The Qatar Grand Prix was labelled by quite a few drivers as the toughest race they have ever done. While it was about 35 degrees Celsius in Doha, the race was held at Losail. The conditions were not pleasant for the drivers as they suffered immensely from the heat on the track.
Lance Stroll said he was passing out, Esteban Ocon was sick, and Logan Sargeant retired after 40 laps because he felt ill. The FIA says this was absolutely not the intention. "Although they are top athletes, they should not be expected to participate in races under conditions that could endanger their health or safety," the FIA writes.
FIA putting money where their mouth is
First up, the FIA are putting their money where their mouth is on what actually happened at the Qatar Grand Prix. "The FIA has started analysing the situation in Qatar in order to make recommendations for future situations with extreme weather conditions, the organisation reveals. "Although the Qatar Grand Prix is scheduled for next year later in the year, when temperatures are expected to be lower, the FIA prefers to take material action now to avoid a repeat of this scenario."
Recently, drivers such as Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc and Yuki Tsunoda spoke about the intense conditions they had to race in. Leclerc even called it "the toughest race of anyone's career". And anyone who said it was not, was lying, the Monegasque suggested.
There was a comment or interview made by Martin Brundle regarding drivers racing in hot conditions but it was never picked up by GPBlog. He said not to worry too much and be sucked in to the hype of conditions being too harsh for drivers, as these are the elite sportspeople in the world and have trained to take these conditions, so they have to be prepared to race in these conditions.
I am glad they are taking in action because this truly seemed like a dangerous situation for the drivers. Perhaps the largest scale danger we have seen in the last few years because it heavily affected everyone.
It was quite evident by their performance 1 or 2 of the over 35 brigade found the weekend a little tough to get through. One poor fella didnt last 1 lap.
Possibly another bone of contention between the FIA and the FOM??
Max said it was only in his top 5 most difficult races physically. Leclerc is calling Max a liar? ?
Well done to the FIA to put out a statement like this and that they've taken note of the conditions and driver's feedback. Next year the conditions should be better at Qatar in December, but they need to take action to either shorten or cancel the race altogether if the conditions are extreme. It's heartening to see that driver safety and well-being is considered over money. ??
Give drivers drink when do pit stop and make suit that can have ice in side
The problem with ice is it melts and then when it does it pools in the seat and you are then sitting in a tea pot. There are cooling shirts/suits as well as helmets that have hoses hooked up to refrigerant coolers however each can fail and add weight. The AirCon Helmet Cooler from ChillOut weighs in at around 5kg.
Agree completely. I was surprised people like Martin Brundle held opposite opinions. I thought it would be a non-contentious issue. https://twitter.com/MBrundleF1/status/1711444102225502268?t=u5ovuy77jB49IB_SYrC6iw&s=19
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