Dramatic weight increase in F1 must be addressed - Lowe

Williams tech boss Paddy Lowe believes F1's future rules must reverse the trend towards heavier cars which has prevailed over the last decade.

The introduction of the Halo cockpit safety device compelled the FIA to increase F1's minimum weight for 2018 by 6kg to 734kg.

But that's also a 139kg increase compared to the minimum weight level which was applied back in 2008. For Lowe, F1 cars must shed some weight in the future.

"The weight of the cars has increased dramatically over the last ten years," he said.

"If F1 is really a sprint formula, these cars are meant to be incredibly quick for qualifying and for the race.

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"In a one hour and a half, 300km race, it’s relatively short. They’re not endurance cars and yet the weight has increased to levels that are getting towards an endurance formula rather than a sprint one."

"It’s important to produce cars that are exciting. This sport is a sport and also an entertainment, and that means we need cars that are exciting to the fans, but also that race competitively so.

"Sometimes those things are in conflict because if you want a lot of interest, a lot of variety like maybe we had in the past, what you actually end up with is a lot of difference in performance. Then you lose the interest of the race."

With a new set of regulations set for introduction in 2021, Lowe believes the sport's rule-makers need to aim for significantly lighter cars in the future.

"You have to find that balance of a formula that is restrictive enough so that the spread of the grid from front to back is not too large so you have close racing," explains Lowe.

"But at the same time, you have variety in the cars, you have excitement in the cars - in their appearance, in the noise they make, in the spectacle you see around corners.

"I think that’s something that needs to be looked at," he adds.

"The lap times are very strong at the moment because we have a lot of power and a huge amount of downforce, higher than ever in history, but the weight is also incredibly high and I think these things ought to be rebalanced."

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