As Italy continues to grapple with lingering extreme heat following a brutal summer heatwave, Formula 1’s iconic Italian Grand Prix at Monza has received an official heat-hazard designation from race organizers. This special classification is triggered when forecasts confirm ambient temperatures will exceed 31 degrees Celsius at any point during Sunday’s race weekend, a threshold that is all but guaranteed to be crossed at the historic northern Italian circuit.
Located northeast of Milan, the Autodromo Nazionale Monza is projected to see mid-30s Celsius temperatures across all three days of on-track action. The region already hit a staggering 36 degrees Celsius near Milan’s Linate Airport just last Wednesday, underscoring the severity of the ongoing heat conditions.
The heat-hazard ruling brings with it adjusted rules to protect driver safety: competitors will be permitted to use a specialized personal cooling system that pumps cooled glycol liquid through a network of small pipes integrated into a fireproof undershirt worn beneath their racing overalls. Importantly, the cooling kit is not mandatory, but drivers who opt out of using the system must add an extra 5 kilograms of ballast to their cars to maintain equal competitive weight across the grid, preventing any unfair performance advantage for those who skip the gear.
This weekend’s Italian Grand Prix marks the second Formula 1 race of the 2024 season to receive the heat-hazard designation. The first came earlier in the summer at the Austrian Grand Prix, when a widespread European heatwave pushed temperatures into dangerous territory for drivers.
While the cooling system is designed to reduce heat stress, many drivers have opted to avoid it in past events for two key reasons. First, the fitted undershirt can cause physical discomfort over the course of a 300-kilometer grand prix. Second, there have been previous incidents where the limited volume of coolant ran out before the checkered flag, leaving the liquid sitting in the pipes to warm up to the temperature of the car — which can climb far higher than already dangerous ambient air levels.
The risk of severe overheating is not an overstated concern for F1 drivers. Even in milder conditions, cockpit temperatures inside the tightly packed modern Formula 1 car regularly climb above 40 degrees Celsius. On top of that, drivers must wear multiple layers of fireproof protective gear, plus a nylon balaclava and heavy carbon fiber helmet, creating a perfect environment for heat exhaustion and dangerous dehydration during long races in high heat.