FIA announce heat hazard at Austrian Grand Prix

The FIA, increasingly adept at reading weather maps and forecasts, have activated their 'ahhhhhh, it's really hot' protocols for the Austrian Grand Prix this weekend.

Officially, that's in the books as 'the FIA has declared a heat hazard for the Austrian Grand Prix', with the forecast for this weekend in the Styrian hills simply reading: 'scorchio'.

A heat hazard can be declared for any F1 weekend in which the heat index is expected to exceed 31 degrees Celsius at some point, which the forecasts certainly back up for the Red Bull Ring this weekend.

As a massive heatwave sweeps across Europe, temperatures of up to 36 degrees have been forecast for the Sunday, after topping out at 35 degrees on Saturday and 33 on Friday. Eagle-eyed readers will notice that all of those numbers are larger than 31.

READ MORE: Hamilton to get new Ferrari team-mate at Austrian GP

What is a 'heat hazard' declaration in F1?

The FIA's F1 race director Rui Marques confirmed the decision on Thursday, writing: "In accordance with Article B1.5.10 of the FIA F1 Regulations, having received a forecast from the Official Weather Service predicting that the Heat Index will be greater than 31.0 °C at some time during the Race at this Competition, a Heat Hazard is declared."

Of course, the heat hazard announcement doesn't actually change that much in terms of what fans will see on the track.

Sessions won't be paused or cancelled, drivers won't go around with big pub garden sun umbrellas poking out of their cockpits (despite the obvious potential to stick about 50 sponsors on them), but those in the garages have to do some systematic tweaking.

Introduced in 2025, the Heat Hazard protocol means that teams must fit the Driver Cooling System in their cars – a system that goes above and beyond the normal cool vests some might wear.

Drivers are free to use, or not use, any part of the system that they want. However, to discourage teams deciding to prioritise performance and avoid adding weight to their cars, teams not using the system will have to add ballast to the cars to make up the difference in weight.

And people wonder why the sport is prioritising climate responsibility and its net zero goals...

READ MORE: Red Bull set for radical new design at Austrian GP in bid to keep Verstappen

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