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
1. The drivers are in fireproof race suits and crash helmets. They don’t get the breeze.
2. They’re usually following behind a car that it putting off a lot of hot air from things like the engines and brakes. The brakes regularly get over 1,000°C during a heavy braking zone.
3. They usually take place when it’s hot out already. Most races take place in the middle of the day and during the summer or the warmer parts of the year. This is excluding a few races like those in the Middle East in the middle of the desert, they race when it’s cool enough to race. But its still usually very hot because it’s a desert.
4. They’re sitting right in front of the engine. The car gets hot because of that, and they only have the tiny hole at the top to let the heat out.
5. An F1 car is designed to be as fast as possible. They don’t care about driver comfort pretty much at all.
Air at high speed provides enough friction for the surface to heat up. Same happens with meteors thus producing that fire like glowing appearance.
In addition to the comments on the airflow, it’s also worth noting they don’t spend much time at those speeds. The circuits where heat is a particular problem, such as Singapore and Qatar, don’t have desperately long straights. Singapore had 20+ corners, in 1 minute 45 of lap time there are only two longish straights,.covering less than a quarter of it.
A combination of the general hot temperatures at most of the venues they visit, all the clothes they wear, a race is extremely physically demanding, confined cockpit, the engine is directly behind them and “wind” isnt always cold.
Why are people in houses dry when it’s raining?
The engine is right behind them, and the cockpit can get up to 140 F. They also don’t have an AC tube, like Indycar or NASCAR.
A few reasons.
1. Most of the races take place in hot places. If the air outside is 80F+, even wind still feels hot.
2. Races take place on asphalt, which absorbs and puts off a lot of heat. Track temperatures are often HOT.
3. Driving an F1 car is insanely physical. These guys are working hard to control the car while going around turns at insane speeds.
4. F1 drivers wear a lot of protective gear in case of a crash. Their suits are thick and designed to protect against fire. The helmets are also sealed, which keeps heat in around their head. There isn’t any part of skin exposed to wind – so they are thoroughly insulated.
5. The aerodynamics of the car redirect most of the wind around the car, meaning they likely don’t feel much, if any, wind when they are sitting in the cockpit. If you look at the front wing of an F1 car, you will see a little hole on the nose – this is for air to be directed into the cockpit to cool the driver down.
6. The engine is literally right behind the driver. They are basically resting their back on it.
7. Unless you are Max Verstappen (or recently Lando Norris – let’s go Lando!) you are likely driving behind another car/through it’s hot exhaust.
It’s not uncommon for drivers to lose a few pounds of water weight throughout a race due to them sweating so much.
Wrap yourself up in thermal undies and 4 blankets to simulate their fire suit and go stsnd in the wind.. you wont feel a thing and you will get hot. There is little to no ventilation in those suits.
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.
Besides they get no air. The aerodynamics are designed that air resistance even by the drivers head is minimised.
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