Carlos Sainz, NIco Hulkenberg and Lance Stroll all delivered their verdicts on the FIA mandating cooling vests for Formula 1‘s Singapore Grand Prix.
The 2025 Sporting Regulations saw the addition of the ‘Heat Hazard’ rule included after lessons learned from gruelling races like Qatar.
For the Singapore GP weekend, with weather predictions indicating ambient temperatures nearing 31 degrees, the FIA has triggered the mandate of using cooling vests, which entails fitting additional components to the car to make it work.
If a drivers opts out of using the vests, they will have to add additional ballast to their cars to level out the advantage.
The cooling device, that shall aim to reduce the adverse effects of a heated cockpit on the streets of Marina Bay, has been tested by the drivers previously.
But with it coming into action during a Grand Prix weekend now, there has been a mixed reception in the paddock.
Sainz, who will compete in his 11th Singapore GP, was indifferent to the prospect of trying out the benefits of the cooling vest.
“It’s a two-hour race. Again, I’ve done Singapore 10 times,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“If it breaks or it doesn’t work, I’m not worried. I’ll do the race and I’ll jump out fresh like I always do.
“But if it works, it’s better because then you suffer a bit less.”
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, on the other hand, was skeptical about the efficacy of the device, contemplating whether it could withstand the harsh conditions of the circuit.
“The cockpit, the heat in the car, insanely high temperatures. So yeah, I’m going to try the vest, see if it works,” he explained.
“But I think no matter what, maybe it only works for five laps and then you have no more cooling. Then it’s just 50 laps of suffering.”
Hulkenberg makes Alex Albon comparison for cooling vest decision
This isn’t the first time that the cooling vest will be employed this season. At the Saudi Arabian GP weekend, the likes of Alex Albon did evaluate the system during the practice sessions.
Hulkenberg, who had not tried the device out in Jeddah, recalled how travelling back from the race and seeing Albon has made him look forward to trying it out this time around.
“We haven’t actually had it properly running yet, so we still need to verify and try it out and sign it off. I will, yeah,” divulged Hulkenberg.
“After Jeddah, I was toast after the race. It was bloody hot. And I had Alex [Albon] next to me on the plane, and he ran the thing, and he was fresh like a spring chicken. So I said, next time I’m going to run that thing.”
READ MORE — Max Verstappen delivers pessimistic F1 Singapore GP outlook for Red Bull
Discussion about this post