Tea anyone?

I guess the heat this past Sunday in Malaysia was pretty unbearable for some of the Formula One drivers.

The track temperature for the race was around 118 degrees, with the cockpits of the drivers' cars well exceeding that. And from what I've read, as far as specs go, the drivers don't employ any kind of real cooling system for themselves or their in seat replenishment.

Within Formula One's official webpage, they detail how drivers are exposed to extreme heat within the cockpits and can sweat off as much as three kg of weight during a race - or close to 7 pounds for us not on the metric system.

Second-place finisher Robert Kubica shared after his race how he struggled in the final laps of the race because of the heat. He had issues for most of the weekend because of the temperature.

The drivers weren't able to acclimate themselves to the temperature very much this year because the Malaysian Grand Prix was the week after the season opener in Melbourne, Australia.

"Our drink is already hot at the beginning of the race – extremely hot as in the cockpit we have massive temperatures, so I didn't drink a lot as the drink was too hot," Kubica said in the post-race press conference about his replenishment. "Next time I try to use hot tea inside the bottle."

Yuck, tea's not really my idea of a thirst quencher when subjected to extreme heat. Maybe the Formula One drivers should rather take a cue from stock car racing and implement an in-car drinking system that cools their beverages?

I guess Gatorade developed some special system to equip NASCAR drivers with cool beverages during their races. The system is hands free, holds plenty of liquid, can withstand a crash and keeps beverages cool around 45 degrees.

Maybe then, Kubica could enjoy iced tea.

Posted: 3/25/2008 1:30:00 PM
Comments:
Well, I don't see them running an AC unit through the helmets, not with an open cockpit.  I'm surprised they haven't figured out some NASA type driver's suit for cooling.  That would be the way to go.  Thankfully guys like Tony Stewart and some of the other sides of beef that race in the states aren't in Formula 1.  It is a well known fact that F1 drivers are extremely well conditioned athletes unlike the above mentioned contingent, so that helps.  Ayrton Senna and Michael Shumacher for instance were avid runners and had that fitness that would rival Lance Armstrong.  Since the run sprint races, they probably don't worry about it like NASCAR does.  The mental fatigue probably plays as big a role as anything.  That would wear on anyone at any temperature, let alone someone in 135 degree heat.
Posted On: 3/25/2008 1:30:00 PM

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