As part of the “heat hazard” protocol, all teams were instructed to install an 11-pound “driver cooling system” in their cars. This included a storage container of cold fluid, a plump, plumbing, and a cooling vest.<\/p>\n
Drivers were recommended, but not required, to wear the vest \u2014 a fireproof garment with tubing installed to circulate cold fluid over their bodies during the race.<\/p>\n
Nikolas Tombazis, the FIA’s single-seater director, told me in the F1 paddock that the sport was still fundamentally dangerous.<\/p>\n
“The heat hazard started about two years ago when we had a race in Qatar, which was extremely hot, and there were drivers who were fainting after the race and just couldn’t get out of the cars,” Tombazis said.<\/p>\n
He said the vests will “allow drivers to keep their cool” in a hot race.<\/p>\n
Some of the drivers were not too keen on the new addition to their garb. Max Verstappen<\/a>, the Dutch-Belgian driver of Red Bull Racing<\/a>, said before the race that he did not like the tubes and did not intend to use the vest.<\/p>\n