Method 1 is dealing with a brand new and rising problem: excessive warmth. After the Singapore Grand Prix, the controversy over using cooling vests has sparked robust opinions amongst drivers and the FIA. Some see them as a breakthrough for security, whereas others take into account them an pointless complication. On the coronary heart of the dialogue lies an important query: find out how to shield the drivers’ well being with out limiting their freedom or affecting race efficiency?
Are there extra execs or cons?
Some drivers have praised the advantages, sporting them throughout races with none complaints. Others should not satisfied of their want or are dissatisfied with how they presently work. Among the many most vocal critics of obligatory use is Max Verstappen, who challenged the FIA’s clarification. In line with the governing physique, the rationale not everybody appreciates their usefulness is because of groups being sluggish to make the expertise totally operational.
“They will say it’s a nasty design. I don’t agree. It ought to simply be an choice for the drivers. Some prefer it, some don’t, and that’s positive. It ought to stay a private alternative.”
Whereas talks proceed between drivers and the FIA to maintain using cooling vests elective at the least till 2026, one factor is for certain: Method 1 doesn’t intend to desert the idea. As an alternative of seeing the technical points as an impediment, the FIA is taking a broader view.
The expertise shouldn’t be excellent but, and for some it could look like an pointless addition. But when these techniques can stop an excessive state of affairs like a race cancellation because of extreme warmth, then each effort could have been price it.
There are technological limits
The FIA admits that the present techniques are removed from excellent however emphasizes that delays from some groups in implementing the gadgets have considerably influenced the state of affairs. To make issues extra advanced, at this time’s expertise doesn’t but appear superior sufficient to completely meet the calls for of Method 1. Excessive-tech options equivalent to warmth exchangers and coolers haven’t delivered passable outcomes. For now, the system depends on a circuit of cooling liquid flowing contained in the drivers’ fits, saved chilly by blocks of ice.
Regardless of these limitations, the FIA determined to hurry up the introduction of those techniques. As defined by FIA’s single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis, it was the direct stress from drivers after the extraordinarily robust 2023 Qatar Grand Prix that pushed the federation to behave rapidly.
“The drivers themselves have been very important and requested for one thing to be performed. On the time, some scientific papers have been printed in medical journals, exhibiting that top physique temperature for extended intervals may cause long-term issues, not simply dehydration. Since there was a powerful name to unravel the difficulty, we didn’t hesitate for a second. We instantly began engaged on it. It took longer than anticipated as a result of the preliminary engineering answer we have been exploring concerned a warmth exchanger, numerous pumps, and perhaps a small pump for the coolant. It was fairly advanced. However then, between mid and late 2024, some experiments adopted the present philosophy — what we name the total-loss system, because it can’t work indefinitely. So you may have this ice that regularly melts. Some profitable experiments have been performed on this path, and it was determined that this was one of the best system, one of the best ways to do it.”
There may be nonetheless noticeable variability amongst groups concerning how lengthy their cooling techniques final: some solely work for about quarter-hour, whereas others final nearly a complete race. This possible explains why drivers have such totally different opinions. Though the present system clearly has its limits and can’t function for a full race distance, the FIA is assured that, if groups commit to creating it work correctly, issues will enhance. That’s why the cooling techniques are categorized as open supply parts (OSC), so all groups can entry one another’s designs and, in idea, copy one of the best options. Tombazis added:
“We felt that this shouldn’t be an space the place groups attempt to be smarter or something like that. That’s why there’s a weight delta, so folks don’t attempt to design a vest that’s half a kilo lighter or one thing comparable. Since then, some clothes producers have made progress and labored to repair among the issues, and a few groups have been a bit extra proactive. I don’t suppose folks ought to get too lazy and say, ‘Nicely, you recognize, it received’t be obligatory, so who cares, I’ll by no means put on it.’ I feel it’s straightforward in a spot like Singapore, the place the temperature isn’t too unhealthy, to say, ‘Nicely, truly, I’m positive.’ However in Qatar two years in the past it was actually robust, and I don’t suppose there’s any assure that we received’t face one other occasion like Qatar, or perhaps even worse. With the acute climates we’re seeing, the very last thing anybody needs is to need to cancel a race as a result of it’s too scorching.”
The important thing challenge is that groups and drivers have grow to be used to working inside well-established routines, and any change tends to fulfill resistance. It’s clear that it’s going to take time earlier than the introduction of cooling vests is totally accepted, particularly at races like Singapore or Qatar, the place excessive climate situations make the subject much more delicate.
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