Red Bull car is 30kg overweight? F1 fan 'exposes FIA data' in shocking images

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Red Bull car is 30kg overweight? F1 fan 'exposes FIA data' in shocking images

Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar's F1 cars could be significantly overweight

Kerry Violet F1 News Editor

F1 editor and journalist covering motorsport since 2024.

Wednesday 18 March 2026 19:52

F1 fans have been sent into a frenzy after one eagle-eyed onlooker managed to snap some concerning pictures of what appears to show the Red Bull 2026 car being 30kg overweight.

In 2026, F1's chassis and power unit regulations have been completely overhauled, with the new restricted weight limit one of the many changes to still be causing grief for some constructors.

From 2026 onwards, F1 cars are now smaller and lighter in an effort to encourage closer, more exciting racing at grand prix destinations like Monaco that have become somewhat of a glorified traffic jam in recent years.

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On top of this, there are of course now 22 cars out on track instead of 20, with American squad Cadillac joining the grid for this season as well.

But as Red Bull's star driver Max Verstappen continues to make his dislike of the sport's new regulations publicly known, it appears as though the energy drink giants may have bigger problems on their hands than a disgruntled champion.

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Is the 2026 Red Bull F1 car overweight?

At last weekend's Chinese Grand Prix, Verstappen took to team radio to state that the driveability of his new RB22 was 'horrendous' before going on to pick up his first DNF of a so far very disappointing season.

Following the Shanghai sprint weekend, a photo of his team-mate's Red Bull being weighed began to spread on social media, with the picture seemingly showing that Isack Hadjar's car was overweight.

The photo of the Red Bull showed a miniscule reading at the bottom of the screen on an official monitor, which, if you zoomed in, appeared to show that the RB22 had weighed in at 716kg.

Now, if you consider the minimum driver weight (including their helmet, seat, and race suit) is now 82kg for 2026, and you add that on top of the 716kg reading, this brings the rough total weight of the car and the driver to 798kg.

What's bad news for the Milton Keynes-based outfit is that the new minimum weight of an F1 car is 768kg, so this makes the RB22 30kg overweight.

However, it is worth nothing that these figures were discovered and posted by a fan and have not been confirmed by Red Bull or the FIA.

Red Bull have made no secret of their own concerns regarding the weight of their new machinery however, with technical director Pierre Wache even admitting the team were struggling with excess weight during pre-season testing.

Speaking in Bahrain last month, Wache said: "We have some challenges with the weight — it's the case for everybody.

"Maybe some people did a better job than us, but on our side, we will have to find some weight on the car. But our philosophy every time is to try and make a car quicker, not on the weight limit or whatever... But it is a better position than in 2022."

How much should an F1 car weigh in 2026?

In 2026, an F1 car has a minimum weight requirement of 768kg (without fuel), but this figure is unlikely to be met in the early stages of the new season where the new regulations have come into play.

That minimum weight has been reduced by 32kg compared to last year, with Red Bull and Williams two teams in particular who appear to be grappling with the change.

Struggling squad Aston Martin are also said to be running an overweight car, but the list of problems with their 2026 challenger extends far beyond exceeding the new minimum weight.

In order to meet the new weight demands, the wheelbase of the new era of F1 cars has been reduced by 20cm and the width of the car reduced by 10cm. The maximum floor width has also been reduced by 15cm, with the front tyre width having also been dropped by 2.5cm and the rears by 3cm.

Are F1 teams penalised for having an overweight car?

If an F1 car is found to be underweight, this results in an instant disqualification, as seen at the 2024 Belgian GP when George Russell's Mercedes was found to be underweight when checked by the FIA after the race.

Russell was stripped of his grand prix win, handing seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton his most recent grand prix victory.

But if a car is overweight, there is no specific penalty a team is at risk of, although it serves them no benefit to run a car that exceeds the minimum weight due to the significant performance deficit that comes with it.

In fact, cars are said to lose roughly 0.3 seconds per lap for every 10kg they are above the minimum weight.

If a driver does not meet the minimum weight personally, teams are now required to add a ballast to the vehicle that sits in the cockpit of the car in order to keep the weight low, bringing the minimum weight up to meet the requirements.

Written by

Kerry Violet - F1 News Editor

Having graduated from the University of Sheffield with a 2:1 in Journalism in 2022, Kerry continued her pursuit of finding a full-time position in motorsport through work with the F1 Arcade in London, where she got to meet true fans of the sport and make a live grand prix watch party memorable for them. It was here that she confirmed her dream of combining her background in journalism and love of motorsport, going on to volunteer with the female-led platform Empoword Journalism. Having completed stints as a screen editor and sports editor, Kerry landed her first F1-specific editorial role with GPFans and has thoroughly enjoyed continuing to work closely with the sport ever since. The access GPFans offers Kerry has allowed her to interview big names such as Naomi Schiff and David Coulthard and given her experiences she could only have dreamt of as a young F1 fan.

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