Plan to reduce 2023 F1 car weight dropped despite team opposition

The 2023 F1 technical regulations were published some time ago with the reduction from 798kgs to 796kgs highlighted as part of a general push to eventually have lighter cars.

However, in the interim, the 2022 car weight was increased from 795kgs to 798kgs early last year largely in response to the porpoising seen in testing, in essence to take account of items such as floor stiffening and stays.

At a meeting of the FIA's technical advisory committee, it was subsequently agreed to stick with the 2022 figure of 798kgs for this season, rather than drop to 796kgs as had originally been intended.

That change should have been a straightforward process, but due to an administrative oversight, it was omitted from a technical regulation update that was formally passed by the F1 Commission, and which would have set it in stone.

The FIA's next step was to use the governance process, which requires eight teams to agree to a change, in order to remain at 798kgs rather than drop to 796kgs as originally published.

It's understood that while the move initially had sufficient support, some teams subsequently changed their minds and declined to allow a switch back to the higher figure to be approved.

That was presumably because they believed that they could get closer than rivals to the originally planned lower limit with their 2023 cars, and thus could potentially gain a competitive advantage.

However, the FIA had one more card to play, as the regulations allow for a change of minimum weight limit if a set of tyres is heavier than the previous season due to a modified construction.

Article 4.3 states that the minimum weight "will be adjusted up or down according to any differences (rounded to the nearest 1kg)" for any differences between the weight "of the dry-weather tyres used in the championship taking place in the calendar year referred to in the title and the preceding year's championship."

Nicholas Latifi, Williams FW44, Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522, Alex Albon, Williams FW44, chase the pack at the start

Photo by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Images

Such a change is not voted on by the teams and the FIA was able to use that article to ensure that the 2023 weight limit has indeed stayed at 798kgs after all.

However, it will be harder than last year for teams to get close to that limit because in addition to the increase in the weight of the tyres, each car has to carry new electronic boxes mandated by the FIA and which are understood to add around a further 0.4kgs compared to 2022.

The latter figure, while significant for teams, wasn't large enough to create a further automatic increase in the overall weight.

In other words, any team that was on the 798kgs last year now has to compensate for the heavier tyres and electronic items in order to stay there.

"It's exactly the same weight, but physically parts get heavier," one technical director told Autosport. "Tyres get heavier, there are some new boxes.

"So it's the same weight as last year, but in reality, the weight we are not in control of is increasing. So teams will have to find the equivalent of one and a half kilos or so to remain at the weight limit if they were at it already."