F1 increases 2020 car weight by 1kg, allows helmet design changes

The FIA World Motor Sport Council has voted through the final 2020 Formula 1 rule tweaks including the car weight increase and allowing drivers unlimited helmet design changes across the season.

With the 2020 opening round one week away, F1’s technical regulations have been altered to increase the minimum mass from 745kg to 746kg for cater for the addition of new power unit monitoring elements.

The new FIA measuring devices on the power units are believed to be a direct change following the controversial Ferrari case. The Italian manufacturer drew suspicion that it broke F1 rules during 2019 over its fuel flow or oil burning in its power unit, but the FIA has admitted it could not prove the case and therefore reached a private agreement with Ferrari.

The deal has triggered outrage from seven of Ferrari’s F1 rivals - Mercedes, Red Bull, McLaren, Renault, AlphaTauri, Racing Point and Williams - who have demanded full disclosure and transparency on the matter.

The other minor tweak for 2020 sees the sporting regulations changed to allow “unrestricted variations to driver helmet designs between races”. It means for the first time in five years F1 drivers will be allowed to change their helmet designs whenever they want.

Previously, each F1 driver was limited to only one helmet design change or special edition per season in a bid to help fans clearly identify each driver in their cars. The call was hit by a backlash with drivers looking to run multiple helmet designs across the season.

The FIA has also confirmed the end of season Abu Dhabi test will use the 18inch 2021 Pirelli tyres. Pirelli is working with all F1 teams by running mule cars at private tyre tests this year as it ramps up preparations for its new tyres for next season.