F1: FIA, F1 chiefs admit cars are too heavy (Update)

–by Mark Cipolloni–

As long as F1 wants to appease the tree-huggers, the F1 cars are not going to get much lighter. In fact, that might get heavier in 2026 because the batteries will be much larger with the new 2026 ‘greener’ power units.

“Honestly, that’s going to be a bit unrealistic to achieve because otherwise, we wouldn’t have been this heavy anyway, right?,” Max Verstappen said when Autosport asked him about the plan to try and reduce weight

“Also, in 2026 with the bigger battery, that will weigh a lot more, so I’m not sure if that’s heading in the right direction.

“But I will always be in favor of lighter cars because I already enjoyed the ’21 car more than what we have now in terms of how agile it was. Now the car in the low speed is a bit of a boat.”

“I think it’s going to be difficult to really reduce significantly the weight of the cars, as the hybrid engines will always be heavier than the normal engines and the safety on these cars is a lot higher as well,” Fernando Alonso said in Thursday’s Canadian GP Press Conference.

“I know there is some interest in going in that direction. Let’s see what they can do, it will be always welcome and it’s always more fun to drive light cars.

“But at the end of the day, I think it’s more the size which makes racing more difficult.”

(GMM) FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem and F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali admit that Formula 1 cars are too heavy.

The minimum car-plus-driver weight has skyrocketed with the move to hybrid power units from around 600kg in 2010 to almost 800kg in 2023.

“Also the bigger wheels, they’re quite a bit heavier as well,” world champion Max Verstappen said. “So that for me goes in the wrong direction.

“When you jump back in an old car, you definitely feel the difference in how agile an old car was. Before 2010 they were even lighter, right?

“But I don’t know what we can do about turning it around,” he added.

A good step in the right direction, however, is that the FIA is at least acknowledging that it is a problem.

“We need a lighter car,” Ben Sulayem (shown above) told motorsport-total.com. “It will be difficult to achieve, but everyone wants it.

“I come from motorsport where lighter cars are safer and don’t use as much fuel. So I’m applying pressure because I come from rallying, where there’s nothing worse than having a heavy car,” the FIA president added.

The heavy electric elements of the power unit regulations are only ramping up for 2026 and beyond, but Domenicali agrees with the FIA chief that it’s a good opportunity to try to lower the minimum weight.

“One of the points that is discussed again and again is the weight,” said the Italian, who admits that heavy cars are “not really in the nature of Formula 1”.