I was reading that F1 drivers have to withstand really high temperatures consistently during a race and don’t have A/C. How come they’re hot if there’s wind coming at them really fast throughout the entire race?
In: Physics
Because they’re sitting mostly surrounded by the car, only their head and maybe shoulders would get any significant airflow.
But they’re wearing racing overalls and a big helmet, so very little high-speed cool air really makes contact with their body to cool them down.
They may open their visor to let some more air in to the helmet, but that also risks things getting in to their eyes.
Races often take place in hot and humid climates, and they’re constantly engaging their whole bodies to control the car and keep their heads upright with 5g+ pulling on them in corners and braking zones.
They also have ~1000HP engines a few inches behind their backs, which throughout a race, will cause the driver to get quite warm.
After last year’s race in Qatar, teams can place a little duct on the car’s nose that funnels air in to the cockpit, that should add some useful cooling, but they’re still going to get quite warm – hopefully just not *too* warm, where they end up passing out, as happened to a few drivers in Qatar.
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