Drivers deal with fact in F1 ‘weight is always a factor, and less is always better’

Gary Meenaghan details how heavier F1 engines this season mean lighter drivers in 2014.

Lewis Hamilton reacts after winning the Singapore Grand Prix in September. Xavier Galiana / Reuters / September 21, 2014

Gary Meenaghan

Shortly before September’s Italian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton posted a photo to his Instagram account.

It was a typical Hamiltonian post: the British driver posing shirtless aboard an expensive yacht with the sun beating down.

The caption read: “Time to put back on those 6kg I lost for this season since next year the weight limit goes up 10kg lol #blessedlife #godisthegreatest”.

Snapshots of a driver’s life often prove fascinating, but it was the caption on this one that was more interesting than the photograph.

This season’s F1 engines are heavier than in previous seasons so, despite a car’s minimum weight being increased from 642 kilograms to 691kg at the start of the year, teams continued to struggle during the design stage as they scoured for ways to shave off grams and ensure the lightest car possible.

Marcus Ericsson, the Caterham driver, estimated ahead of the opening race of the season that 3kg is the equivalent of a 10th of a second per lap and that his teammate Kamui Kobayashi, who is shorter than him by four centimetres, was also about 7kg lighter. If the advantage was clear; the next step was obvious.

Sauber’s Adrian Sutil, one of the tallest drivers in the paddock, said drivers were being forced to diet to reach a figure below their ideal weight. Ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix, which is often contested in temperatures exceeding 30°C, the German said the sports governing body, the FIA, was endangering the drivers who were risking dehydration.

During the race, to keep the weight of the car down, he drove without a water bottle (and crashed out on the 17th lap).

As Hamilton wrote, the weight limit will increase by 10kg next season, meaning this week's Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix should – in theory – be the last time drivers need to be overly concerned about maintaining their minimum weight.

It has been said Nico Hulkenberg, the Force India driver, has in the past missed out on race seats at more competitive teams because of his height and weight.

The German denies it, but it inevitably comes into consideration. Martin Whitmarsh, the former McLaren-Mercedes team principal, conceded that while hunting for a new driver last year, “the way it has worked out means the heavier drivers will be less attractive” and “could be at a disadvantage”.

Valtteri Bottas, the Williams driver, has enjoyed a fruitful season this year, but is looking forward to getting back to his ideal weight next year.

“The rule change is a nice thing for all the teams because it has been quite tight for the designers to make the car as light as possible,” he said.

“The drivers had to lose weight from last year – myself included – and now it gives us a bit of room to develop the car and not think about every gram. For some drivers, it also means we can be at a more healthy body weight next year.”

Yet Franz Tost, the team principal of Toro Rosso, said a driver’s build will always be an issue because any extra weight allowance will be seen by designers as offering more flexibility in car set-up.

“Height is important because of the monocoque; if the driver is too large then you need to make the monocoque bigger, which is not good,” Tost said.

“Weight is a problem, but not as much as you can tell the driver to eat less and train more.

“Both are vital though because every gram matches a loss of performance. It will be the same problem next year. This year, if you have 650kg then you can move 10kg. Next year if you have 650kg you can move 20kg. Weight is always a factor and less is always better.”

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