Supercars issues driver heat management advice

Recommendations have been supplied to Supercars teams to prevent, recognise and manage of heat-related issues during weekends.

Driver health and welfare rules were tightened pre-Darwin, following cool suit failures for Broc Feeney, Will Brown and David Reynolds in Sydney.

Thomas Randle was ruled out of the Darwin finale following a cool suit failure in the Saturday race, while Brodie Kostecki was also sidelined amid the effects of a virus.

In the wake of the Darwin event, which saw Randle sidelined from the finale, Supercars Permanent Medical Delegate — Dr Carl Le OAM — has sent an advisory note to teams, regarding heat stress prevention and management protocols.

Dr Carl’s advisory is intended to establish best-practice recommendations, which reflect current sports medicine evidence and are intended to optimise driver safety, wellbeing and performance.

The advisory firstly recognises that each driver responds differently to heat stress, with variations in sweat rate, thermoregulatory efficiency, body composition, and acclimatisation status.

Per the note, teams are recommended to enforce pre-conditioning (7-14 days pre-event), pre-race cooling, proactive hydration protocols, driver mass monitoring, and post-race cooling.

He acknowledged that contributing factors to heat stress for drivers included cool suit malfunctions, elevated ambient and cockpit temperatures, extended race durations, reduced pit stop durations, and failure of in-car hydration systems.

In summary, the advisory points out that heat-related illness is largely preventable through appropriate preparation, monitoring and timely intervention.

Additionally, responsibility for effective heat management is shared between drivers, teams, and their team's medical/paramedical personnel.

“There are some really well-established things that drivers can do to mitigate the risk of heat stress,” Dr Carl told Supercars.com.

“The analogy I give is, if you were to attempt to climb Mount Everest, you would spend weeks at base camp acclimatising prior to trying to summit Everest. Likewise for a full Ironman in Hawaii, you're going to train in hot climates and get your body used to the heat”.

“Supercars will continue to review all aspects of driver health and safety.

“I, together with the medical team, will always be ready to provide medical support whenever required. However, our role should be a last line of defence, with thorough preparation and proactive heat management remaining the priority."

The 2026 season resumes in Townsville on July 10-12.