Seventy-five years ago, Giuseppe Farina crossed the finish line at Silverstone to win the first-ever Formula 1 World Championship Grand Prix.
His Alfa Romeo 158 weighed somewhere between 650 and 700 kilograms, depending on the source and fluid levels.
When Formula 1 first introduced a minimum weight limit in 1961, it was set at just 450kg a figure that seems almost impossible by today’s standards.
Fast-forward to the present, and teams are now working hard to stay just above the latest minimum weight requirement of 800kg
The struggle is evident in the increasing amount of exposed carbon fiber on modern F1 cars, as teams try to reduce every unnecessary gram.
Looking back to 1995, when the weight of both car and driver was first officially combined, the benchmark was just 595kg—meaning cars today are over 200kg heavier than they were three decades ago.
To put it lightly, that's not exactly a glowing sign of progress, especially in a sport that prides itself on engineering innovation.
As Nikolas Tombazis, the FIA’s single-seater director, noted in a recent interview with Autosport, "We'd all prefer lighter cars.”
He explained that future regulations and power unit developments could help bring the weight down again.
“It’s a balance between cost, technical freedom, environmental goals, and the excitement F1 is known for,” he added.