George Russell and Kevin Magnussen agree over major F1 problem for drivers
Kevin Magnussen shares George Russell's concerns about the weight of the current crop of Formula 1 cars.
A new set of design rules changed the way the cars work and reintroduced ground-effect aerodynamics. And F1 machines are heavier now than they have ever been in the history of the sport.
Heavier tyres, newly-mandated electronics systems and greater safety equipment, such as the life-saving halo, have pushed up the weight of the cars. For the 2023 season, the minimum weight allowed, including the driver, is 798kg.
And that is without fuel being taken into account. Once a race load sloshing around the tank, possibly up to an extra 110kg, is added, the cars are even more dense - an are approaching a tonne. That, according to Magnussen, makes them a lot less fun to drive.
"They have become much heavier," the Haas driver told Mirror Sport. "The 2017 to 2020 cars were really fun - still heavy but not as heavy as they are now. These cars have gotten a little bit... the effect is really starting to show in the low speed corners where the car is a bit too heavy and feels more like a prototype car than a Formula 1 car.
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"But it's still super fast in the high-speed corners and they change direction very, very easily. I just think if they go too much away from fast cars... to me, Formula 1 is supposed to have the fastest cars in the world on a lap, time wise. So I hope they continue down that road."
The Dane hopes the situation will be addressed at the next major refresh of car design regulations, planned for the 2026 season. "I haven't actually heard too much about the '26 cars myself from my guys. But I'm curious to know, so I might ask," he added.
Earlier this year, Mercedes racer Russell voiced his own concerns about the heftiness of the modern-day F1 car. The Brit, a director of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association, raised a safety point as he called on the situation to be looked at.
He said: "The weight is extraordinary. At the moment, the low-speed performance is not great... We keep making these cars safer and safer, but obviously the heavier you make them when you have an impact it's like crashing with a bus compared to a Smart Car.
"You're going to have a greater impact if you're going the same speed with a car that weights 800-odd-kgs or over 900kgs at the start of a race, compared to one 15 years ago when they were at 650kg.
"I'm sure there's analysis going on about striking that right balance because I don't know where the line is drawn. If you just keep making it heavier, heavier, heavier, stronger, stronger, stronger, actually you get to a point where you cross over that [line] that too heavy is actually not safer."
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