Mercedes Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin explained the team is looking to improve conditions in its W15 cockpit after Lewis Hamilton and George Russell’s complaints during the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix.
Hamilton and Russell complained several times over the team radio that the seats in their respective Mercedes W15 machines were causing them discomfort at Monza.
With temperatures well over 30 degrees in Italy, the Briton’s cockpits were naturally going to be a warm environment, but Hamilton and Russell experienced worse-than-usual driving conditions.
Shovlin explained that Mercedes is working to find a solution via the squad’s regular post-race debrief video.
“[The drivers] do a lot of training at temperature, but the fact is once the cockpit is getting hotter than they are, getting rid of that heat is nigh on impossible,” Shovlin explained.
“We are looking at ways that we can improve the situation for our drivers, within the sport as well, looking at means that we can apply, additional equipment to the car at these exceptional races that will keep the drivers a bit cooler.
“But as I said, it is a very challenging environment and that is why they do so much training.”
The Italian summer weather meant all comers at Monza struggled with the heat, more so Hamilton and Russell, but why?
Shovlin attributed multiple causes for the uncomfortable hot seat situation Mercedes’ drivers found themselves in.
“The most significant cause was in Monza it was extremely hot,” Shovlin began.
“The seat and the car is always running pretty hot and there’s a lot of heat generated by the power unit that you’re trying to dissipate.
“You’ve also got a lot of electronic boxes and those are working quite hard and they generate their own temperature so you’re trying to lose that out of the cockpit.”
Monza’s long straights and bumpy surfaces contributed to excess friction generated by the plank of the car, coupled with high track temperatures and the various heat-generating systems onboard an F1 car, and you start to paint a very warm picture.
“There are a few places where the plank’s hitting the road and that in itself will generate temperature through friction, and that will start to conduct up through the floor of the car and into the driver’s seat,” Shovlin said.
“With the ambient temperature at 34 – nothing can be below that – you’ve also got numerous heat sources and it just pushes it up so the cockpit starts to get considerably above a driver’s body temperature, it’s then very hard for them to cool down and the heat just builds and builds.
“Now they’re used to driving in these very difficult environments, it’s just that when you get the very hottest races, it’s a bit extreme and it really does test them.”
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