Formula 1 is sounding the heat alarm again. After the sauna in Singapore, everyone involved in Austin, Texas, has to prepare for temperatures of more than 31 degrees. And just like two weeks ago at the night race in the Asian city state, that was also the case Circuit of the Americas Consequences.
Drivers are allowed to wear cooling vests in the car. If they decide against it, 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.
Verstappen: Vest “doesn’t help at all”, rule “completely ridiculous”
“I don’t particularly suffer from the heat”Verstappen had 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 believes that the cooling vest should be mandatory in the event of a heat emergency from next year “completely ridiculous”. Other pilots had chosen to wear the cooling vest in Singapore.