© Getty ImagesBull’s Guide To: Keeping Drivers CoolWe’re back in the high heat of the Arabian Peninsula and there are certain requirements that have to be met to keep our drivers at a decent operating temperature.
What’stheweatherinQatardoingtoday?TheFIAforecastsayswe’regoingtoseeahighof29°C,droppingtoarelativelyfrosty24°Catmidnight.Tracktemperatureisgoingtohit44°C.ThisislikelytobethestandardforthenextmonthasF1bouncesaroundtheArabianPeninsula.
The question we receive a lot is how do the drivers cope with extreme heat? The short answer is ‘as best they can’. The reality is that this sequence of floodlit races isn’t particularly onerous, in comparison to – say – an equatorial race at Sepang or Singapore. And we tend to have the hottest races of the year not out here in the Gulf, but rather in the middle of continental Europe, far from a sea breeze at Hockenheim or the Hungaroring at the end of July. At the latter, this year, the track temperature hit 60°C.
However, it is hot here, particularly for the afternoon practice session, and this is something that has to be accounted for.
One race where we could have published this guide is Singapore. The air temperatures are not entirely dissimilar to what we’ll see this weekend, but the ambient conditions are very different, and much, much harder on the body. It really is the humidity that gets you.
Alex Cooling His Body Down© Vladimir Rys
Marina Bay would be a daunting physical challenge were it located in Manchester, with a 23-corner circuit and a race often lasting beyond the two-hour cut-off, but the real challenge is doing that race in 80% humidity, when the body’s cooling mechanism struggles to function effectively.
Cooling, or rather the lack of it, is the central issue. Humans maintain a stable internal temperature of around 37°C. Core temperatures rise with exertion, and we dissipate that heat by taking blood flow to the periphery, where it is cooled by sweat evaporating on the skin. In hotter environments, the process becomes exaggerated: The hotter the climate, the more we have to sweat to regulate temperature, but is difficult for sweat to evaporate in high humidity, and doubly-so for a driver crammed into a poorly-ventilated cockpit, wearing several layers of fireproof clothing. The drivers are at risk of dehydration
When F1 was last in Singapore, humidity at the end of the race was around 80 per cent. Losail isn’t quite so arid as people assume but the humidity level this weekend will be considerably lower than that, which will mean sweating is more effective, but the basic issues remain: the body sweats, which causes dehydration, which in turn affects physical and cognitive performance.
This isn’t just a problem for the drivers. Despite being out of direct sunlight, garages have a habit of superheating, there’s a lot of electronic equipment throwing out heat, plus the not inconsiderable impact of a forest of tyre stacks warming in their heated blankets to contend with. However, the solution for the crew is relatively straightforward with industrial fans strategically positioned to keep everyone cool, and ready access to fluids, along with frequent reminders/threats from team management to take breaks and drink.
Focusing On Keeping Cool© Getty Images
It’s still tough on fuel technicians in their fireproof overalls, but not nearly so tough as on the drivers in theirs, particularly when attempting an overtaking manoeuvre in an F1 car at 320km/h towards the end of a grand prix.
It doesn’t have to be a hot day for a driver to overheat. Anyone who’s ever been karting understands there’s a lot of physical exertion involved in racing. Unlike your local rotax racer, however, the driver of an F1 car is sitting a couple of centimetres away from a 1000hp engine, but also cocooned by electronics boxes in the sidepods and the Energy Store beneath.
This is enough to heat the drivers’ previously chilled drinks pouch to the temperature of a nice cup of tea on the laps-to-grid and the drinks pouch isn’t wearing an FIA 8856-2018 spec fireproof suit. On a crisp winter morning at Silverstone with a bit of frost on the ground, the cockpit temperatures might cross the 50°C threshold after a long run: in 35-40°C ambient conditions, it can therefore get really quite toasty.
Modern race suits use intelligent fibres capable of wicking away moisture to keep the drivers relatively comfortable, but they can’t prevent dehydration. The science says a 2% reduction in body mass through dehydration can lead to physical and cognitive impairment. For a 70kg driver, that would require a loss of around 1.4kg to take effect and a driver can easily lose twice as much as this through sweating during the most physically demanding races.
Max Feeling The Heat© Getty Images
As we’ve mentioned before, the effects of this can be subtle. We’ve all seen footage of drivers unsteady on the podium or having to be helped from the cockpit after a hard race, but these are extreme examples. More common are the mistakes, costly or otherwise, that occur in the last quarter of a race from a driver suffering in the heat. It can be something as innocuous as a missed braking point or shift, or poor decision making when attacking or defending a position. Regardless of the manifestation, it’s something the team works very hard to avoid.
Hydration,Hydration,Hydration
You will see the drivers wearing chiller vests on the pre-race parade and grid, in an effect to not heat up before absolutely necessary, but the heavy lifting is done well in advance with a good hydration strategy.
In the crudest terms, if the driver is going to lose 3kg in sweat over the course of the race, bulking them out with an extra 2kg of fluid pre-race is an effective ward against that fluid loss becoming dangerous.
Checo On Top Of His Hydration© Getty Images
It isn’t, however, quite as simple as having the driver drink a couple of pints of water on the grid, not least of which because of the comfort considerations of spending two hours in car with limited suspension on a bumpy track with a full bladder. There needs to be a steady fluid intake over the course of several days, which is why you very rarely see a driver without a drinks bottle in the F1 paddock.
They’ll be drinking mostly water, because water is a very good form of hydration, but sweat also contains electrolytes, so their drink also contains some salty electrolytes to replace what’s lost in the most energy-efficient manner possible. The drink might also contain some carbs. There are many words to describe the taste, none of which are suitable for polite conversation.
Fluid intake is very much at the end of the process, which begins with getting the driver to sweat less, or sweat better. The fitter the driver is, the less they will need to over-exert themselves in the cockpit, and the less they will overheat. Additionally, the superfit tend to sweat better than mere mortals, with a more distributed sweat pattern across the whole torso and extremities, rather than the traditional heavy concentrations on the back and chest experienced by the less fit.
Max Ready To Race In The Heat© Getty Images
20 or 30 years ago, this would have been a performance differentiator, with the fitter drivers able to perform better in the warmer climates than their peers, but in the modern sport, drivers are so habituated to a rigorous fitness regime, the differences are much less noticeable.
That fitness regime can, of course, be tweaked to prepare for a hot weekend. The diet may be adjusted to contain foods that require a little less energy to digest and the workouts can be adapted to help the driver prepare. This, however, tends to be a case of familiarisation rather than acclimatisation, simply because there isn’t sufficient time between the races for a driver to acclimatise in the same way as say a marathon runner will before a big race.
The preferred athletic method of training for an event in a hot climate (if you’re not usually in a hot climate) is HAT, heat acclimatisation training, using a heat chamber to increase core temperature, induce heavy sweating and increases blood-flow. Do this regularly enough and the body will start to adapt.
The drivers don’t really have enough time to develop physiological adaptations but even a small amount of prep will help them become more comfortable with extremes of heat. Of course, jumping from race to race as has been the pattern for the last few weeks doesn’t really allow them access to a heat chamber – which is why you may well come across a driver doing a workout in a hotel sauna…
Max Hoping To Keep Cool In The Shade© Getty Images
