Max Verstappen Blasts FIA over Newly Proposed Cooling vest rule
Max Verstappen fired some shots at the FIA after they mandated the use of cooling vests at the Singapore GP to tackle the heat wave warning.
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Max Verstappen (via Red Bull)
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The recent Singapore GP had a heat wave warning for the teams and drivers operating over the weekend. The Marina Bay Circuit is notoriously known to be one of the more tolling races for the drivers in the cockpit. The core temperatures inside the car can reach over 60 degrees Celsius, which has caused problems for the drivers in the past.
As such, the FIA made a cooling vest rule where a driver had to add 500g of ballast if they did not take the vest. Now, Max Verstappen lashed out at the governing body and put forth his opinion on the change. The FIA had already issued a warning and hoped that promoting the use of a cooling vest would help drivers easily deal with the heat.
However, at an already humid location of the Marina Bay Circuit, such vests wouldn’t be very effective. On the contrary, the dry ice could melt quickly and cause discomfort to the drivers. As such, a majority of them did not use the system, with Max Verstappen criticizing the change as well.
Max Verstappen revealed that he did not use the vest in any of the sessions of the Singapore GP. Moreover, he did not intend to use it as he believed the use of such products to be completely a driver’s choice. This meant that the FIA did not need to mandate the use of a cooling vest or force other drivers to add ballast if they did not want to use the cooling system.
Further, Max Verstappen insisted that the FIA would take the easy way out and claim that this change was made for the ‘safety’ of the drivers. However, Verstappen noted that there were many other ways to improve overall safety in the pinnacle of motorsport rather than some heat wave warning. The Dutchman noted that making pit entry safer and other changes were more important than the cooling vest.
I haven’t used the vest, I’m also not intending to use it because I feel like this needs to be a driver choice, Of course, from the FIA side, they will always throw it on safety, but then we can talk about a lot of stuff that can be improved on safety, including pit entries in certain places. I think that has a bit more priority than a vest in the car because I don’t like it.
Max Verstappen said, as reported by RacingNews365.
Max Verstappen claims FIA forcing drivers to use cooling vest ‘not the right thing’
The FIA made the use of a cooling vest optional this time around. However, the governing body can mandate the use of such cooling systems just to remain on the safer side and promote overall safety for the drivers.
The three-time champion in Max Verstappen, believes that this isn’t the right way to deal with these problems. Rather, he reiterated how the FIA should approach this problem and help promote the safety of the drivers.
Max Verstappen reckoned that some drivers liked the cooling vest while others didn’t, which was completely fine. However, the Dutchman predicted that the FIA wouldn’t make the use of the vest optional in the coming seasons.
Verstappen explained that the F1 cars did not have much space in the cockpit to fit the tubes required for the cooling vest, which was yet another problem. The 27-year-old joked that the cool water from the dry ice is quickly turned into hot water or tea during actual races.
Some like it, some don’t, and that’s fine. It should be a personal preference, and I know this year we can [not use it] but probably next year they don’t want to do that, and I feel that is not the right thing. That is also a little bit of a problem, I find. Plus, where are you going to put the dry ice? The cars are not designed really to have this extra kind of space, and within 15, 20 laps, it’s gone, and then you have hot water… or tea.
Max Verstappen noted
Regardless of the cooling vest debacle, the Singapore GP was run under normal conditions and was relatively unproblematic for the drivers. Max Verstappen was able to cling to his P2 spot and ultimately finish in the same position he started. However, the FIA must have a better stance on helping the drivers deal with the issues rather than forcing safety on them.
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