Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Auto

How much does a Formula 1 car weigh?

F1 cars will be smaller and lighter in 2026

Bruce Brown
By
Lando Norris driving a McLaren F1 race car.
Guy / Pixabay

F1 racing is bound by strict rules from the FIA that set a minimum limit on how much a Formula 1 car weighs. Before each racing season, three volumes of FIA F1 Regulations set the parameters for technical, sporting, and financial operations for F1 teams, including the drivers and cars.

The minimum weight for F1 cars will change starting with the 2026 season (more on that below in this article), but for the F1 2024 and 2025 schedules, the official minimum weight for an F1 car is 798 kilograms (1,759.29 pounds). Read on to learn why the regulations list a minimum weight, not a maximum.

Recommended Videos

Why F1 car weight matters

Lewis Hamilton (44) driving for Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team during The Australian Formula One Grand Prix Race on April 02, 2023, at The Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit in Albert Park, Australia.
davidhewison / Adobe Stock

The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) is the governing organization for more than 240 motorsports. The FIA has three major purposes behind the rules and regulations for each sport: competition, fairness, and safety. The FIA works hard to ensure F1 racing stays exciting for fans, fair for the drivers, and safe for drivers, crew, and spectators.

Related

Fans get bored if races aren’t competitive, and sponsors might stop supporting the sport. FIA regulations hold all cars to the same rules, so races are decided by driver skill and teamwork, not by physical differences such as car weight or power. The weight limit helps keep F1 racing competitive, fair, and safe because, with all else equal, lighter cars go faster but will also suffer greater damage in crashes than heavier cars.

The FIA F1 Technical Regulations

Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 race car on the track.
Ádám Urvölgyi / Pixabay

The minimum weight for an F1 race car is 798 kg. That includes the driver and their full race kit, helmet, racing suit, and anything else the driver wears or carries during the race. Fuel isn’t included in the weight minimum, so the cars are weighed without fuel.

F1 drivers are weighed by FIA track personnel immediately after each race to be sure the car has the minimum weight during the entire race. Drivers can lose 4 to 6 pounds during a race due to sweating and exertion, but they must still meet the minimum weight requirement. If the car and driver’s weight aren’t enough before a race, teams can add extra weight in the form of ballast attached to specific areas on the car to meet this requirement. Teams don’t want to exceed the minimum weight if possible because heavier cars are slower and use more fuel.

Changes coming for 2026

Haas F1 team Formula 1 race car on the track.
Haas F1 / Haas F1

The FIA and Formula 1 are focused on being more eco-friendly, with changes planned for the 2026 season. Cars will use biofuel starting in 2025. The engines will still be hybrids but with changes in the electrical energy systems. The expectation is that the FIA weight limit will be 40 to 50 kg lighter for the new cars, partly due to smaller tires. Narrower bodies will also help overtake tighter tracks. Formula 1 aims to be carbon neutral by 2030. These changes might even make the cars faster because they’ll use more electric power.

Editors' Recommendations

Bruce Brown
Bruce Brown
Digital Trends Contributing Editor Bruce Brown is a member of the Smart Homes and Cars teams. He also writes technology news…
A new poll suggests F1 2024 has a viewership problem — here’s why
Red Bull's Max Verstappen's domination bores some fans
Max Verstappen driving a Red Bull F1 race car.

The 2024 F1 Grand Prix racing season has barely begun, but a recent F1 viewership poll by Race.com suggests fans are less enthusiastic now than before the season began. Citing nearly 150,000 votes, the poll results claim 61% of respondents voted they were less excited about the rest of the F1 season than during the pre-season, with only 7% more excited and 32% unchanged. More recent events might swing a new poll in the opposite direction.

According to the poll report, the most common reason for fan disenchantment was Red Bull's Max Verstappen winning the first two races virtually unchallenged, continuing a winning phenomenon of the past two seasons. Well, Max didn't win the third race, the Australian Grand Prix, on March 24. In fact, he didn't even finish the race but retired the car when his right rear brake caught fire.
Why F1 viewership matters

Read more
How much do F1 drivers make?
Verstappen and Hamilton each likely earn more than $100 million
Max Verstappen driving a Red Bull F1 race car.

Do you mean they get money, too? During the Formula 1 racing season, F1 drivers travel to exotic locations, get treated like superstars, and drive incredibly fast cars to compete with some of the world's top drivers. They also get paid salaries estimated to start at $1 million per season and may earn a lot more in bonuses, prizes, endorsements, and sponsorships.

From the live event spectators' and TV viewers' perspectives, it may appear that F1 race car drivers lead glamorous lives, but the reality for even the best drivers is a relatively short career training, practicing, and performing under constant pressure. Aspiring F1 drivers start young, usually under 10, and focus on racing, hoping that by the time they reach the minimum F1 driving age of 18, an F1 team will want them. If a driver succeeds in getting a seat in an F1 race car, then the scrutiny of the intensely data-centric F1 world commences. F1 driver performance is measured in many ways, including salaries and overall income.
Why F1 driver salaries matter

Read more
How much horsepower does a Formula 1 car have?
Drivers win the races, but how much horsepower does a Formula 1 cars have?
Red Bull's Max Verstappen driving a victory circle.

Formula 1 cars produce an incredible amount of horsepower. Watching them buzz around the track makes it easy to forget that each is an engineering marvel. F1 race car engines, or, to use the correct term, power units, produce prodigious amounts of energy, following specific and strictly enforced FIA F1 Regulations for technical, sporting, and financial matters.

F1 cars get the most possible from every element in their design and construction. Still, the first question fans often ask is, "How much horsepower do F1 engines have?" The simple answer for the 2024 F1 season is approximately 1,000 horsepower, but there's much more to it.
Why  F1 engine horsepower matters

Read more