The year a scorching Bahrain Grand Prix smashed F1’s temperature record

Pedro de la Rosa waited more than two years for a chance to start a Grand Prix of Formula One. With 63 races in his rear-view mirror, the Spaniard sat on the sidelines as a McLaren test driver and waited patiently for an event. When the call from McLaren Supremo Ron Dennis came to replace the injured Juan Pablo Montoya at the Grand Prix in Bahrain in 2005, there was no time for nerves. And no time to bake in the wave oven.

“I was so excited about the race that I didn’t even sweat,” De la Rosa says The independent. “I didn’t drink at all – when you didn’t put a drink bottle, you saved weight on the car. So we didn’t even fit in with it. ‘

Performance on health? He will not be the last in F1. Yet the second iteration of the Bahrain Grand Prix, 20 years ago, was the most extreme example in the 75-year history of the sport that prioritizes the pace above the physical condition. At 42.6c, with 40c temperatures in Dallas and Detroit in the middle of the eighties, it was the hottest F1 race ever.

To the surprise of De la Rosa.

“I only realized before this interview that it was the hottest race ever recorded,” he says.

“When I look back, I was just in the race and concentrated so much that I felt it was pretty easy. I didn’t feel tired, not even with the temperature of more than 40c. I was just so happy to drive that I could accept another 10c! ‘

What was striking was the lack of complaints from managers and experts at the dissection of the race cover on ITV two decades ago. From Martin Brundle’s Pit Walk-in Jeans-to Fernando Alonso’s light-to-flag victory from the pole position (at the beginning of what his first title-win season would be with Renault), the entire Paddock simply moved with the times. This was the beginning of Bernie Ecclestone’s high-flying, profitable move to the Middle East and all the wealth that came with it. There was no time to blow in the sun.

“The key was the humidity levels – they were very low,” explains De la Rosa. ‘You must protect yourself from dehydration. I had breeds in Singapore and Malaysia that were harder than Bahrain just because of the humidity levels.

‘Sometimes I drank too much water and then automatically regulates the body. You had to be very careful. ‘

Given the sport’s gradual move to night racing, it is a temperature record that may stand long in the future. Bahrain became a night race in 2014 in celebration of its 10th anniversary – and has remained so ever since. Events in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Singapore, Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi are also kept under lights.

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Still, the Qatar Grand Prix in 2003 with drivers who are vomiting and retiring as a result of heat strips in the sports regulations of the sport. For this year, a new driver’s cooling system has been introduced, which involves a combination of a box with cooling components and a refractory shirt under the race suit.

With the temperature in the low thirties over the next few days in Bahrain, the drivers are likely to progress throughout the weekend throughout the weekend.

“I felt very relieved after the race, it was a historical point in my career,” says De la Rosa about Bahrain 2005, where he finally finished fifth for McLaren. “I have proved a point.”

De la Rosa, now an ambassador for Aston Martin, would run eight times for McLaren in 2006 before concluding with Sauber and HRT his career in 2012.

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As for this weekend, in which Bahrain offers four of a season that started with three different winners – the McLaren pairing of Lando Norris and Oscar PiaTri who split the first two Grands Prix before Max Verstappen’s victory in Japan last week – De la Rosa has a unique reason to keep a fine shell.

Late in that scorching ’05 race, the Spaniard set the fastest shot – a 1: 31: 447. To this day, it is a shotboard at the Bahrain International Circuit that was not beaten and still raises eyebrows if it gets a mention of the cover before the race. With the removal of the extra point for the fastest round, he also has reason to be optimistic that his record will be kept beyond his 20th year.

“That’s the last thing I have in Formula One!” De la Rosa says with a crazy. “I was very disappointed when they suggested the extra point for the fastest round, but it survived.

“Unless they rise the track again, as in China and Japan when the cloth records fell, it still has to be safe. I hope no one beats it … let’s see if it’s surviving for another 20 years! ‘

The Bahrain Grand Prix takes place on Sunday at 16:00 (BST) and is broadcast on Sky Sports F1