Williams' 2026 F1 car is not massively overweight, the team has officially confirmed after wild online speculation.
After missing the Barcelona shakedown test due to delays in the build of the car and failing one FIA crash test, speculation grew online that the FW48 machine was nearly 20-30kg over the minimum weight limit of 768kg for the 2026 season.
If the car was in the 790-800kg region, this would have had a devastating effect on the performance of the Mercedes-powered car for Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz, but official Williams documents have disproved that idea.
In its press pack distributed to media after the launch of the livery of the car, Williams has labelled its 2026 car weight as 772.4kg, just 4.4kg over the minimum weight requirement.
Ferrari has declared its weight as 770kg, with Mercedes doing so at 772kg, just 0.4kg lighter than Williams, although boss James Vowles did say that: "In terms of weight, until there are two race cars built in the correct specification going forward, it’s hard to comment," when addressing the media, including RacingNews365.
Whilst there is a minimum weight limit in F1, with instant disqualification as the penalty when it is found when cars are weighed post qualifying and the race, there is no upper weight restriction.
It means there will be no technical penalty for being over the limit, with any team carrying additional weight losing out to rivals sportingly who are running lighter cars.
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