuck Norris tried to break it but he couldn't
As Lycoming explains (hi, mate, nice to "meet" you), all F1 teams use the ATL version. ATL also produce (or produced) fuel bladders complying with the same specification (FIA FT5-1999) for A1GP, NASCAR, ALMS, IMSA and Formula Nippon.
They are puncture proof, made of Kevlar and reinforced with rubber.
Nokia 3310 and F1 fuel tanks are approved for use in a zombie apocalypse. The only problem you can encounter in an accident occurs if the fuel cell (or the phone) hit you
The approach is (perhaps) more subtle than using self sealing gel: they are filled with a foam that avoids explosions because it doesn't allow fast evaporation of fuel.
This foam occupies only 2% of the inner volume of the cell. Apparently they make it with magic, dear muggles
No gases=no flame. Legend says you can throw a cigarette in gasoline and most of the time (yeah, sure) it will fizzle.
Check this video: gasoline is combustible, gasoline vapor is flammable. Yeah, I know, potatoes, potatos
Perhaps the origin of what you heard, trinidefender, is that all fuel lines must have dry-break couplings, that is, fuel couplings that self seal in case of fuel line breakage. Incidentally, it is not allowed for fuel lines to pass through the cockpit.
Self seal couplings (or so I think)
Tanks include a series of fabric separators (baffles) to create chambers and flaps to ensure that the fuel moves in a controlled way between chambers to keep a low center of gravity and to guarantee that you can use till the last drop.
In F1 we do not see fuel fires other than a fuel line breakage which sets off fire in other systems
FIA also writes the safety rules for the INDYCAR series, however fuel fires are still common there. Why is it? are different (sub standard system being used?
To add to Ciro's great post, the current safety concept of F1 demands the fuel tank to be inside the survival cell. So, the survival cell is there for the safety of the driver and the fuel tank and all around the cell, crash structures are present to dissipate energy.
1.14 Survival cell :
A continuous closed structure containing the fuel tank and the cockpit.
13.4.1 The survival cell must extend from behind the fuel tank in a forward direction to a point at least 300mm in front of the driver's feet, with his feet resting on the pedals and the pedals in the inoperative position.
Dear FIA, if you read this, please pm me for a redesign of the Technical Regulations to avoid finger nose shapes for 2016! :-)
