Marcus Ericsson has ridiculed Kimi Raikkonen after the Finn was forced to race without a drink during the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday.

The Ferrari driver was involved in a lengthy conversation with his team over the radio as he tried to take a drink only to find the system, which feeds the liquid through the straw attached to the helmet, was not working correctly.

With an air temperature in Budapest of around 33 degrees Celsius that meant the heat was around 60 degrees inside the cockpit, making for a tough workout for the man they call the 'Iceman'.

While plenty had some sympathy for Raikkonen's plight, the Sauber driver wasn't one of them as he replied to a tweet posted by Formula 1 journalist Will Buxton.

“Haven’t had a drink system installed for over 2 years (including today),” he revealed.

“It weighs around 1.5 kg. So we choose not to use it because of the weight.

“Just one of the reasons why we should have the same weight for all drivers."

Indeed, though today's F1 cars are over 120kg heavier than around a decade ago, such is the ballast of the power unit and the crash structures, teams struggle to keep the weight around the 733kg minimum.

That weight also includes the driver, therefore the taller drivers, of which Ericsson is one, have had to lose every last kilo they can while every item inside the car that can be done without is removed.

Though temperatures were high in Hungary, it is still a little way off the most physically demanding races of the year which come at high g-force circuits like Silverstone and in hot climates like Singapore and Malaysia where the heat and humidity lead to a driver losing over three kilos in weight.

Buxton admitted his surprise at the Swede's revelation jokingly adding: "No wonder you're so thirsty on Sunday's."

Others too were interested to know how Ericsson copes.

"Drink a lot before the race and then make sure you train hard and are in top shape so you're strong enough for the race," he said, replying to one tweet.

For 2019, the rule is being adjusted with a minimum weight for the driver of 80kg to be introduced with smaller drivers having ballast added to their seat to make up the difference.