Shell boast of boost to Ferrari

ABU DHABI (Reuters) - Formula One fuels and lubricants rarely make headlines, with data seldom divulged, but Shell say theirs provided 25 percent of Ferrari's power unit performance improvement this season.

Ferrari failed to win a race last year, the first of the new V6 turbo hybrid units, but have triumphed three times this season with Sebastian Vettel in a marked turnaround for the former champions.

They will end the season as runners-up to Mercedes.

The Anglo-Dutch oil major said in a statement at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix that the performance gain from fuel equated to almost half a second per lap, or an average of 30 seconds over a race distance.

It said five new blends were introduced over the year in an aggressive strategy that was "one of the greatest step changes offered by Shell in the history of the technical partnership with Ferrari."

"We worked closer than ever with our colleagues in Maranello where we fully integrated our development plans to optimise the fuel-engine package and it was great to see that our hard work paid off," said Shell motorsport innovation manager Guy Lovett.

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Amlan Chakraborty)