FIA divulges F1 Qatar GP extreme heat prevention plans, including driver cooling

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The FIA has revealed the technical steps it will take to prevent a repeat of the extreme heat issues Formula One drivers faced at the Qatar Grand Prix in October.

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Although the race started at 8 p.m. local time in Qatar, long after the sun had set, a 90-degree Fahrenheit air temperature rocketed to almost 120 degrees inside the cockpit once drivers got into a grueling, flat-out race.

Lance Stroll and Alex Albon had to be taken to the medical center for precautionary checks after the checkered flag, while Esteban Ocon reported he had thrown up inside his helmet early in the race and said it was “hell in there.”

“It’s a pretty dangerous thing to have going on,” said McLaren driver Lando Norris, who joined many other drivers calling for the FIA to take better preventative steps.

Next year’s Qatar race is scheduled almost two months later on Dec. 1, meaning temperatures should be cooler. (The 8 p.m. forecast for tomorrow, Dec. 1, in Lusail, is 72 degrees.) But the FIA promised in the wake of the race it would take “material action” to prevent a repeat moving forward.

Following the F1 Commission meeting in Abu Dhabi last week, including all 10 teams, the FIA and F1, the extent of this action has now been revealed.

The first step to improve driver cooling will be installing a “scoop” – a slot underneath the chassis – allowing more air to flow into the cockpit. The “scoop” will be subject to strict requirements under the FIA technical regulations to ensure it cannot be used to gain an aerodynamic advantage. Car performance is typically the priority for teams in response to any rule tweaks.

“That was a rejected idea from the teams previously, but that has now been approved,” Nikolas Tombazis, the FIA’s single-seater director who leads its F1 technical team, explained in Abu Dhabi.

He said teams previously had “slightly paranoid” concerns that rivals could use it for an indirect aerodynamic advantage to improve the car’s performance. They found out the hard way in Qatar how important driver cooling could be. “Once they learn their lesson, one thinks a bit less selfishly,” Tombazis said.

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Tombazis said the FIA consulted medical experts to define the parameters that contributed to the issues in Qatar – chiefly the combination of the heat, humidity and high g-forces exerted on the drivers by the high-speed circuit. The enforced stint lengths due to tire safety concerns also meant drivers spent less time managing their pace in the car. Oscar Piastri called the race “57 qualifying laps.”

For this reason, Tombazis revealed the FIA’s “broad intention” — not yet written into the regulations — to introduce a heat and humidity limit, at which point a race would be declared to have a significant change in climatic conditions.

If this limit is reached before the race begins, teams would be allowed an “extra bit of weight for the cars,” around two kilograms on top of the minimum weight of 798 kg. Tombazis said this would allow teams to add cooling solutions to help the drivers in the car.

“That will enable solutions such as cooling vests, these sort of things, to be fully investigated,” he explained. The FIA considered standardizing what changes teams must make, but thought that would make it a “slow process” and that it would be in the teams’ best interests to use the weight to help keep the drivers cool — and not use the weight break to chase extra performance.

“We want to make it clear that it’s not something that you can use for any form of dodgy advantage,” Tombazis said. “It’s really for the purpose of that. You could put ballast in the seat, but you’d be a bit of an idiot.

“I think in Qatar, apart from the situation after the race, we saw drivers, towards the latter part of the race, make more mistakes. So it would clearly be in the teams’ interest.”

The issues in Qatar were exacerbated by several factors coming together. But as countries deal with rising temperatures and F1’s calendar grows to a record 24 rounds in 2024, steps like this will be critical to protect driver well-being.

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The FIA’s World Motor Sport Council will discuss and ratify the rule changes at its next meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan, next week.

(Lead image: BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty Images)