Formula 1 is again declaring a heat emergency. After the sauna in Singapore, everyone involved in Austin, Texas, has to prepare for temperatures of more than 31 degrees. And like the night race in the Asian city state almost two weeks ago, this also has consequences on the Circuit of the Americas.
Drivers are allowed to wear cooling vests in the car. If you decide against this, as four-time world champion Max Verstappen from Red Bull did recently, the cars still have to be equipped accordingly with a coolant tank as well as pumps and a heat exchanger.
The required minimum car weight for the sprint on Saturday (7:00 p.m. CEST) and the main race of the US Grand Prix on Sunday (9:00 p.m. CEST) will be increased by 5 kilograms to 805 kilograms.
“I don’t particularly suffer from the heat,” Verstappen emphasized in Singapore. A little sweating is completely okay for him.
“After 15 to 20 minutes the vest itself becomes hot – it doesn’t help at all.” The 28-year-old Dutchman finds it “completely ridiculous” that the cooling vest should be mandatory in the event of a heat emergency from next year. Other pilots had chosen to wear the cooling vest in Singapore.