George Russell raced in Bahrain using a cooling vest according to the new Heat Hazard regulations, the first driver to do so.

A new regulation for this year pertaining to heat hazard remains opt-out for this season, but Mercedes’ George Russell raced with an example of the new cooling vest system during last weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix.

What are the new Heat Hazard regulations?

Following on from the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix, in which the extreme heat resulted in several drivers becoming unwell during and after the race, the FIA identified measures to reduce the risk to the drivers during races held in similarly high temperatures.

For this season, the Heat Hazard regulations are not mandatory but drivers can utilise a cooling vest system, if desired, at races in which conditions exceed, or are expected to exceed, 30.5 degrees celsius.

If a Heat Hazard is declared, drivers may either run with the colling vest system fitted to their cars, or with 500 grammes of ballast to match the weight of the vest – although the full systems themselves weigh considerably more.

This means that utilisation of the system isn’t likely to become prevalent until the FIA makes it mandatory to have the system fitted and utilised next year.

With the cooling vests still voluntary for this year, due to the complications of fitting all the cooling elements into the cockpit under the current designs, there has been scepticism about running the vests at any point this year – even amongst drivers who suffered ill effects of the heat in Qatar two seasons ago, with Esteban Ocon and Lance Stroll deeming the vests not quite ready for use.

George Russell praises initial performance of F1 cooling vest

But Mercedes did run the cooling vest system in Bahrain, with Russell carrying out an initial litmus test of the team’s current off-the-shelf solution throughout practice, qualifying, and the race itself.

This was despite the race itself not taking place in Heat Hazard conditions.

It’s understood Mercedes is likely to run the vest for both drivers this weekend in Saudi Arabia, and Russell said the cooling effects of the water system were very noticeable when it was switched on after climbing into the car.

“It was definitely very noticeable when I turned on the cool water,” he told media, including PlanetF1.com, ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

“At the start of the race, it was 16 degrees pumping around my body, which feels quite nice when you’re in a cockpit that’s 50 degrees plus.

“Of course, there’s always room to improve. But, for us as a team, they’ve put in so much hard work and have the confidence that the system would work, and I wanted to give it a whirl.

“So yeah, so far so good.

“That cooling vest is off the shelf and there is room to improve the comfort of [it].

“I think that has been a bit of an issue for some of the drivers, but we are developing our own cooling vest which won’t be here for a couple of weeks.

“I wasn’t too concerned with the discomfort in Bahrain, because it was quite a low-speed circuit, but here, with the very fast corners of Jeddah and all of these pipes around my rib area, it could cause me some issues.

“So that’s why I’m going to see on Friday. But the system, or at least our system, is very much capable of being raced and used, and it clearly worked well in Bahrain.”

Key details for the Saudi Arabian GP

👉 Saudi GP weather forecast: What will the weather be like in Jeddah?

👉 Our bold predictions for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton: Cooling vests ‘not what I want to see’

While Russell is satisfied with the performance of the cooling vest at this point, even before Mercedes’ bespoke solution is rolled out, his former teammate Lewis Hamilton was less enthusiastic about the idea.

When it was revealed to him in his press session for media on Thursday that Russell had run the vest, Hamilton was visibly sceptical.

“I’m really surprised if he did, because you would have to add five kilos to the car for it, and no one else would…” he said.

With F1 competitors unlikely to run even an extra gramme more than necessary to keep on the right side of the weight limit, Hamilton’s comment suggests that Mercedes’ ability to run the cooling vest system – therefore reducing the need for ballast to reach the 800kg minimum – could mean the W16 therefore may be lighter than the SF-25.

Regardless of how it operates, Hamilton said he’s more in favour of drivers being forced to push themselves to the extremes of their athletic ability when it comes to hot races.

“I’ve only had like two races in my career where it’s been… Malaysia, my first year at Malaysia, my drinks machine didn’t work, so I was just dehydrated at the end of the race,” he said.

“Singapore last year was pretty brutal. But I love that – that’s what we’re supposed to be. The top, the highest of the highest in terms of athletes, and it needs to be tough.

“If anything, the cars today are easier to drive than when I started F1, and I don’t want to use it if I can avoid it.

“For me, I want to look at how I can prepare better. How can I use a cooling vest before? How can I pre-cool my body, how I can make sure I’m hydrated?

“That’s part of the whole process. But I do understand that it’s tough, and we don’t want drivers passing out.

“That one race in Qatar, where it was extremely hot, I didn’t actually take part because I crashed out!

“I think it’s good that they’ve got the technology in there but for me, it’s not what I want to see in my car – that’s just my opinion.”

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