Could one simple rule change make F1 more unpredictable, competitive, and sustainable? Or is such an idea too good to be true?
It doesn't take a genius to realize a trend emerging everywhere in the world. Be it road cars, people, budget deficits, or whatever else, there is a common thread connecting it all: everything is getting fatter. Despite increases in technology and materials engineering, this also applies to race cars. For example, a Formula 1 car currently has a minimum dry weight of 798 kilograms. Compared to even a small passenger car, for example a Honda Civic which tips the scales at around 1300 kilograms, depending on the trim level. But if you turn the clock back 20 years, the minimum weight of F1 cars was 600 kilograms; nearly 25% less than today's cars.
Why are modern cars so bloated?
There's three main contributors to this weight increase over the last 20 years or so. First, there are increased safety standards and requirements, almost all of which add weight. As the FIA and the wider world strive to (rightly) increase safety measures in racing, things like more stringent crash tests and the halo cockpit protection system have resulted in cars which have to be much stronger than they used to be. To increase strength, teams either have to add mass or change their geometry. Well, when the geometry is almost exclusively governed by aerodynamics, they'll most likely choose the former option.
Second, the hybrid power units, introduced in 2014 and bringing not only a traditional internal combustion engine but also two electric motor generators and a battery system, are much heavier than traditional ICE powerplants. Mainstream electric cars suffer from the same problem; electric motors and batteries are extremely heavy, and do not provide the same power density (power per unit mass) as traditional combustion engines. Although this gap is narrowing, it will be many years and probably decades before a battery-electric vehicle will be more power-efficient than traditional internal combustion.
Lastly, the cars have gotten larger over time. Simply put, more car = more mass. Although contrary to common belief, the 2022-era cars are slightly smaller than their 2021 counterparts, but both are much, much bigger than 20 years ago. A couple reasons for this are that after 2010 cars needed to be longer to accommodate full-size fuel tanks after in-race refueling was banned. This meant that cars became very long compared to their 2009 equivalents, a trait which was exacerbated once some aerodynamicists found that this extra length provided more area for downforce generation and so cars became longer still.
The cars became wider in 2017, when the regulations were rewritten to produce fast, "good-looking" cars, which provided terrible on-track action for the most part, and that width has not been reduced. Also, the 18-inch Pirelli tires introduced for 2022 added quite a bit of weight to the equation as well. It all adds up.
What can the rules do about this?
Well, as the cars have become inherently heavier, the minimum weight of all cars has been increased as well. Currently the minimum weight is 798kg, and although unconfirmed, it seems like most cars on the 2023 grid are more or less at that limit. Now, F1, in my opinion, is as much or more about engineering prowess as it is driving ability. A casual viewer would be forgiven for thinking that F1 cars have a mandated size, shape, and weight, or even for thinking that the cars are basically all the same. But that's not the case. Sure, the rules dictate a maximum length and width, and numerous safety features, but these are only maximums and not requirements.
In 2022 we saw Alfa Romeo make the conscious decision to not build its car to the maximum length, so that it could be the only team at the weight limit. This meant it was very competitive, especially in the first half of the year, compared to their traditional rivals. As other teams found a way to reduce their weight throughout the season, the team slipped back, but it was an approach that gave them their best results in a decade.
The point was that a team made the conscious decision to put weight reduction ahead of aerodynamics, and this paid dividends. Now imagine every team has to toe this line; how much more unpredictable could races be week to week? How much more interesting would the car development race be? But how could the teams be forced into making these more critical decisions? The answer is simple: reduce or drop the minimum weight requirement completely.
How would this work?
Getting rid of the minimum weight seems unlikely, so let's just say the powers that be reduce it down to 700kg. This would still be a nearly 100kg reduction on the current formula. Of course, there is a chance of inadvertently starting a materials arms race throughout the paddock, but unlike the big-budget corporate era of the early 2000s, this can be avoided by two words: Cost Cap. If the FIA, F1, and the teams can adequately regulate the cash situation, then why not open up the technical regulations a bit? It would also provide what F1 is sorely lacking in 2023, which is track-to-track variation with regards to the pecking order.
For example, let's say Ferrari decides to build a smaller car that weighs approximately 725kg, Mercedes builds a car to the maximum dimensions, but weighs 790kg, Red Bull split the difference at 750kg and a car that is slightly smaller than the maximum dimensions, while a midfield team like McLaren (sorry, but that's what they are now) goes for the extreme and turns out a small car that tips the scales at 705kg. Here's how just the first five races of the year could have played out:
In Bahrain, a track full of low-speed corners and long straights, Red Bull and Ferrari duke it out with Ferrari having better traction and tire wear but Red Bull having better medium and high-speed cornering performance. McLaren, being so good on its tires and Bahrain only having two or three high-speed corners, brings home both cars in the top 6 as Verstappen just nips Leclerc for the win.
At Jeddah, Mercedes reigns supreme with their high-speed stability as they lock out the front row ahead of Red Bull and Ferrari. McLaren struggles in the high-speed corners to generate enough load in their short wheelbase and only scores a point or two.
In Australia, a track full of medium-speed corners, Red Bull heads Mercedes and Ferrari while McLaren is once again on the fringes of points, although they are able to catch up greatly in sector 3 and because the car is so light, they can break later than everyone else and overtake on the main straight, proving to be a strategic annoyance for the faster teams. Verstappen wins again as Hamilton and Russell complete the podium.
In Baku, Ferrari is nimble enough to dance through the maze of 90-degrtee corners, and coupled to some Leclerc excellence, takes home the victory in dominant fashion as Red Bull and Mercedes scrap behind them. McLaren struggles with top speed, but is so fast through the twisty middle section of the lap that they can sneak a car into the top 6 and score decent points.
Turning to Miami, Mercedes reigns supreme in the high-speed first sector, but McLaren are untouchable in the tight stadium area and through the chicanes to get onto the front row as the top eight cars (I guess I forgot about Aston Martin in this scenario, sorry) are all mixed around on the starting grid. In a scorching Sunday, the lighter McLarens and Ferraris duke it out for the win as Red Bull and especially Mercedes struggle with degradation.
Would it play out exactly like that? No, and given the nuances of car design and car setup I don't think that the teams would be that intermixed within each race, but I firmly believe that from race to race the order would swing greatly, at least at outlier circuits like Monaco, etc.
Imagine a lower midfield team taking an extreme design route and pulling off an upset podium or even victory at Monaco or Monza? That's what F1 is missing right now, and that slight unpredictability is exactly what prospective viewers and longtime fans want. It won't be random, and of course, it shouldn't be, but F1 needs to start to think outside the box a little bit and stop trying to be so restrictive in every aspect of the regulations. Sometimes the teams, drivers, and promoters are so hyper-fixated on a specific issue like DRS, or tire compounds, that they lose track of the bigger picture of what makes F1 different from other top-level single-seater motorsports: that the cars are, and should be, different from each other.