Last Monday, stewards issued a clarification to competing teams with regards to a regulation (10.10.3) governing cockpit temperatures for the race this weekend which dictates a limitation of continuous driving time to 80 minutes when ambient temperatures reach 32°C.

This is calculated via a ‘perceived temperature’ calculation - but in reality affects only cars that are not running an air conditioning system, such as Toyota. As well as limiting driving time to 80 minutes, drivers will have to respect a minimum rest time of 30 minutes between consecutive stints.The 80-minute rule will only be applied at the start of the hour in which it is triggered, meaning that irrespective of how long a driver has been at the wheel, he can continue for an additional 80 minutes.

"The problem is that 80 minutes is right in the middle of the second stint," explained Sebastien Buemi."That means we will have to change drivers at every stint, and that’s a bit of a pain to be honest because you have to change the driver within the refuelling time.