{"id":494461,"date":"2025-10-12T20:49:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T20:49:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/494461\/"},"modified":"2025-10-12T20:49:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T20:49:13","slug":"f1-drivers-still-mixed-on-mandatory-cooling-vest-stance-of-fia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/494461\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 drivers still mixed on mandatory cooling vest stance of FIA"},"content":{"rendered":"

F1 drivers share thoughts on cooling vest as trialed in Singapore GP, as some of them don\u2019t want it to be mandatory and left it on choice.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the lead-up to F1 Singapore GP, the FIA declared the event as heat hazard due to temperature going beyond 31 degrees. It mandated drivers to wear the cooling vest and if not, they would have to carry a ballast to compensate the weight and be on par with the drivers wearing it.<\/p>\n

The idea didn\u2019t sit as well with all the drivers. Some did agree, while some opposed the idea of mandating it. They feel it should be the choice of the F1 drivers rather than the FIA since they didn\u2019t see it as a larger safety issue as opposed to other devices like HANS and or Halo.<\/p>\n

The cooling vest is still not 100%. The larger issue is it not working midway which could create problems since the stored water will get hot as the race progresses. The FIA is trying to make it as good as possible, but without testing it in race conditions, it is difficult to make it 100%.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the weekend saw multiple drivers try it out, not just in practice but throughout the weekend without any troubles. Some did not even try it in practice and took the ballast, while some did half and half. Despite the assurances, the field is still divided on the topic.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what F1 drivers said \u2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

Max Verstappen:<\/strong> \u201cWith the vest, I haven\u2019t used the vest. I\u2019m also not intending to use it because I feel like this needs to be a driver choice. Of course, from the FIA side, they will always throw it on safety, but then we can talk about a lot of stuff that can be improved on safety \u2014 including pit entries in certain places. I think that has a bit more priority than a vest in the car because I don\u2019t like it. I don\u2019t like the tubes that are on you, on your body, with the belts that go next to you. Then they can say it\u2019s a bad design. I disagree. It just needs to be an option for the drivers to choose. Some like it, some don\u2019t, and that\u2019s fine. It should be a personal preference.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I know this year we can, but probably next year they don\u2019t want to do that, and I feel that is not the right thing. The problem is that in GT cars or any other cars, prototypes, you have a bit more space to put stuff or at least put the cables. In our cockpits, it\u2019s so narrow that there is no space \u2014 or at least not enough space. And that is also a little bit of a problem I find. Plus, where are you going to put the dry ice? The cars are not designed really to have this extra kind of space, and within 15, 20 laps, it\u2019s anyway gone. And then you have hot water\u2026 or tea.\u201d<\/p>\n

George Russell:<\/strong> \u201cYeah. I\u2019ve run it in a couple of races this year. It isn\u2019t the perfect solution yet. And the fact is you have no testing \u2014 you can only test it in a race environment. The race in Bahrain, I was happy with it. I ran it in Saudi as well, I was happy with it. But of course, here it is much hotter. The dry ice will melt faster. To be fair, the team have made a big improvement with the car cooling itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe recognised some major issues of hot air seeping into the cockpit, massively exceeding 60 degrees at certain races. Just moving a few electrical boxes around and hydraulic lines that are running at 120 degrees around your feet has a major impact on the heat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oscar Piastri:<\/strong> \u201cI used it in practice. I think the problem with the suit is it\u2019s great when it works, but if it fails, it\u2019s even worse than not having it. There\u2019s no testing to really try it out. There is winter testing, but I think everything\u2019s going to feel pretty good when it\u2019s 10 degrees. I think the initiative is good, having the choice to use it or not is important because there are benefits and downsides.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lewis Hamilton:<\/strong> \u201cI don\u2019t think it should ever be forced on drivers. They keep saying it is a safety issue, but there\u2019s no driver that\u2019s ever died from overheating in the race, apart from in flames back in the day, so it is just getting silly. Like it should be our choice to have it, and I appreciate they\u2019ve made it available to us, and we\u2019ll continue to work on and improve the system. I think it can be potentially beneficial in crazy hot places, but it should be if you want to use it because it\u2019s comfortable. It should never be: \u2018You have to wear this. I have tried it, yeah.\u201d<\/p>\n

Esteban Ocon:<\/strong> \u201cI think, at the end of the day, every new thing that the FIA has introduced, some drivers were not in favour in the beginning and they ended up being in favour at the end driver looking at some things that has happened like the Halo and the HANS, so of course it\u2019s not the same thing with safety, but if you have a driver that\u2019s been sick all night, vomiting all night, and he\u2019s dehydrated, he\u2019s not going to go and tell the FIA that. He\u2019s going to race. And if he races under conditions which are extremely humid, and it [the cooling vest] can help him not to faint and crash into other guys, then I think it is a safety element.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, yes, we are all fit enough to drive without the vest, that is clear. I tried for that everyday of my life but in special circumstances, it could be very important then I think\u2026you would not have seen the scene you have seen in 2023 in Qatar where some drivers went to ambulance, fainted there, some other drivers had to retire, yeah, I mean these kind of things, of course, if you don\u2019t want to run it, well don\u2019t run it, but I think it is a very good thing to have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carlos Sainz:<\/strong> \u201cI\u2019m happy not to make it mandatory and the ones that don\u2019t want to use it have a disadvantage in the race. For me, it\u2019s as simple as that. I\u2019m so convinced it works and it helps, even though I\u2019ve done 10 Singapores without suffering physically and being able to finish it.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as you start studying a bit of physiology, you understand that there\u2019s a performance advantage. I think if it\u2019s not a huge safety issue they should leave it open [to drivers to choose]. If they don\u2019t want to because they feel really uncomfortable then don\u2019t use it, I agree with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fernando Alonso:<\/strong> \u201cThis is the moment. I didn\u2019t use it in qualify, I used it in race. I did use it in FP1, it worked for me, it was an improvement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Liam Lawson:<\/strong> \u201cI haven\u2019t been running it. It is something\u2026for me it is just an added risk, if it fails, it is worse, you are going to be more hot in there I think, we train for these races anyway. I have never used it in the past, even if I would have known it, wouldn\u2019t have used it in past. For me, it is not needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Isack Hadjar:<\/strong> \u201cI haven\u2019t [tried]. No [I won\u2019t try].\u201d<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s<\/a> F1 drivers before Singapore weekend<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"F1 drivers share thoughts on cooling vest as trialed in Singapore GP, as some of them don\u2019t want…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":494462,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4103],"tags":[6872,162796,16023,4199,6319,4347,707,4200,9824,1085,998,228,1073,1072,1712,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-494461","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-f1","8":"tag-carlos-sainz","9":"tag-cooling-vest","10":"tag-esteban-ocon","11":"tag-f1","12":"tag-fernando-alonso","13":"tag-fia","14":"tag-formula-1","15":"tag-formula1","16":"tag-george-russell","17":"tag-isack-hadjar","18":"tag-lewis-hamilton","19":"tag-liam-lawson","20":"tag-max-verstappen","21":"tag-motorsport","22":"tag-oscar-piastri","23":"tag-sports","24":"tag-uk","25":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115363169171506794","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=494461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/494462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}