FIA reconsiders WEC driver ballast
The FIA is understood to be considering re-introducing ballast rules to regulate average driver weights in the World Endurance Championship this season.
These regulations, which were previously in place during the LMP1 Hybrid era, aim to increase parity by equalizing the weight of the drivers in each car to a set average. They could be introduced to both classes as soon as tomorrow when the FIA WEC Prologue test begins in Qatar.
In the past, the average weight of the driver line-up (including equipment) for LMP1 teams was 80 kg, with ballast added or taken away from individual cars to meet the target where required, but this was removed from the regulations when the Hypercar era began. Speculation about a change to this regulation has been circulating throughout the winter and an updated timetable for the Prologue includes the addition of mandatory weigh-ins for all drivers in both classes.
“It’s absolutely necessary. It’s been outrageous. We have a situation where drivers who weigh significantly less can offset BoP ballast. It’s crazy that it hasn’t been thought about in recent years,” one Hypercar driver told RACER. “It’s taken Max Verstappen expressing concerns and saying he won’t do Le Mans because of it, for them to look at introducing it.”
However, despite the first set of weigh-ins taking place today, at the time of writing there has been no bulletin issued confirming a new rule and there has been no final decision communicated to the teams.
There are key elements which need to be confirmed, too. A Hypercar team principal explained to RACER that clarification would be needed on whether drivers would need to be weighed multiple times throughout the season to ensure fairness and what penalties could be applied for failing to comply.
“Will we need random spot checks?” the principal, who preferred to remain anonymous, responded when asked about the matter. “You have to consider that a driver’s weight changes a lot, and to be fair surely something like this will need to be put in place?”
One thing that does appear to be decided is the average weight, which is believed to be 82 kg [181 lbs] per line-up.
“We’ve not been given 100-percent confirmation that this is absolutely in the regs and confirmed,” an LMGT3 driver told RACER. “But I have been told on good authority that it is happening, at least for our class.
“The minimum is 82 kg. Every car should have the same average weight, so if your weight is five kilos less than 82, you get an extra five; if it’s five over, you would get five out.
“It’s a massive step. It would bring some teams back in the game, as some drivers are running at a disadvantage, which can be killer. We reckon around here [Qatar] it’s about a tenth and a half per 10kg in terms of lap time, but in Hypercar I reckon it’s double that. It’s alarming.”
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