Ahead of the start of the 2025 season, adidas have unveiled the CLIMACOOL System – comprised of an insulated Jacket and specially created Cooling Vest. The CLIMACOOL System will be available to the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team for any races where hot conditions can impact driver performance.
The unique design has been created to address an ongoing performance challenge for drivers throughout the season – staying at the optimum temperature before racing in hot conditions. In hot conditions, drivers can experience temperatures in their cars reaching 55-60 degrees Celsius, leading to up to 4.2kg of sweat loss. The opportunity to help drivers better maintain their optimum temperature exists in a 20-minute window to cool down after preparation and ahead of the race beginning. The current solution in the sport is to wear a cooling or ice vest, but adidas have created the CLIMACOOL System to maximise the benefit and deliver reductions in skin and core temperature that are unachievable using vests alone.
The adidas CLIMACOOL Jacket consists of a cooling agent working in tandem with cooling fans and insulative materials. In lab testing, the system, the jacket, and a specially created cooling vest alongside industry leaders INUTEQ created almost double the impact of wearing only a cooling or ice vest on skin and core temperature. According to existing research*, reductions in core and skin temperature can result in better performance in cognitive tasks as well as improved decision-making. Endurance benefit, measured as time to fatigue in time trials, can also see improvement of up to 25%.
The CLIMACOOL System was created in the adidas Innovation Lab and being initially tested with Kimi Antonelli, before both Kimi and George Russell took the opportunity of pre-season testing in Bahrain to take the System into their race day setup. The drivers will have it available to them throughout the season, when the conditions mean the potential performance benefit can be realized. Both drivers and their race teams will continue to provide feedback to adidas to help find every possible performance edge in the design.
Alasdhair Willis, Chief Creative Officer of adidas said: “When we returned to motorsport we wanted to see how we could bring true performance benefits to the teams. Our CLIMACOOL System is the first example of how we will bring innovation into the sport. We are challenging ourselves to deliver more impact, at greater speed, and products tuned to the specific needs of more sports. We will create the very best for the drivers.”
George Russell, Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team Driver said: “Heat management is a key topic in F1. In hot races it is important to try and maintain a consistent and optimized core body temperature when in the car. When I first tried the adidas CLIMACOOL System I knew it would be something I’d want to include in my race day package. The challenging conditions bring an extra element to racing and I’m confident this will help improve my performance.”
Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team Driver said: “In very hot and humid races mitigating the rise in body temperature is important for performing at our best in the car. When I got to test the adidas CLIMACOOL System I was really impressed with the impact I felt. It’s clear there is a benefit for us as drivers and I’m looking forward to experiencing that during the season.”
The adidas CLIMACOOL System is the second new product in the reintroduction of the adidas CLIMACOOL range after the reveal of an innovative CLIMACOOL shoe last year. Initially designed in 2002, the CLIMACOOL range was created using extensive athlete testing and disrupted the sports industry with cooling technologies never seen before. adidas will bring further CLIMACOOL products to athletes, including solutions for elite athletes at the top of their game, through to explorations in design for the next generation of cooling technology.
Earlier this year adidas returned to the world of motorsport and announced a multi-year partnership with the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team, which has united two icons in one of the world’s fastest growing sports. Built on a shared commitment to performance and excellence, the partnership leverages adidas’ 75-years of experience working with athletes at the top of their game to support the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team in driving success.
