Esteban Ocon has expressed doubts about the usability of the cooling vest, designed by the FIA to assist drivers in coping with heat during races. The Haas driver feels an ‘enormous tennis ball’ pressing on his hip when wearing it, which, despite all good intentions, renders the vest unusable, according to him.
In response to drivers overheating during the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix, the FIA introduced the ‘driver cooling kit’. This cooling vest consists of cooling tubes integrated into the drivers’ overalls, with the issue seemingly lying at the connection point where the tubes enter the suit, creating an uncomfortable pressure point.
Enormous Tennis Ball
Esteban Ocon has worn the cooling vest but experienced significant discomfort. “The tubes around and at the back are fine, but on the side, on your hip, you just feel an enormous tennis ball,” he explains to the media present during the winter test in Bahrain. “You know how tight the seat in a Formula 1 overall is. Where all the tubes are connected, a knot of tubes is formed. As a result, it’s just too big,” he elaborates.
The Frenchman appreciates that the FIA has sought a solution, but at this point, he cannot use the vest. “For myself and Ollie Bearman, it doesn’t work, and from what I’ve heard from other drivers, it seems to be the same for them.”
Diva
This season, drivers are allowed to choose whether they want to wear the cooling vest, but from 2026, the FIA plans to make its use mandatory. Although there is still time for the governing body to improve the cooling vest, Lando Norris believes the possibilities for this are limited. “The only way I see it improving is if we manage to create less of that knot or if we come up with a solution where air conditioning is delivered through the seat.”
Norris also thinks that the cooling vest is not very necessary. “For extreme conditions, such as in Qatar and Singapore, it could be useful,” he points out. “But last year in Qatar, I cycled in a sauna for a week before I went to the race weekend and when I arrived, I was wearing a jacket. It was so cold, so I was a bit annoyed that I had prepared so hard for nothing.”
“It’s not that I’m just being a diva and don’t want to use it. I would like to use it, but it just doesn’t fit.”
