{"id":731700,"date":"2026-06-12T09:46:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T09:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/731700\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T09:46:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T09:46:10","slug":"fia-president-targets-nearly-150kg-f1-weight-reduction-by-2031","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/731700\/","title":{"rendered":"FIA president targets nearly 150kg F1 weight reduction by 2031"},"content":{"rendered":"

FIA president Mohammed Ben\u00a0Sulayem has reiterated his commitment to a return of V8 engines in Formula 1 in the near future, and has now outlined a broader vision that would also involve a dramatic reduction in car weight.<\/p>\n

Current 2026 Formula 1 cars have a minimum weight of 768kg. While the FIA’s latest regulations have already succeeded in reducing that figure compared to the previous generation, Ben Sulayem believes much more can be done.<\/p>\n

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Formula 1’s minimum weight has steadily increased over the past decade as a result of several factors, including larger cars, increasingly sophisticated hybrid power units, stronger crash structures and additional safety systems.<\/p>\n

Ben Sulayem acknowledged that safety requirements have contributed to the trend – but still believes F1 can return to the weight levels seen around 15 years ago.<\/p>\n

“What is the worst thing in the cars now?” he said in an interview with French broadcaster Canal+. “Complexity, more money, expenses, and also big car. A big and heavy car means what? Means it is not safe.<\/p>\n

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“We added 50 kilograms because of the safety. But now I would like to see a car, a total complete car for less than 650 kilograms. My target is 630.”<\/p>\n

FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem\"FIA<\/p>\n

FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem<\/p>\n

Achieving such a figure while maintaining modern safety standards would represent a major engineering challenge. Even reaching the FIA president’s broader target of sub-650kg cars would require a reduction of more than 100kg compared to the current regulations.<\/p>\n

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Ben Sulayem believes a simplified engine formula could help make that possible, with future regulations reducing the role of electrical components in the power unit. That would effectively mean lighter batteries and a smaller hybrid contribution than today, as the FIA president envisions electrification accounting for around 10% of the overall power output.<\/p>\n

“The V8 has to come,” he said. “You have the power from the ICE engine of maybe 760 horsepower with 10% in it of electrification. That would give it the sound. It would be much cheaper. And R&D, research and development, much cheaper.<\/p>\n

“As an engine alone, much lighter, enjoyable, and the sound will come for the spectators.”<\/p>\n

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Under Ben Sulayem’s vision, Formula 1 would retain an element of electrification but significantly reduce its role compared to current hybrid power units, helping to lower costs and cut weight.<\/p>\n

The FIA president also argued that a return to naturally aspirated V8 engines would not come at the expense of F1’s environmental ambitions, as the series switched to fully sustainable fuels under the 2026 regulations.<\/p>\n

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“You have the teams. You have the financial stability of the race. And you run it in what? Sustainable fuel,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I can’t see where we will get it wrong. The fans [will] have something that we have to give [them] to.”<\/p>\n

To read more Motorsport.com articles visit our website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FIA president Mohammed Ben\u00a0Sulayem has reiterated his commitment to a return of V8 engines in Formula 1 in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":731701,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[242175,49,48,578,3754,128682,576,189981,577,186538,10948,82],"class_list":["post-731700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-ben-sulayem","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-fia","tag-fia-president","tag-formula-1","tag-formula-1-cars","tag-formula1","tag-minimum-weight","tag-mohammed-ben-sulayem","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/731700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=731700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/731700\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/731701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=731700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=731700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=731700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}