Blaž Štremfelj
There are Formula 1 teams this year forced into drastic measures in reducing the weight of race cars. These even include color savings, which is why some are parts of race cars unpainted.
We all remember legends about the origin of the Silver Arrows, which says that in 1934, at the Formula 1 race at the Nurburgring, all the color was removed from the Mercedes cars to make them lighter by about a pound and thus for the hair remain within the prescribed maximum allowable weight.
This year the weight is one again among the main points conversations, as most teams ’race cars weigh well over 798 pounds, as much as it is prescribed minimum permissible weight, while each redundant kilogram brings in some places even more than 0.03 seconds loss per lap.
The weight of the race cars has increased from last year's 752kg this year at 795kg, in order to avoid an expensive development war to reduce the weight of racing cars, the FIA, at the request of nine of the ten teams (with the exception of Alfa Romeo), however, increased the minimum weight another three pounds.
But some race cars are still far from ideal weight, which is the lowest allowed limit, so the teams resorted to saving weight in the field of painted parts of the car. We have seen it in the past dazzling color on race cars Red Bull Racing and Ferrari replaced matte color, with which they saved about 600 grams, and for similar reasons they became famous years ago, but much more difficult, chrome-black color combinations also got rid of at McLaren Mercedes.
The race in Bahrain revealed that some teams protected some parts only with a finishing layer under which carbon is visible. For example, McLarn's race car was left without most of the orange color on the airbox before the race, which was replaced by the natural color of carbon.
Chief Technical Officer of the team Aston Martin, Andy Green said he may seem to be doing it that way for minimum acquisitions, but every split second is welcome. "Weight is a very, very big problem," he explained. “This year's race cars are basically very heavy, so it is a great challenge to reduce the weight to the lower limit. we thoroughly examined the car and removed the paint wherever possible, gaining 350 grams, ” issued by Green.
At Mercedes they estimate that, like last year's rivals, they have the title of champions Red Bull, the toughest race car of all. “If I guess a little bit we have, along with Red Bullom, the toughest race cars, ” said Mercedes boss Toto Wolff. "Some competitors have reached the minimum weight or are just above it, which gives them quite a few advantages," he added.
