The pilots hoped to be able to have two kilos less to ‘carry’ and instead that will not be the case
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![Minimum weight 2023: no diet, back to 798 kg Minimum weight 2023: no diet, back to 798 kg](https://storage.googleapis.com/fp-media/1/2022/10/Verstappen_redBull-4.jpg)
One of the biggest problems with current F1 cars is the weight. The drivers never miss the opportunity to reiterate this penalizing factor, also because the trend sees the Circus competing more and more often on street circuits where such heavy single-seaters are even more difficult to manoeuvre. “These cars are not made to race on tracks like this,” declared for example the two-times world champion Max Verstappen, since the new ground effect machines excel on medium-fast tracks like Silverstone, Spa or Suzuka, not certainly in narrow guts like Baku, Jeddah, Miami, Monaco or Singapore.
In the last decade, the weight of F1 cars has grown exponentially from 642 kg in 2013 to the current 798 kg. An increase primarily due to the introduction of the hybrid engine, which has led 50kg more already in 2014 (the minimum weight was set at 691 kilos) and during the turbo-hybrid era little by little between bigger tires and interventions mainly aimed at improving the safety of the cars, the weight increased by another quintal. All to the detriment of the show and the possibility for the pilots to engage in duels and battles made more complicated by the fact of having to manage very heavy machines especially in the early stages of the race.
The goal in 2023 was at least to reduce the minimum weight by 2 kg from 798 to 796, but according to what was reported by the German newspaper Auto Motor und Sport the last meeting of the technical committee (the TAC) involving all the teams ended with the will to return to 798 kg in 2022 as minimum weight, a decision that will soon be made official by the FIA. The simulation data probably relating to the new Pirelli tires designed to combat understeer prompted this change of course to the teams. To see the weight of cars reduced in F1, you have to wait at least another season, hoping it doesn’t increase again.
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