The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) will see technical directors from across the Formula 1 paddock meet with the FIA to discuss the issue of cockpit heat.
The matter has become a key point of concern following the Qatar Grand Prix, with the intensely hot conditions seeing drivers suffer throughout the race.
Logan Sargeant had to withdraw partway through, with other drivers complaining of faintness, nausea and heat stroke.
Now the TAC, comprised of the 10 team technical directors, the FIA and F1 Chief Technical Officer Pat Symonds will meet virtually on October 31, shortly after the Mexico City Grand Prix to tackle solutions to the cockpit heat problem.
“We’re going to talk about it at the next TAC,” Symonds told Autosport.
“The FIA are doing some work on it, and I’m doing some work on it. “It’s not totally straightforward.
“IndyCars have different vent arrangements at different times. They are quite into their cool suits, which I think are a couple of kilogrammes, they’re not the end of the world.
“You decide what performance you get from weight. So if you are talking about a couple of kilogrammes for a cool suit, for example, you can figure out what that costs you in physics.
“You can’t exactly work out what you gain with the driver, but there will be a point at which you say actually the driver is going to have a drinks bottle.”
Race winner Max Verstappen (NLD) Red Bull Racing in parc ferme. 08.10.2023. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 18, Qatar Grand Prix, Doha, Qatar, Race Day. – www.xpbimages.com, EMail: requests@xpbimages.com © Copyright: Coates / XPB Images
The issue of cockpit heat has been an extreme cause of concern amongst drivers ever since the situation reared its head in a nasty way in Qatar, but others have been dismissive.
In Thursday’s Press Conference, George Russell shot down criticism from former drivers such as Gerhard Berger, saying that “of course, we need to be gladiators, but when it comes to the heat there’s only so much the body can take.”
Meanwhile, Russell’s Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton has come down on the side of former drivers.
The veteran driver admitted to Sky Sports that although he “didn’t do the race, so didn’t get to feel the pain that the drivers felt,” he saw F1 as “an extreme sport” and said, “we are paid very highly for what we do and from my perspective when I’ve not been feeling great at the end of the race, I’ve just got to train harder and that’s how it’s been for me.”
No matter which side of the debate drivers fall on, the matter is now in the hands of the TAC, with the task being to seek out possible cooling measures that could be implemented into the sport in the near future.
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