FIA Single Seater Director Nikolas Tombazis has promised it will not cede to pressure from Formula 1 teams to raise minimum weights come the implementation of the 2026 rules.
The 798kg minimum weight of ground effect machinery introduced in the 2022 regulations has been criticised for being far too cumbersome considering the sub 600kg vehicles seen over 15 years ago.
A near 200kg weight increase has stemmed largely from the battery units utilised in modern hybrid powertrains while advancements in safety have seen further weight increases.
In early 2022, the FIA was pressured into increasing the minimum weight limit from 795kg to the current 798kg as teams struggled to meet the figure set out.
However, the FIA is intent on not making any such alterations again once new regulations come into force for 2026.
Current plans target a 40-50kg reduction in vehicle weight with smaller, narrower cars which will also see a shift to smaller wheels.
“Clearly it will still be a challenge for the teams to achieve that low weight,” said the FIA’s head of single-seaters, Nikolas Tombazis. “They’re not going to have an easy ride there.
“But we are going to stick to the weight limit we’re going to impose, and we won’t be inflating upwards again.
“They [the teams] will just have to push harder to reduce the weight if they can’t make it.”
Due to the stringency of the FIA’s crash test requirements, there have been suggestions to scrap F1’s minimum weight rules altogether.
However, Tombazis has dismissed such suggestions in the interest of avoiding a never-ending battle to cut weight from the cars.
“That has been discussed a few times, about whether we need the weight limit,” he explained.
“But we believe that to get rid of it completely would be creating a never-ending battle of reducing the weight. That could have some unforeseen consequences.
“So, what we’re putting for 2026 will be a weight limit which afterwards will not change.
“We will not be succumbing to this continuous sort of haggling for a couple of kilos, where the teams say, ‘you’ve added the electrical, let’s add two kilos’, or the tyres are a bit heavier, let’s add another few kilos and things like that. We won’t be doing that.
“Teams will have to work to that limit. And I think there could be some teams that are a bit overweight in 2026.”
