Racing
© fuji.tim
The FIA has activated its first heat warning of the season for the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring, but several drivers led by Max Verstappen still do not plan to use the optional cooling vest despite forecasts that pushed Spielberg past the 31C trigger.
Race director Rui Marques declared a Heat Hazard under Article B1.5.10 after the official weather forecast predicted a heat index above 31.0C during the event. The protocol, introduced after the extreme conditions of the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix, requires every team to fit the driver cooling system to its car for the weekend.
Drivers do not have to wear the vest itself, but opting out comes with a small trade-off. Teams must still install the wider system, which adds about 5 kilograms, and any driver who chooses not to wear the vest must carry an extra 0.5 kilograms of ballast in the cockpit.
Verstappen made clear that the heat warning will not change his plans. Max Verstappen, Red Bull's four-time world champion, said: "It's hot, but it's okay. These cars are not very physical to drive, so it's fine for me. We've had hot races before. It was hot also last year here for me. It will not change anything." He added that he wears an ice vest before getting into the car, but not once he is driving because "all these cables in the car" are not something he likes.
That view is far from isolated. Isack Hadjar, Verstappen's Red Bull team-mate, said the vest creates too much clutter in the cockpit and loses its benefit too quickly. He said there are "too many tubes" and that "it works really well, though for like 10 minutes, and then it's warm again." Hadjar added that he has never reached a point where he truly needed it, arguing that if he did, the car would probably be in even worse shape.
Kimi Antonelli was similarly cautious, pointing to a bad experience with the system in Austin last year. Kimi Antonelli, the Mercedes driver, said a problem with the setup left him "boiling in the car" and "pretty fried after the session," so he wants to wait until he is sure the system is working properly before relying on it again.
Not everyone in the paddock is dismissing it. Oscar Piastri, McLaren's championship contender, said he will probably use the vest in Austria. He said it is "not a complete game changer," but added that it "can help a bit" if the system works as intended.
That leaves the FIA with its first real in-season test of a driver-cooling plan designed to prevent another Qatar-style health scare, even as many of the drivers it is meant to protect still see ballast as the easier option than wearing a device they believe is uncomfortable and only briefly effective.