Imagine driving a very fast car in extreme heat. Inside a Formula 1 car, the cockpit can reach a high temperature of 50 degrees Celsius. Because it is so hot, drivers lose a lot of water quickly.
When you sit in a hot race car for two hours, you face real risks like severe dehydration and physical exhaustion. To stay safe, drinking water during a race is completely essential for every driver. Drivers can lose up to three kilograms of weight from sweat in a single race. But how do they drink while driving over 200 miles per hour? Teams put a special bag of fluid inside the car. A long plastic tube will connect this bag to the driver's helmet, putting the end right near their mouth. When the driver feels thirsty, they press a special button on the steering wheel. An electric pump pushes the liquid through the tube so they can drink without taking their hands off the wheel.
The liquid inside the bag is usually a warm mixture of water and minerals. Even though it does not taste like a cold drink on a summer day, it keeps drivers awake and safe on the track.
