This weekend’s Lenovo Austrian Grand Prix is expected to be the hottest race of the Formula 1 season so far, while across the Atlantic Ocean, footballers are also contending with weather extremes at the FIFA World Cup.
Hydration breaks have been introduced in the finals – albeit among heavy criticism – to keep players safe, but there are much more technical ways teams across both football and F1 are cooling off.
The adidas CLIMACOOL System – a cooling vest and jacket combination designed to lower core body temperature by up to 0.5 degrees Celsius and skin temperature by as much as 13 degrees – was originally developed for Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team drivers.
The technology was built to manage the extreme thermal demands of a cockpit where conditions can exceed 50 degrees Celsius, and where heat-related performance decline is a very real competitive factor.
Now the same CLIMACOOL technology is being utilised in football’s biggest competition, with adidas offering the system to all of the nations whose team kit is supplied by the German manufacturer.
That means, while F1 championship hopefuls Andrea Kimi Antonelli and George Russell, as well as Audi Revolut F1 Team drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto could be donning the motorsport version at the Red Bull Ring, the likes of Lionel Messi, Lamine Yamal and Kevin De Bruyne are sporting the football equivalents in their respective training camps in North America.
“Heat management and body temperature regulation are critical challenges across sports that demand both endurance and cognitive performance, including motorsports and football,” Margherita Raccuglia, Director of Athlete Performance at adidas Innovation, told Sector.
“Having access to cooling technology originally developed for Formula 1 teams gave us the opportunity to apply proven thermal management solutions to football.”
The core cooling technology remained unchanged in the transition.
What adidas redesigned was everything around it – increasing body coverage to make the most of football’s limited recovery windows, adding a front-centre zipper for rapid removal, and introducing adjustable sizing to accommodate the range of body shapes within a squad.
Cooling overshoes were also added to target foot temperature, a factor the motorsport version had not needed to address.
The use of cooling technology is so far more established in Formula 1 than in football. However, the importance of effective thermal management and its impact on performance is widely recognised in both sports.
Margherita Raccuglia
The two sports use the technology very differently, and that distinction shaped how adidas adapted the product.
Cooling is well established in F1 as a pre-race intervention, but its application in football – where players need it before kick-off, at half-time, and throughout training – required a fundamentally different approach to how and when the vest is deployed.
“What emerged most clearly from player and medical staff feedback is that key differences lie in the specific use cases and timing of cooling interventions,” explained Raccuglia.
“In Formula 1, cooling strategies are predominantly employed before the race to lower core body temperature and optimise driver readiness ahead of competition.
“The use of cooling technology is so far more established in Formula 1 than in football. However, the importance of effective thermal management and its impact on performance is widely recognised in both sports.”
Some of the top football teams in Europe were involved in testing and refining the system, including Premier League champions Arsenal, as well as Manchester United and Italian giants Juventus.
Those trials pushed the product in directions the original motorsport brief had not required and the improvements that resulted did not stay in football.
“Following the design updates we developed through our work with football clubs, we found that both the usability and cooling performance of the vest had improved significantly,” Raccuglia said.
“As a result, we introduced the updated version back into motorsport applications, where it was adopted by teams for the current season.”
That feedback loop – from F1 into football and back again – reflects something Raccuglia sees as central to how adidas approaches innovation across sports.
“Innovation does not flow in only one direction,” she said.
“While the original cooling technology was developed for motorsport, adapting it to the specific needs of football led to product improvements that ultimately benefited motorsport as well.
“We believe cross-pollination across sports will continue to drive innovation, with insights and products cascading from one sport to another.”
With an orange heat warning already issued for this weekend’s grand prix and warm weather taking its toll at the World Cup, the technology is being put to work on both fronts simultaneously this summer.
