Vasseur: The teams “played” with the FIA to increase the weight limit

The new technical regulations in effect this season aim to allow better chasing between two cars and ensure greater safety for the drivers. However, many are unable to comply with the 795 kg limit imposed by the FIA.

If the federation has already increased this limit, it still wishes to stay below the 900 kg mark. And although three kilos have been added, the majority of cars are above this limit. For example, Max Verstappen’s RB18 and Sergio Perez’s RB18 still have ten kilos to lose. However, there is one team that has successfully achieved this challenge: Alfa Romeo. Currently sixth in the constructor’s championship, the Swiss team is the closest to this limit.

Alfa Romeo team principal, Fred Vasseur, has expressed his opinion on the “games” teams are playing with the FIA to increase this limit. “Honestly, I don’t understand the comments,” Vasseur confessed. “Because I believe that is the objective for everyone, when you create a car, weight is always the number one goal. No one can be surprised by the weight at the last minute, I think some teams have played a game with the FIA, hoping that the FIA would increase the minimum weight at the last minute,” he stated.

On the other hand, he finds it unfair, considering it possible to reach the weight limit required by the FIA. « But it would be totally unfair, because during this project we made decisions based on the complexity linked to weight and we made our choice. And you know how the world of Formula 1 is, that everyone tries to play a game. It was crystal clear that the weight objective was achievable, that we are capable of not being overweight. », explained Vasseur. According to him, the overweight of certain teams is due to the options chosen on the cars, sometimes including a few “advantages”.