"We took paint off wherever we could" - F1 teams holding back on liveries to maintain weight limit

F1 teams struggling to keep their 2022 challengers within the minimum weight limit have resorted to stripping away ‘unnecessary’ paint from their cars’ liveries. Teams such as McLaren and Aston Martin have made significant changes to their liveries at the Bahrain GP compared to their launch liveries.

According to Aston Martin technical director Andrew Greene, his team reportedly achieved nearly 300 grams of weight-saving by stripping away paint from parts of the car, including the sidepods. Speaking to Motorsport.com following the Bahrain GP, he said:

“Weight is a big, big issue. These cars are heavy by regulation, and to get down to the regulation weight, it’s a challenge. We went through the whole car from front to back, and we took paint off wherever we could. I think in total we saved about 350 grams.”

Meanwhile, McLaren has significantly reduced the amount of orange and blue in their livery compared to their launch car. The MCL36 now incorporates its black carbon fiber body more prominently in its livery.

The 2022 regulations increased the minimum weight of the new F1 cars by nearly 100 kilograms compared to the last generation of F1 cars. Traditionally, teams built their cars underweight and installed weight ballast after the fact to meet minimum weight requirements.

Yet, teams have struggled to keep their cars within the weight limit, with some teams such as Red Bull and Aston Martin thought to be nearly 10 kilograms overweight.

The increased weight comes with a performance penalty. According to some estimates, Red Bull’s weight issues have cost them nearly four-tenths of a second in outright performance.

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Mercedes W13 among most overweight F1 cars on grid

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff reckons his team’s 2022 challenger is among the most overweight F1 cars on the grid. He, however, believes they can make the car lighter as the season progresses. Speaking to Motorsport.com, the Austrian said:

“That’s quite a lap time advantage or disadvantage. But you need to be clever about it. Some have taken the decision to go light, and they are benefiting from that at the moment. I think there is, for us, definitely room to improve, and to chip away some of the bits that we have on the car that are too heavy.”

While the Mercedes W13 isn’t thought to be drastically overweight, it may not be below the minimum weight either. The team has gone for an extreme solution to the 2022 regulations as well as restrictions imposed on aerodynamic testing.

Their long but narrow packaging with a “no-sidepod” design undoubtedly has plenty of room for improvements, which in the future could help the team with weight-saving measures.