Keeping George cool to victory in heat-hazard Singapore GP

Heading into the Grand Prix weekend, there was a notable amount of talk around how the drivers were planning to stay cool throughout the gruelling racing conditions that Singapore traditionally provides.

With the air temperature consistently above 30°C, and with cockpit temperatures predicted to exceed well over 50°C, the FIA had officially declared the race a ‘heat-hazard’ and as such teams were required to install, but need not necessarily use, the new Driver Cooling System with the addition of the accompanying cooling vest worn by the drivers. As such, is the deal in 2025. We have come to understand that as part of the 2026 regulations overhaul, this system is planned to be mandatory at all races.

“Any driver may elect not to wear any items of personal equipment that form part of the Driver Cooling System,” reads Article 26.19 of the FIA F1 Sporting Regulations. “In such circumstance, all other components, including any cooling medium, of the Driver Cooling System must be fitted.”

While some drivers remain sceptical on the complaint that the vest is a bit itchy, George Russell was positive about the system as a whole:

“I’ll run it,” Russell confirmed to F1 press. He added later: “We’ve used the driver cooling vest a few times already this season at hot races, but obviously this is the first time where [the Driver Cooling System] has become mandatory, which is good news.”

“When you’re racing in 90% humidity and the cockpit [temperatures] are getting on for 60 degrees, it’s a bit of a sauna inside the car, so I think we all welcome it.”

Naturally, he went on to win for Mercedes AMG, and in some emphatic style from pole position.

We are inexplicably proud to say that we have been supplying our MGD1000 micro-gear liquid pump as a key part of the cooling system, now as an FIA homologated component, open-source. To clarify, we have no involvement with the vests. Race-wear is not our speciality, although many of us wear it in our spare time!

It’s been a real pleasure to work with the teams throughout 2025 in both development and supply. There’s still plenty of work to do, with many of the teams now looking to evolve and improve the pump’s integration into the cooling system and ultimately, the cars. It’s certainly been interesting to see the different team’s approaches to the same solution, and knowing that we’re directly helping to make Formula 1 safer going forward, is an absolute honour.

We’re not allowed to divulge certain specifics, of course, but as you might expect it’s been all about the grams. The standard MGD1000 is already a very lightweight pump, weighing just 125g yet providing up to 1150ml/min of flow, and up to 10bar of pressure. (Across both F-spec or P-spec, both available to purchase on our website)

However, we recognise and appreciate the relentless pursuit of weight-saving, and using our working knowledge of other weight- critical applications we have also developed a lightweight aluminium pump head for the MGD1000 (available on request), replacing the standard SS316. This material change, along with some mass-reducing re-design, take the pump weight down to just 75g, which has been real hit with the F1 teams. Moreover, this weight-saving design has also proven to be useful in other industries we supply, notably aerospace applications such as UAV fuel-delivery systems.

With the pinnacle that is Formula 1 featuring the cutting-edge of technology, it’s highly likely that similar cooling systems will be brought into other classes of motorsport in the very near future, and we’ll be there to help when the time comes.

If you need support with any liquid cooling systems, whether your chilling George Russell to victory or something else, please do get in touch with our Sales Engineers today and we will assist you with your application: enquiries@micropumps.co.uk / +44 (0)1795 531227