The weight limits need changed.

[Hail22]

I think to combat something like this happening a new regulation should be made whereby the team has to place ballast under the seat of the driver equal to 85kg minus the weight of the driver. Therefore the extra weight will be in that area regardless if the driver weighs 60kg or 85kg.

I looked at your location, is that you Rory Byrne?

Jokes aside, its a logical and sound idea. This should be put forward to the FIA delegation and drivers association to be discussed in depth before the start of next season.

South Africans really knows something about racecar design

Some of the best mining / civil engineers are from South Africa. Runs in their pedigree (naturally not everyone).

[Pingguest]

If Formula 1 is indeed the pinnacle of motorsport, the minimum weight should be abolished. And I cannot see the injustice of drivers being too heavy, despite being fit enough. It requires a certain inborn trait to become a Formula 1 driver, especially to be a good one. I fail to see why this should be any different regarding a driver's body weight.

[Hail22]

Jenson Button weighs in on the matter:

Source "Metro": http://metro.co.uk/2013/10/03/jenson-bu ... n-4133721/

[JimClarkFan]

Jenson Button weighs in on the matter:

Source "Metro": http://metro.co.uk/2013/10/03/jenson-bu ... n-4133721/

I see what you did there.

Hulkenburg is a heavy guy for an F1 driver.

If you believe the BBC article
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/24394215

1kg = 0.035secs a lap, if ballast were not added that would mean Vettel would be 0.7 seconds a lap faster than Hulkenburg simply because the hulk weights more.

[Spacepace]

These guys could drop weight although it is hard to maintain over a year. 127lbs. and 5ft7 isn't that out worldly. If look at Mark Webber though he is already thin for his height and could only lose weight by dropping muscle mass. Doesn't seem fair if your over 5'9".

[andylaurence]

So they're a little slower than smaller drivers. It's not ideal, but at least they're on the grid. I don't fit in most of the single seaters used in sprinting/hillclimbing, not because I'm fat, but because I'm too tall. We've no minimum weight limit, so my 85kg frame is at quite a disadvantage. The smaller cars weigh in at <300kg, the lightest of which could include a lightweight driver and still be 280kg. The lightest car I've found that I can fit in is >400kg ... plus me. I've a 200kg disadvantage! Of course, my livelihood doesn't depend on my results either...

[SiLo]

Didn't realise the car were running that close to the limit that they need to drivers to lose a substantial amount of weight. I know it all helps though, but then having some more weight which is fairly low down and very central surely isn't such a problem?

What if Hulk was super super fast, would they say no then? I think not. It sounds a bit silly to me, but then I understand that everything is pushed to the maximum for these cars, so why not the driver too?

[GrizzleBoy]

I always had a feeling that Jensons fitness programme centered around marathon events (even in the middle of a season) was due to making weight.

It also explains why Marks facial features make him look like a skeleton.

[rssh]

Weight penalty is something which should be a problem for the teams and Power units people. They should engineer better and reduce the weight accordingly (which anyways they will during the season), the car is already heavier than last year and with the 100kg fuel penalty even more weight penalty is not pleasing. I though that the cars built up weight about 500-550kg and the rest was just ballast . So even if the power units are about 50kg more heavier the FIA has increased the weight limit from 642 to 692 kgs. And if people are cribbing about even more heavier power units then they should change their power unit supplier so just plain simply use less ballast (obviously less balance correction with result from it due to low use of ballast).

May be Jenson is giving excuses why his contract with MACCA is not signed already.

[SectorOne]

The fastest man of all time, he just does not know it.



This is the sort of driver physique you will have if you don´t put a lid on driver weight.

F1 should be about skills, not weight. There´s no skill in being smaller then another person and benefiting from that.

[turbof1]

I always had a feeling that Jensons fitness programme centered around marathon events (even in the middle of a season) was due to making weight.

It also explains why Marks facial features make him look like a skeleton.

I wonder if Adrian Newey is the personal "fitness" coach of the Red Bull drivers, given he absolutely refused to put on a full vanity panel which only raises the weight with a few hundred grams.

If so, I have big fears for the drivers. Adrian's next design might incooperate decreases in bodyweight ""let's remove your appendix, you don't need that". "Who needs 2 kidneys!" "How about removing your pinkies?" "let's pull out some teeth"

/joke mode off

[beelsebob]

Weight penalty is something which should be a problem for the teams and Power units people. They should engineer better and reduce the weight accordingly (which anyways they will during the season), the car is already heavier than last year and with the 100kg fuel penalty even more weight penalty is not pleasing. I though that the cars built up weight about 500-550kg and the rest was just ballast . So even if the power units are about 50kg more heavier the FIA has increased the weight limit from 642 to 692 kgs. And if people are cribbing about even more heavier power units then they should change their power unit supplier so just plain simply use less ballast (obviously less balance correction with result from it due to low use of ballast).

May be Jenson is giving excuses why his contract with MACCA is not signed already.

The point is that even if you engineer to reduce the weight, even if you do the best possible job there, the driver is still a penalty, because their weight can not be moved, while ballast can. The problem is not with being over weight, it's with moving weight around to optimal locations.

I love the idea of adding weight around the driver in some pre-determined distribution, so that the weight distribution of the 85kg of driver + mandatory ballast is pretty much consistent between all teams and drivers.

[jamsbong]

UFC fighters loose and gain weight constantly to meet the weight limits of different category. These guys have to be tough, being beaten, and strong land powerful strikes. Skillful so that they outsmart the other fighters too.

If they can adjust their weights, so can F1 drivers. I don't know why this is an issue?? I think F1 driver just live such pampered and glamorous lifestyle to put up with this.

[turbof1]

UFC fighters loose and gain weight constantly to meet the weight limits of different category. These guys have to be tough, being beaten, and strong land powerful strikes. Skillful so that they outsmart the other fighters too.

If they can adjust their weights, so can F1 drivers. I don't know why this is an issue?? I think F1 driver just live such pampered and glamorous lifestyle to put up with this.

If you can't see the difference then you are an idiot (the very first time I have to say this at this forum). UFC is about gaining an optimal weight; F1 is about loosing as much weight as possible. UFC fighters aren't disadvantaged when they weight more then their opponent. They move up a category. A F1 driver however can possibly loose out on his seat for that.

You'd be sh*tting your pants when you got to know how much training the average f1 drivers does.

[krisfx]

I think to combat something like this happening a new regulation should be made whereby the team has to place ballast under the seat of the driver equal to 85kg minus the weight of the driver. Therefore the extra weight will be in that area regardless if the driver weighs 60kg or 85kg.

One of the best ideas i´ve read here.

I think for a level playing field what should separate the drivers is hand/eye/feet coordination and not weight.

Similar to karting, it's quite a good idea