They're not going to save 200kg by cutting a chunk out of the wheelbase.feni_remmen wrote: ↑19 Jul 2023, 10:09I’ve long thought this. If the minimum weight was allowed to be 600kg including driver, the cars MIGHT be lighter because they MIGHT choose to remove a metre from the middle of the car. It will however remain a contest measured by who made the right choices at the start of the design process. Get the jump at the start and continue to keep the lead.
For 2026 the Power Unit minimum weight is 150kg (ICE, turbo, MGUK, etc.) and the Energy Store minimum weight is 35kg.
The current driver minimum weight is 80kg.
The current tyre and wheel package weighs ~74kg.
The Halo, by itself, weighs ~10kg.
That means to get to 600kg the rest of the car must be no more than:
600 - 150 - 35 - 80 - 74 - 10 = 251kg.
In that you have to have a gearbox (8 speeds currently), mandatory side impact structures, chassis to pass rigorous impact testing, the chassis, bodywork, cooling system for the ICE, intercooler system for the turbo, coolers for the ES and MGUK, brakes, suspension, etc.
The fact that most of today's cars are missing paint to make it down to the 798kg minimum weight would suggest that getting too much lighter will be difficult.