Within Formula 1, as in other motorsport categories, the weight of single-seaters is one of the most sensitive issues. It is not surprising, since only ten kilos of difference can translate into three tenths of a second per lap on a track like the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, where the 2022 pre-season tests have been carried out.
The technical evolution that F1 has undergone in the last decade has been accompanied by a gradual increase in minimum weight. Some of the reasons for this are regulatory changes, different safety requirements such as the Halo, and the natural evolution of technology, which has required elements to be added to the cars.
Between 2013, the last season with naturally aspirated V8 engines, and 2022, the current campaign with hybrid V6 engines, the minimum weight of single-seaters has increased by 24%, from 642 to 795 kilograms . The FIA allows cars to weigh 43kg more than last year in order to comply with the new technical regulations, but despite this, many teams have struggled to stay within these minimum limits imposed.
It has not taken long to realize the pressure that is beginning to be exerted on the FIA to review this minimum weight and increase it by at least 5 kilos . In this particular case, it doesn’t seem to be just a few teams, but pretty much everyone, including the big names. The only exception is Alfa Romeo, whose car would comply with the regulations.
The regulations establish that if the FIA is in favor of the requested change, the vote of eight of the ten teams is required in order to approve an alteration to the technical regulations. However, all things considered, there is one big difference from the past: the budget cap .
Designing a single-seater is no longer just a technical exercise aimed at maximum performance, but also the search for a perfect balance between cost and performance of the car. From this point of view, if there has only been one team that has invested its technical and financial resources in optimizing the established minimum weight, foregoing, for example, greater spending on aerodynamics, a last-minute change in regulations would penalize said group. even before the opening race.
For this reason, the FIA is carefully studying the position it will take, since, without its positive opinion on it, the proposal will be rejected.
The teams always follow the same line, that of their own interests, and now there are those who raise their voices to claim that the budget limit is a limitation that prevents the “diet” to which the cars that exceed the minimum weight would be subjected.
Reducing the weight costs money, but the challenge imposed by the spending limit is precisely that the teams are capable of knowing how to direct their financial resources when the project is born, and not trying to change the rules afterwards, as seems to be the case current.
On the eve of the first season in which the teams have a cost cap, there is a risk of destroying the rules imposed by the new regulations.
The team’s request still stands. Now it is no longer just a technical problem, but also the approach with which the FIA will apply to assess each of the requests for revision of the regulations.
