Every time the regulations change in Formula 1, the cars get slightly heavier, with the current weight of 798kg being a staggering 156kg heavier than ten years ago.
The increased weight of the cars has a number of negative effects on the sport with the main one being obvious, the heavier the cars are, the slower they can become.
It also means that the larger and heavier cars are less suited to some of F1’s most iconic tracks, with two-time world champions Max Verstappen explaining that the new era of F1 cars are much less suited to street circuits such as Monaco.
Due to the size of the cars, overtaking is almost impossible on these narrower circuits, while their weight and rigidity makes riding curbs on the streets much more difficult.
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To counter some of these issues, F1 had planned to reduce the minimum weight of the cars in 2023 to796kg, taking the small amount of 2kg off of the previous limit.
There has recently been a meeting with the sport’s technical advisory committee, where it was suggested that this reduction should be decreased to only 1kg, to 797kg.
Some even argued that they minimum weight of this year’s cars should be upped by 1kg to 799kg, leading to a divide in the committee.
Following the conclusion of the meeting, Auto Motor und Sport has claimed that the changes in the minimum weight regulations have been scrapped all together, with the figure set to stay at 797kg.
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Max Verstappen has admitted that while he believes that the current era of F1 cars are very heavy, there is not too much than can be done to solve this issue in the short term.
It has been rumoured that Pirelli’s 2023 tyres are slightly heavier than last year’s meaning that the actual designs of the cars do have a slight bit of wiggle room to decrease their weight.
Under the new regulations, F1 cars have been slightly slower than before and with the car’s underfloors having to be 15mm higher this year than last season to prevent porpoising, they could be set to become even slower this season.