Haas driver Esteban Ocon has solid doubt over the practicality of the FIA’s new cooling vests, designed to assist drivers address excessive situations in sizzling races, claiming that “nobody can use” the system in its present kind.
The cooling machine was launched following the bodily challenges drivers confronted in the course of the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix. Whereas it’s theoretically prepared to be used this season, its design has reportedly led to discomfort, making it tough to implement.
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The system consists of cooling tubes built-in into the drivers’ overalls, however the primary problem seems to be the connection level the place the tubes enter the go well with, creating an uncomfortable stress space.
In keeping with Ocon, the machine is presently “unusable.”
“For the time being, we won’t use the cooling vest,” he advised the media in Bahrain. “You will have the tubes throughout, that is fantastic. You will have the tubes within the again, that is additionally fantastic. However there’s a huge tennis ball on the aspect, in your hip.
“When you put it right here [on the chest], it is hurting with the belts. When you put it within the again, you possibly can’t match within the seat. When you put it on the aspect, you possibly can’t match within the seat. So yeah, in the intervening time, it would not work for us, or not less than what I’ve tried. And from what I heard from different drivers, it is very related.
“It is good that the FIA have been capable of present us an answer and provide you with one thing. However in the intervening time, I am unable to use it, not less than. I am not speaking for the others, however myself and Ollie [Bearman], we won’t use it.
Photograph by: Haas F1 Crew
“The product itself, which is commonplace, is just not usable. It is too huge. You know the way tight the seat is in Formulation 1 all over the place. The place all of the tubes linked up, it is like a knot of tubes. And that is why it is too huge.”
For now, drivers have the selection of whether or not to make use of the system however from 2026 the FIA plans to make it obligatory. That offers the governing physique time to refine the machine, although Ocon believes the choices for enchancment are restricted.
Requested if cockpit seats might be modified to accommodate the system, he was uncertain: “Effectively, if you would like a seat with an enormous gap in it, no. A seat could be very tough to get proper. When you do a cut-out like that, you’ll lose in flexibility massively.
“So the one method I see it bettering is that if we handle to have much less of that knot, or if we provide you with an answer the place in some street automobiles, for instance, there’s air-con via the seat, which we should not have to have on the best way.”
Ocon additionally questioned the need of creating the machine obligatory, suggesting that drivers have managed excessive situations effectively via health coaching.
“It is not very wanted but,” he mentioned. “For excessive situations, I agree, like Qatar, as an illustration, or generally Singapore. However Qatar final yr, I spent every week biking within the sauna earlier than attending to the race weekend – and once I arrived, I used to be in a jacket. It was so chilly, so I used to be a bit pissed off to arrange so exhausting for nothing!
Esteban Ocon, Haas F1 Crew
Photograph by: Haas F1 Crew
“I do not know if there’s going to be extra dialogue. I reckon no one’s ready in the intervening time to make use of it. That is what I consider. I might be incorrect, however I believe everyone’s struggling to slot in the automotive with these tubes.
“I believe, , [we are] pleased to have the system on board and add the burden, and if we do not wish to use it, we do not use it. However in the intervening time we won’t use it, so… It is not like if I am simply being a diva and I do not wish to use it! It might be the alternative, really. I might wish to use it, if that was the case. No, it is simply that it is not becoming.”
With a compulsory introduction set for 2026, the FIA might want to work carefully with groups to refine the system and guarantee drivers can combine it into their cockpit designs.
On this article
Oleg Karpov
Formulation 1
Esteban Ocon
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