Albon praises Williams' cooling vest as best on the grid after Singapore endurance

Alex Albon declared Williams’ cooling vest “the best on the grid” after Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix at Marina Bay, where a Heat Hazard designation gave drivers the choice between wearing a cooling vest or carrying equivalent ballast in their car.

Albon’s race was ultimately cut short by brake overheating, which forced heavy management before a late retirement, but the conditions inside the cockpit were a different story. With ambient temperatures of 30°C and humidity reaching 78%, the British-Thai driver said the vest made a tangible difference once it kicked in.

“My cooling suit wasn’t working for the first 10 laps, and I thought it was going to be a long race,” Albon said. “Then it turned on and it was very comfortable. I know a lot of drivers are against it. Some teams can’t make it work. With all the issues we’ve got this year, our cooling suit is the best on the grid. I’m quite happy with it.”

Team-mate Carlos Sainz had offered a similar verdict earlier in the weekend. “If there’s one thing as a team we’ve done well on development this year is the cooling vest, which has definitely given Alex and me a good time inside the car,” Sainz said.

Not every driver shared the enthusiasm. Pierre Gasly said he had “no need for it”, while Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar went further, arguing “it should be banned” on the grounds that “it’s supposed to be tough” — a stance rooted in his view of what Formula 1 should demand of its drivers.

Max Verstappen’s objection was more practical. “For me it’s not needed. Yes it’s hot, but it’s not a sauna, and with this cooling vest you have these stupid cables in your car, so it’s just limiting your movement as well,” the world champion said. “It doesn’t work anyway for one-and-a-half hours. I think never in any category it has worked for one-and-a-half hours.”

The cooling vest regulation was introduced following the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix, where several drivers suffered heat exhaustion during a physically gruelling race. Williams’ apparent edge in making the technology work reliably stands as one of the team’s few development highlights in what Albon himself acknowledged has been a difficult season overall.