Ferrari F1 star Carlos Sainz admits concern over PROBLEMATIC trend

Ferrari

Ferrari star admits concern over PROBLEMATIC F1 trend

Carlos Sainz hopes the minimum weight of F1 cars will reduce in the future

Kevin McKenna

Saturday 10 August 2024 14:59

Ferrari star Carlos Sainz has revealed his concern for the future in light of some of the changes which have been made in Formula 1 over the past decade.

The iconic Italian outfit's last championship win came back in 2008, with Mercedes and then Red Bull since establishing themselves as the dominant forces in the sport.

F1 HEADLINES: Hamilton stunned by Wolff challenge as Mercedes boss throws down warning

Article continues under video

Hopes were high coming into the 2024 campaign that their driver pairing of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz could finally challenge the top of the order, but despite a promising start to proceedings, the pair have fallen behind their rivals once again.

The duo's wins in Monaco and Australia respectively have highlighted their undoubted quality, but as has so often been the case in recent years, consistency has been lacking.

Now, just months before he makes the move to Williams, Sainz has outlined a potential problem facing every team and driver involved in the sport.

Carlos Sainz's last F1 victory came at the 2024 Australian Grand Prix

The Spanish driver has agreed a deal to join Williams in 2025

F1 drivers 'would appreciate' weight reduction

As things stand, F1 cars must weight a minimum of 798kg, but that number is set to climb to 800kg next season.

With vehicles already 100kg heavier than in 2014, the Spanish driver is hoping to see the trend reverse in the future, something he believes would be popular amongst the drivers.

“Obviously, two kilos is not a big change,” Sainz told the media.

“The problem is when you start adding two kilos on top of another two, another two, another two.

“I think [it] is where the trend has been in Formula 1 over the last 10 years, to keep adding two kilos here, three there, five there, and then the cars have become 800 kilos heavy.

Sainz has urged F1 bosses to rethink the minimum weight regulations

“At the same time, I think this weight has made the cars also safer because there's a lot of impact structure and a lot of work being done on the driver safety, which I'm never going to deny that I want that safety to be as high as possible.

“But anything that we can do to bring the weight back down, I think every driver here will appreciate it.

“We hope that the FIA and the teams are taking that into consideration when deciding future rules, not only the 2026 ones [when new technical regulations come into force].”