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2019 rules will be fairer, says Lowe

12:05, 16 Jun 2018

byBobby Vincent

Williams chief technical officer, Paddy Lowe says that the rules in place for next season will "almost eliminate" tall drivers' disadvantage.

The new F1 rules for next year specify a minimum driver weight limit, and Lowe says this will make the competition fairer.

The combined weight of a driver plus ballast must be equal to 80kg and then it will be deemed separate from the car's overall weight.

Currently taller drivers, who usually weigh more, can be at a disadvantage in comparison to the smaller and lighter drivers.

"If we go way back, the driver wasn't even in the weight of the car prior to the mid-nineties," Lowe said.

"Bringing the driver in was a good help to the bigger driver.

"We've now gone to the final stage with the driver weight limit where the detriment of a heavy driver is almost eliminated, and I think that's good.

"This is a sport where you're combining competition equipment, the car, and the driver, the sports man, and to me it's right and fair that weight shouldn't be a factor, at least within some limit."

Lowe says that the aerodynamic differences in place for next season won't make much of a difference on the overall car weight and distribution.

"Weight distribution isn't a particular concern, you can trim that and adjust that as long as we know where we're heading.

"We have some changes, for instance the front wing's a bit bigger, the rear wing is bigger, we've got a bit of loss on the bargeboard area. Various things, we take all of those into account."