Driver safety gear
Everything an F1 driver wears in the car has to meet an FIA safety standard. The kit is designed to protect against two things in particular: the huge forces of a crash and the heat of a fire.
The helmet
F1 helmets are built to the FIA's 8860-2018 standard, the toughest helmet test in motorsport, which has been compulsory in F1 since 2019. The shell is made of layers of carbon fibre and other composites, and it's tested against high-speed impacts and objects being fired at it.
The visor opening is smaller than on older helmets, and a strip of Zylon (a very strong synthetic fibre) is fitted along the top of the visor for extra protection. That change came after Felipe Massa was hit on the head by a spring from another car at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix.
Each helmet carries an FIA label to show it has passed the test. Drivers often change their helmet designs from race to race, but the helmet underneath the paint is the same approved model.
The HANS device
The HANS device (head and neck support), officially called a frontal head restraint, is a carbon-fibre collar that sits on the driver's shoulders and is clipped to the helmet with tethers. In a frontal crash, it stops the head from being thrown forward while the body is held back by the belts. That movement used to cause fatal skull and neck injuries. It's been compulsory in F1 since 2003.
Fireproof clothing
Drivers wear several layers of fire-resistant clothing, all made from materials such as Nomex:
- a race suit
- long underwear, a balaclava and socks
- gloves and boots
The race suit standard was updated in 2018 to give more protection from heat. At the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix, Romain Grosjean spent nearly 30 seconds in a fire after his car split in half against a barrier and escaped with burns to his hands. His kit and the car's safety features are widely credited with saving his life.
The FIA checks that drivers are wearing approved underwear and that nothing goes underneath it that could melt or burn.
Biometric gloves
Since 2018, drivers' gloves have had a thin sensor stitched into the palm. It measures pulse and blood oxygen levels and sends them to the medical team during the session. After a crash, doctors can see how the driver is doing before they reach the car. See the medical car and medical centre.
Drivers also wear earpieces with built-in accelerometers that measure the forces on their head in an impact.
The jewellery ban
Drivers have never been allowed to wear jewellery in the car, but the rule wasn't strictly enforced for years. In 2022 the FIA began checking it properly. Metal jewellery can conduct heat in a fire, snag during an extraction or get in the way of scans in hospital. Lewis Hamilton, who had several piercings, was given time to comply and in the end removed them.
Cooling in hot races
F1 cockpits are extremely hot, and in some races drivers can lose several kilos of body weight through sweat. Since 2025 the FIA can declare a Heat Hazard for a race if the forecast heat index (which combines temperature and humidity) is above 31°C.
When a Heat Hazard is declared, every car must have the full driver cooling system fitted: a small pump and heat exchanger in the car that circulate cool liquid through a vest worn under the race suit. Drivers can still choose not to wear the vest, but if they don't, the car must carry a 0.5 kg weight in the cockpit instead, so that skipping the vest doesn't make the car lighter. The car's minimum weight also goes up slightly on Heat Hazard weekends to allow for the system.
Drivers are split on the vests. Some say they help a lot in places like Singapore. Others find them uncomfortable and would rather do without.