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\nKimi Antonelli of Mercedes got candid about his “struggle” during the sprint qualifying ahead of the 2025 United States Grand Prix in Austin, TexasThe Italian driver cited his cooling vest “failure” as a reason for his performance in the second round of the eventHe ultimately finished 13th for Mercedes in the Grand Prix on Sunday, Oct. 19<\/p>\n
Cooling vests are a hot topic in the world of Formula 1.\n<\/p>\n
Andrea Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes opened up about the “struggle” he faced during the sprint qualifying round ahead of the 2025 United States Grand Prix<\/a> in Austin, Texas.\n<\/p>\n To combat the extreme temperatures, the 19-year-old driver turned to his liquid-cooled vest. The technology was developed in reaction to the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix, which was held in intense heat and humidity.\n<\/p>\n Fast forward to Austin, the F\u00e9d\u00e9ration Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) declared the event to be a heat hazard when the thermostat hit 91\u00b0F at the start of sprint qualifying on Friday, Oct. 17.\n<\/p>\n Kimi Antonelli at the F1 Grand Prix of United States on Oct. 19, 2025.<\/p>\n Mark Thompson\/Getty\u00a0<\/p>\n The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!<\/a>\n<\/p>\n Antonelli, however, experienced a shock failure with his cooling vest that left him “warming up” rather than, well, cooling down. He attributed his performance, in part, to this obstacle.\n<\/p>\n “I struggled in the car because I had a few physical issues,” he said after the race when speaking with press, initially referring to the sole free practice session ahead of the sprint shootout as seen in a video shared by Formula1<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n “But the car felt good to be honest, and I was confident in SQ2,” he continued of the second round of sprint qualifying. “I was wearing the cooling vest, and we had a failure, so instead of cooling, it was warming me up, so I had a big struggle in the session.”\n<\/p>\n Antonelli was knocked out of SQ2 by six thousandths of a second by\u00a0Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari.\n<\/p>\n Kimi Antonelli at the F1 Grand Prix of United States on Oct. 19, 2025.<\/p>\n Rudy Carezzevoli\/Getty<\/p>\n During the Grand Prix, Antonelli finished 13th for Mercedes after an early collision with Carlos Sainz of Williams Racing, which knocked him down in rank. Still, he set the fastest lap of the race<\/a>\u00a0for the third time this year.\n<\/p>\n Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing placed first. He became the first driver to win seven Grand Prix in the United States. His wins include four in Austin, two in Miami and one in Las Vegas.\n<\/p>\n Cooling vests have been a controversial topic among F1 drivers<\/a> since they were introduced earlier this year. F1’s race director, Rui Marques, applied the regulation for the first time at the Singapore GP after the FIA declared a “heat hazard.”\n<\/p>\n Per F1 rules, the minimum weight of the car is increased by five kilograms when a heat hazard is in effect to accommodate the hardware used to activate the liquid-cooled vest sported by the driver.\n<\/p>\n From Left: Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Antonelli at the United States Formula 1 Grand Prix on Oct. 19, 2025.<\/p>\n RONALDO SCHEMIDT\/AFP via Getty\u00a0<\/p>\n