Helmut Marko admits that Red Bull are facing an issue in terms of ensuring that their car meets the minumum weight limit. Given the new technical regulations that have so drastically changed the cars for the 2022 season, the weight limit has been increased this year to 795kg excluding fuel, making the cars 43kg heavier than their predecessors . This seems to be posing a problem for the RB18, according to team advisor Marko. "The only problem we have is the weight," Marko told German publication Motorsport-Magazin.com . "But all teams have that. Thank God the minimum weight has already been raised, but there's still a lot of work to do before the first race."
Are Red Bull hoping for an increase?
Marko seemed to express hopes that the minumum weight limit may be increased. This previously happened in the build-up to the new rules coming into effect, with the original limit of 775kg later being raised to 795kg. "There's another meeting today," Marko had said on the Friday of the recent pre-season test in Barcelona. "Let's see if there's not another increase coming." The Red Bull advisor added: "All but one of the teams are struggling with the weight issue." For a change to be passed, eight out of the 10 F1 teams would have to agree on it. However, the publication claims that Red Bull are said to be the team having the most issues with the weight of their car, and that consequently other outfits on the grid may not want to agree to an increase, in that they would be giving up a potential competitive advantage. This also highlights the impact of the budget cap, with larger teams having to allocate resources more carefully than perhaps was the case in the past. There will be a further opportunity for Red Bull to try out the RB18 when they join the other teams at the second pre-season test in Bahrain on 10-12 March.
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