The FIA will introduce the new driver cooling duct from 2024, but that’s not all. In certain cases, the FIA may increase the minimum weight of cars by 2 kilograms to allow teams to use additional systems to cool the drivers’ cockpit.
Motorsport continues to become safer year after year, but there are always windows for improvement, to make driving more comfortable and secure for pilots even as they reach speeds exceeding 300 kilometers per hour.
Safety in racing cars has improved due to various factors, including the introduction of systems that provide much better protection to the driver’s cockpit (think of intrusion cones and, most notably, the Halo). During the 2023 season, especially during the weekend hosting the Qatar Grand Prix, another aspect emerged that the FIA had to and must assess: excessive heat in the cockpits of Formula 1 cars.
The issue was evaluated by the F1 Commission, which met last week, and from the meeting, plans were approved for the creation of a small additional duct that should be able to channel fresh air into the cockpit starting from the next Formula 1 season.
However, that’s not all, as the FIA has revealed its intention to adopt additional measures to ensure that the situation experienced in Qatar cannot be repeated. Remember that in Lusail, several drivers had suffered from heat strokes, and after the race, they needed medical attention due to the climatic conditions in which the race took place.
Nikolas Tombazis, director of the FIA’s single-seater department, explained the plans outlined to ensure that, in case race conditions are considered extreme based on a combination of temperature, humidity, and track configuration, the FIA can declare an emergency to assist the drivers.
But what will all this entail? There will be an immediate increase in the minimum weight of cars, with teams needing to use the extra space for driver cooling equipment. Nikolas Tombazis explained: “The new systems will make the cars a bit heavier, something around 2 kilograms, which must be used obligatorily for driver cooling. So, this will allow solutions like cooling vests.”
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According to the Director of the Single Seater Department of the FIA, the additional two kilograms of minimum weight granted will not be used by teams in a cunning or unfair manner: “We need to define some details, but we want to clarify that this is not something that can be used for shady advantages.”
“The two extra kilos are genuinely for the purpose of cooling the cockpit, and this will be mandatory. You could then put ballast in the seat, but it would be a bit foolish because, as in Qatar, we saw drivers make mistakes in the final part of the race. I think it is clearly not in the interest of the teams to ignore the issue.”
As we told you in the article where we revealed and explained the decisions of the F1 Commission, the fresh air outlet in the cockpit had already been studied for the 2023 season, but the opposition of one team had thwarted the introduction of this device.
Nikolas Tombazis revealed that the duct that will be introduced in 2024 will be quite small and, above all, cannot be used as an object to improve the performance of the car.
“You don’t have to imagine a huge hole,” said the FIA engineer regarding the size of the duct. “In reality, it will be more of a slot, and I believe it can be inserted under the chassis.”
“In the past, this system had been contested because there was a fear that it could be used to gain a kind of indirect aerodynamic advantage. People had come up with various hypotheses, a bit paranoid actually, about what its use could be. But in reality, it’s just about allowing the existence of that inlet in a certain area of the car and giving maximum dimensions,” Nikolas Tombazis concluded.
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