Williams praise their system while Mercedes cannot field one
Mercedes drivers George Russell and Kimi Antonelli will race without cooling vests at the Singapore Grand Prix,
while Williams has emerged as the paddock’s leader in developing the system, leaving Formula 1 divided over safety equipment introduced to protect its drivers.
The FIA has declared a heat hazard for the weekend, the fourth of the 2026 season, with temperatures forecast to exceed 31 degrees Celsius.
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The declaration allows teams to fit systems that pump cooled liquid through a vest worn by the driver. Drivers remain free to choose whether to wear one,
and the vast majority are expected to decline it this weekend.
Why Mercedes Is Racing Without a Vest
Mercedes will not use the equipment because it has not invested enough in making it reliable.
Russell, who says he would wear a vest at almost every race, told The Times: “we haven’t put the resource into making it robust enough.”
Russell first blamed the cost cap, but later said that was incorrect because the vest is excluded from it.
The real obstacle, he explained, is manpower: the people who design and manufacture the hardware must be taken away from other projects.
Mercedes deputy team principal Bradley Lord said the team judged an FIA incentive too small to justify the effort.
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The governing body offered extra allowances of 50,000 dollars for a system lasting a full race distance and 75,000 dollars for one that solved comfort problems,
payable only if the system was proven in practice or on a simulator.
Lord added that the drivers were consulted and few races were expected to be hot enough to matter.
He also said cockpit cooling at Mercedes has improved considerably since Russell and Lewis Hamilton struggled badly in Singapore in 2024,
and that drivers will always choose performance over comfort.
Mercedes has not left its drivers without protection. The team has improved cockpit cooling and uses pre-race measures such as ice packs,
which Antonelli has worn, although those cannot be used inside the car during a race.
Williams Leads the Development Race
Williams, by contrast, has made progress. Carlos Sainz said the vest is the one thing Williams has done well in development this year,
and that it has given him and teammate Alex Albon a good time in the cockpit.
Albon called his system “quite comfortable” in Malaysia until his car retired after 41 laps, and said he is all for the equipment.
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He pointed to the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix, where cockpit temperatures neared 50 degrees Celsius,
as the only race in which he knew he could not drive to his potential.
Esteban Ocon described the vest as a massive performance gain for the physical side of racing,
but admitted his system lasts only about 40 minutes before hot fluid circulates.
Drivers Who Reject the Technology
Others want nothing to do with it. Isack Hadjar said it should be banned because the sport is supposed to be tough.
Max Verstappen called it unnecessary and complained that its cables limit movement.
Franco Colapinto prefers having a choice and does not like how the vest feels.
Antonelli has his own reasons for caution. He said a pump failure in Austin last year left him running with water at around 50 degrees Celsius, and he suffered heat stroke after the session.
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He remains open to using a refined system, provided it works every time.
How Cooling Vests Reached the Grid
Cooling vests arrived at the start of 2025 after Russell and Hamilton finished the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix close to heat stroke.
They remain voluntary because two flaws persist. The cooling effect typically lasts between 20 and 40 minutes, and the tubing can be uncomfortable in a cramped cockpit.
Teams that do not fit a system can carry ballast so that those that do are not penalised on weight.
The debate carries weight because of past episodes. At the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix,
Logan Sargeant withdrew from the race with heat exhaustion, and Albon has described feeling physically limited in the closing laps before pushing harder and finding he could go faster.
The Push for a Shared Solution
Russell has urged the teams and the FIA to find a collective solution, and has suggested an outside company could develop one system for everyone.
He has also said the designs are open source, so Mercedes could copy a system that works elsewhere, an option now under consideration.
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A single standard system is not simple to impose. Cockpit layouts and seat designs differ from team to team, which makes one solution hard to design.
Albon noted that packaging under the seat and airflow through the system vary widely across the grid, so comparisons between drivers are rarely like for like.
What to Watch in Singapore
Singapore will provide another test of the competing philosophies. Williams drivers have access to the most developed system in the field,
Mercedes must manage the heat with improved cockpit cooling, and most other drivers will race without a vest.
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If conditions prove as punishing as forecast, pressure on the FIA and the teams to find a reliable, shared solution will grow.
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