The current single-seaters are too heavy. It is the diagnosis shared by pilots, teams, engineers and fans of theFormula 1. In 2023, the minimum weight of cars imposed by the regulation is 798 kilos200 more than in 2008, which places the current single-seaters as the biggest and heaviest in history.
This has caused the discontent, mainly, of the pilots. max verstappen and George Russell have asked the FIA on repeated occasions that, in view of the change in regulations of 2026, weight is reduced to make the cars easier to drive.
But the most belligerent has undoubtedly been Fernando Alonso. The two-time champion assures that the ‘Great Circus’ should consider returning to the pace and betting not only on lighter cars, but also on reduce the size to facilitate overtaking.
“I don’t think the show will change much with the weight reduction. It is more the size of the cars than the weight that makes things more difficultAlonso said at the press conference prior to the Canadian Grand Prix.
Revolution in regulations
This barrage of complaints has made Stefano Domenicaligeneral director of Formula 1, announce that both the championship and the International Federation are already working on the weight reduction with a view to the 2026 regulation.
This announcement has been very well received by the teams. The first to speak was Mercedesand has done it through James Allison, technical director of the team. Although for the British, putting this change into practice will not be so easy despite the change in the rules.
“Year after year the cars got heavier. It is not easy to lose weight with rules. It is especially difficult to devise technical rules that make the car much lighter”, explained Alisson in statements collected by ‘GPFans’.
For this reason, he demands that the FIA leave more room for the teams to work: “The way to make it lighter is to lower the weight limit and make it our problem.“.
James Allison assures that if this direction is not followed, the work of engineers will be enormously difficult. “When cars go over the limit, forces us all to make some pretty tough decisions about what to put in our single-seaters and what not”, concluded the technical manager of Mercedes.
