Esteban Ocon has stated that “no one” can currently use the wearable cooling devices that will be compulsory as part of Formula 1’s new regulations for 2026.
The devices, that pumps cooling fluid through tubes via a box in the car which are attached to a vest worn by the driver, are optional for the 2025 season, due to the way they are retrofitted to the current cars.
From 2026, the brand-new regulations will see the devices hooked-up through new electrical systems, and therefore will be a mandatory part of the drivers’ in-car clothing.
But Ocon, speaking to media including Motorsport Week in Bahrain during this week’s pre-season testing schedule, said the current design and set-up of the devices are not conducive to both driver and car.
“At the moment we can’t use the cooling vest, I think no one can. That’s the reality of it,” he said.
“The tubes are too big, so you have the tubes all around, that’s fine; you have the tubes in the back, that’s fine. But there is a massive tennis ball on the side, so on your hip, so if you put it here, it’s hurting with the belts.
“If you put it in the back, you can’t fit in the seat. If you put it on the side, you can’t fit in the seat .So yeah, at the moment it doesn’t work for us, or at least what I’ve tried.
“And from what I heard from other drivers, it’s very similar. As long as we don’t go into a Qatar situation, we should be okay to drive, that’s what I believe.
“It’s good that FIA has been able to provide us a solution and come up with something. But at the moment I can’t use it, at least. I’m not talking for the others, but myself and Ollie [Bearman], we can’t use it.”
The devices are thought to be fitted onto the cars by teams as per an obligation of when the ambient temperature will reach 31 degrees, as per FIA rules, but Ocon still believes that, until a solution is reached, saying he “[reckons] nobody’s in a position to use it” in its present format.
“I think, you know, [I’m] happy to have the system on board and add the weight, and if we don’t want to use it, we don’t use it,” he added.
“But at the moment we can’t use it, so it’s not like if I’m just being a diva and I don’t want to use it. It would be the opposite, actually. I would want to use it, if that was the case.
“So, no, it’s just that it’s not fitting.”
Ocon says Haas ‘focusing on the right things’ with curtain-opener weeks away
The F1 season is now just two weeks away, and Ocon appears content in his new surroundings, having joined the American squad from Alpine in the off-season.
The Frenchman put himself in the top 10 of the running order for the first and only time in the week’s running in the final session of the programme, having been towards the foot of the classification as the team tried various different strategies to maximise its knowledge of the car before travelling to Melbourne for the first round.
Asked whether the team’s package has the potential to surprise its rivals in the midfield, Ocon said: “We will see. Until we obviously go flat out in qualifying in Melbourne, we are not going to know if we will surprise the others or not, but what I know is that we are focussing on the right things.
“We spotted what the weaknesses of the car are, where the strong points are, and that’s the most important for us, so yes, of course you’re always eager to see what this car can do compared to the others, but it’s not necessarily the right moment to be doing that, and I agree with the team and the aims of what they are trying to achieve here.
“There is a time for everything, let’s call it.”
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