World champion Max Verstappen says it is “unrealistic” to expect Formula 1 cars to become significantly lighter in the future amid plans to reduce their weight.The weight of Formula 1 cars has ballooned by 200kg over the past two decades, with the 2023 minimum weight of 798kg for an empty car setting a new record.
While F1's drivers are unanimously in favour of the idea, Red Bull's Verstappen pointed out that the current hybrid engines and safety advancements will make it tricky to shave off a significant amount of weight. "But I will always be in favour of lighter cars because I already enjoyed the '21 car more than what we have now in terms of how agile it was. Now the car in the low speed is a bit of a boat.", who joined F1 in 2001 when cars weighed in at only 600kg, also backed lighter machinery but felt their excessive dimensions are a bigger detriment to the racing.