why is there a minimum weight requirement in Formula 1? Wouldn’t teams be incentivized to lessen the weight of their cars for faster speeds?
In: 3031
I recall reading years ago that teams will try to save weight of the vehicle in general, then when they have to bring the vehicle back to the minimum weight they can add the weight strategically (close to center of gravity, for example) to maintain balance of the car.
So all cars weigh the same, but some have ballast in better places.
Among other reasons, minimum weight incentivises teams to innovate in other areas like fuel consumption, aerodynamics, suspension, tyre wear, power train, etc.
If they didn’t have a minimum weight restriction they could neglect the other areas of the car’s performance and just make the care slight as possible.
Among other reasons, minimum weight incentivises teams to innovate in other areas like fuel consumption, aerodynamics, suspension, tyre wear, power train, etc.
If they didn’t have a minimum weight restriction they could neglect the other areas of the car’s performance and just make the care slight as possible.
Among other reasons, minimum weight incentivises teams to innovate in other areas like fuel consumption, aerodynamics, suspension, tyre wear, power train, etc.
If they didn’t have a minimum weight restriction they could neglect the other areas of the car’s performance and just make the care slight as possible.
Even beyond that, they’re incentivized to minimize the weight of their *drivers*, which leads to dangerous practices like water cutting and crash dieting. F1 races are hard enough on the drivers as-is and we don’t need them pushing it further. Enforcing a minimum weight for each allows for teams to have safety margins without sacrificing performance compared to other teams.
Even beyond that, they’re incentivized to minimize the weight of their *drivers*, which leads to dangerous practices like water cutting and crash dieting. F1 races are hard enough on the drivers as-is and we don’t need them pushing it further. Enforcing a minimum weight for each allows for teams to have safety margins without sacrificing performance compared to other teams.
Even beyond that, they’re incentivized to minimize the weight of their *drivers*, which leads to dangerous practices like water cutting and crash dieting. F1 races are hard enough on the drivers as-is and we don’t need them pushing it further. Enforcing a minimum weight for each allows for teams to have safety margins without sacrificing performance compared to other teams.
It also has to do with the fact that you need drag. You need something to weigh the car down. It’s not all about being the lightest, but you need drag in the curves and in the track in general. Too light and you loose control of the car or their might be too much vibration due to wind action. There is no amount of engineering that could fix having such a light contraption going at 300 km/h. You need weight to keep the car down and stable. Even with the cars being this heavy last year Alonso took a jolly ride and flew with his car in the track. He was ok but the car literally took off. One guesses that engineers could make cars lighter but there is a point were a lighter car would be unsafer and slower due to risk of it flying if there are high winds, too much vibration that actually deducts time, or just plain being too light to counter headwinds.
It also has to do with the fact that you need drag. You need something to weigh the car down. It’s not all about being the lightest, but you need drag in the curves and in the track in general. Too light and you loose control of the car or their might be too much vibration due to wind action. There is no amount of engineering that could fix having such a light contraption going at 300 km/h. You need weight to keep the car down and stable. Even with the cars being this heavy last year Alonso took a jolly ride and flew with his car in the track. He was ok but the car literally took off. One guesses that engineers could make cars lighter but there is a point were a lighter car would be unsafer and slower due to risk of it flying if there are high winds, too much vibration that actually deducts time, or just plain being too light to counter headwinds.
It also has to do with the fact that you need drag. You need something to weigh the car down. It’s not all about being the lightest, but you need drag in the curves and in the track in general. Too light and you loose control of the car or their might be too much vibration due to wind action. There is no amount of engineering that could fix having such a light contraption going at 300 km/h. You need weight to keep the car down and stable. Even with the cars being this heavy last year Alonso took a jolly ride and flew with his car in the track. He was ok but the car literally took off. One guesses that engineers could make cars lighter but there is a point were a lighter car would be unsafer and slower due to risk of it flying if there are high winds, too much vibration that actually deducts time, or just plain being too light to counter headwinds.
Latest Answers