Max Verstappen says Formula 1’s driver cooling vest has never lasted a full race distance, as his Red Bull teammate Isack Hadjar called for the device to be banned outright.
The Singapore Grand Prix has been declared a heat hazard event, the fourth of the season and the second in a row, with temperatures forecast to pass 31C during the race. This allows teams to fit a system that pumps chilled fluid through a vest the driver wears.
Wearing it is optional, though drivers who skip it must carry ballast so they don’t gain a weight advantage, as per the FIA’s mandate.
Verstappen was categoric on his stance: he will race without it. “For me, it’s not needed,” the Dutchman said. “Yes, it’s hot, but it’s not sauna. And with this cooling vest, you have these stupid cables in your car, so it’s just limiting your movement as well.
“It doesn’t work anyway for one and a half hours. I’ve never had it in any category that has worked for one and a half hours.”
Verstappen’s Red Bull partner Hadjar went further. “I think it should be banned,” he said. “Because it’s supposed to be tough.”
F1 drivers trade opinons on cooling vest
Drivers who do use the vest agreed it falls short of race distance. Charles Leclerc said it works “pretty well” for 15 to 20 laps. “Then after, for the rest of the race, you are quite warm, just like you are without the cooling vest,” the Ferrari driver said.
Leclerc argued the benefit is still real. “To be at your 100% at the end of a race, or from the middle of the race here, where you lose so much water and you are dehydrated, for sure we leave something on the table there.”
Esteban Ocon put the limit at around 40 minutes. “Then it’s just hot fluid that keeps going on because it’s so hot in the car,” the Haas driver said. “I don’t think everybody realises how much better it is for an athlete to be at the right temperature to perform.”
Alpine’s Franco Colapinto does not wear the vest because he finds it uncomfortable, but wants the choice kept. “It’s hot, but it’s been hot for the history of the sport,” he said.
Fernando Alonso rejected the idea that the FIA should force improvements. “I don’t think it’s an FIA duty to push for that,” the Aston Martin driver said. “It’s a team-driver choice.”
The FIA offers teams a £38,000 cost-cap allowance for a system that stays cool for a full race distance, plus a further £57,000 for making the vest comfortable. Mercedes has opted not to run the system at all, according to George Russell, in order to focus resources on car development.
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