Controversy over pilots’ weight loss: danger or necessary time saving?

Since the introduction of new power units at the beginning of the year, the weight limit of Formula 1 cars, including the driver, has been increased by 50 kg (to 691 kg) compared to 2013. A measure that is not sufficient for some teams that struggle to reach this limit and therefore ask their drivers to lose weight to compensate.

This is the case at Toro Rosso where Daniil Kvyat is much lighter (about 7 to 8 kg) than his teammate Jean-Eric Vergne. The latter, therefore, attempted to lose weight during the off-season, which resulted in a hospital visit on the evening of the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne where the Frenchman found himself exhausted, as he explained to our colleagues at Autosport: “I went down to 67 kilos, which is a bit too low, and I lost energy. But I’ve gained a bit of weight back and now everything is fine.”

On his side, Adrian Sutil, who is one of the heaviest drivers on the grid at 75 kg, finds this limitation absurd. The German driver has been proving over the past three Grand Prix that he has the worst difficulties on the track compared to his teammate, Esteban Gutiérrez, who is lighter: « We have to lose a lot of weight, and we don’t have much left to lose anyway. It’s a difficult situation right now. I’ve already lost 3 or 4 kilos compared to last year, and I was already very light. With this additional weight lost, the situation becomes critical. But I control all that, and I’m still in shape to finish the races. But you already feel, at the start of the race, that you don’t have optimal strength. »

But with the regulation changes, the vintage single-seaters are different to drive and perhaps require a little less physical strength. A welcome compensation for Sutil: The cars are a bit slower, so you don’t need to be in super shape. But it’s a bit like going for a race for an hour and a half without having eaten enough beforehand; you’re then low on sugar and find yourself in a situation where you can’t work properly. That’s the danger we face. The season is long, and the more we travel, the more we drain our energy.

Earlier in the year, the German driver had already alerted the FIA to this problem by notably stating: « The small drivers are clearly advantaged. It’s obvious that everyone knows it, and I hope there will be regulatory adjustments very soon. »

Initially, the teams had planned to increase the weight limit by 10kg to bring it to 701 kg. However, due to the lack of unanimous agreement among them, this measure was pushed to 2015. Alerted about the issue, the FIA president, Jean Todt, doesn’t seem too worried about the situation: “I think that, normally, you can have a good diet without ending up in the hospital because you lost too many kilos. I don’t think you go to the hospital because you’re on a diet.”