F1 drivers Sainz and Ricciardo discuss the implications of the sport’s recent 2kg weight increase.
The FIA has again increased the total weight of F1 cars by two kilos for next year.
They will go from 798 to 800 kilos but for the health of the drivers, since their weight, with their equipment and any necessary ballast, will go from 80 to 82 kilos.
Although this measure concerns the comfort of some taller drivers primarily, Carlos Sainz still denounces a surge in F1 weights.
“Obviously, two kilos don’t make a big change. The problem is when you start adding two kilos on top of another two, and another two, which is, I think, the trend in Formula 1 for the past 10 years, to keep adding two kilos here, three there, five there, and then the cars weigh 800 kilos.”
“In the past, they weighed about 600 kilos. Work is underway, I believe, for 2026. At the same time, I think this weight has also made the cars safer because there are a lot of impact structures and a lot of work is done on driver safety, and I will never deny that I want that safety to be as high as possible.”
“But anything we can do to reduce the weight, all the drivers here would appreciate it. We hope that the FIA and the teams will take this into account when setting future rules, not just those for 2026.”
Does he feel concerned by this measure? Will he gain some comfort from it?
“Personally, no. But I’ve had to be careful about the amount of muscle and food intake. But I’ve always been at the limit of this weight. But I can imagine Nico Hulkenberg, Esteban Ocon, or George Russell.”
“I wouldn’t be very happy if I were 1 meter 80 something. So yes, I understand that this was probably done for the heavier or taller drivers, because they’ve always had a bit more difficulty than average-sized drivers like me.”
At his side, Daniel Ricciardo nods.
“Yes, on that too, it’s clear they can’t do anything about their height. So it’s unfair if they have to dehydrate just to make weight, so to speak. But even for us, if we don’t reach this weight, it’s nice to have the freedom to be the athletes we need to be and not like ‘oh, we have to be careful, we can’t do too much weight training’.”
“So having a bit of freedom now in our training is a big advantage for many of us.”
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Sainz and Ricciardo debate latest weight increase Sainz and Ricciardo debate latest weight increase
