When you look at the F1 drivers who fly from one country to another to attend the races, you might envy them a lot, because you think that the racers have many opportunities to travel for free. However, do drivers enjoy these types of trips?
Races that take place in multiple countries are called flyaway races. Each year, F1 will take place in around 20 countries, which means that drivers have to fly from one country to another throughout the year to take part in the race. In fact, this gives them a golden opportunity for sightseeing. However, the sport of F1 consumes time and energy, making it difficult for drivers to have fun in their free time. Above all, due to fast racing, all drivers suffer severely from jet lag and irregular schedules.
“Actually, it’s not the race itself that stresses us out, but traveling without a proper schedule,” said Jarno Trulli, a driver for the former Lotus team.
Added to this, some Grands Prix that take place in Asian countries, such as Singapore, started racing at 8pm, while in Europe it is usually at 2pm. As most of the drivers are from Europe, this can be quite a challenge for them. However, they have already devised an effective method.
“The only thing you have to do is not change your sleeping hours: you stay on European time, you go to bed around 4 am and you wake up around 1 pm,” said Pedro de la Rosa, a former F1 driver. .
In addition, he added that drivers should ensure that there is no light in the room and should tell hotel people not to clean their rooms early.
Apart from the time difference, the race in Singapore, in intolerable heat and humidity, requires the drivers to drive at night on the urban circuits, which requires the drivers to have intense concentration or they could hit a wall.
Thus, the former doctor of the Renault team, Ricardo Ceccarelli, said: “If you put it all together, it is the most difficult cocktail. It is like Monaco because of the concentration, it is like Malaysia because of the heat and humidity, and then it is night, So it’s even more difficult.”
And Dr. Ceccarelli said he would give his drivers light sleeping pills to make them feel better. In addition, he encouraged the pilots to get some exercise in the heat and humidity a few days before the competition.
In addition, Pedro de la Rosa spoke about his experience facing wild races. He said that he would arrive early but he would not overdo it either. For example, he would normally arrive in Singapore on a Tuesday and by Friday he would have adjusted to the environment.