Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso believes that the size of Formula 1 cars is a bigger problem than their weight.
Over the last several years, F1 cars have become both bigger and heavier, leading to complaints from several drivers.
Earlier this year, Mercedes’ George Russell stated that the ever-increasing weight could soon become a safety concern.
“The weight is extraordinary,” he said. “At the moment, the low-speed performance is not great.
“We keep making these cars safer and safer, but obviously the heavier you make them when you have an impact it’s like crashing with a bus compared to a Smart Car.”
Currently, F1 challengers have a minimum weight of 798kg – 10 years ago in 2013, the final year before the turbo-hybrid power units were introduced, the car’s minimum weight was 642kg.
F1 challengers are a maximum of 5.63 metres and have grown substantially in length over the last 30 years.
The sport is currently planning shorter and lighter cars for 2026, when the new cycle of technical regulations will come into play.
But amid complaints over the weight of F1 cars, Alonso says that altering the size would have a bigger impact.
“I don’t think it [reducing the weight] would change much the show,” he said.
“I think it’s more the size of the cars than the weight of the cars, which makes things a little bit more difficult.
“Overtaking, fights into the first couple of corners in the race, it is difficult now to position the car, just because the size of it, not because the weight of the car.
“So I think it’s going to be difficult to really reduce, significantly, the weight of course, as the hybrid engines, they will always be heavier than the normal engines and the safety on these cars is a lot higher as well.
“So I know there is some interest in going into that direction. Let’s see what they can do.
“It will be always welcome and it’s always more fun to drive light cars, but at the end of the day, I think it’s more the size of them that makes racing a little bit more difficult.”
