What is the weight of an F1 car

[Craigy]

A little off topic, but I guess if there was no minimum weight rule, Webber would lose his job to someone smaller/lighter!

Webber and Button are both normal sized people (about 6ft [183cm], both of them).

Massa is tiny. Even Kovy is really small - I've met him and Vettel in person.

C

[volarchico]

My point exactly...and discussed earlier in this thread with their actual weights! Normal sized people would no longer be able to drive F1 if they did away with the minimum weight rule and we'd end up with a only jockey-types... not sure that's the right way to describe it, but I mean only small, very light-weight people.

[DHP]

Just out of curiosity -

Does the telemetry tell the engineers the weight of the car so they can tell the drivers they need to pick up rubber on the slow-down lap or do they do it anyway "just in case"?

Cheers!

p.s. Fantastic racing at Shanghai today!

[Lycoming]

No, you just always do it.

You could measure weight by spring travel, but its a very shoddy measurement if the car is still moving.

[DHP]

No, you just always do it.
You could measure weight by spring travel, but its a very shoddy measurement if the car is still moving.

Okay, well thanks for the answer. However I would not measure the weight that way, I'd use tiny strain gauges... yes, I know, that's a kind of spring but not like a bouncy suspension. But there are still lots of big aerodynamic forces that would have to be allowed for quite accurately so I'm not really surprised if they don't bother.

I was just intrigued to hear a team reminding a driver to do it. I suppose sometimes they know things have got a bit close to the limit - if the tyres are right down, the tank is on fumes and the driver has lost 2 stone in sweat

Cheers!