When you look at F1 drivers who fly from one country to another to attend races, you might envy them a lot, because you think there are so many opportunities for drivers to travel for free. However, do drivers enjoy these types of trips?
Races held in multiple countries are called flyaway races. Every year, F1 will take place in around 20 countries, which means drivers have to fly from country to country 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 enjoy themselves in their spare 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, it’s traveling without a proper schedule,” said Jarno Trulli, a rider for the former Lotus team.
Added to this, some grands prix that take place in Asian countries, such as Singapore, started racing at 8 pm, while in Europe it is usually at 2 pm 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, go to bed around 4am and wake up around 1pm,” said Pedro de la Rosa, a former F1 driver. .
In addition, he added that drivers should make sure there is no light in the room and should tell hotel people not to clean their rooms early.
Aside from the time difference, the race in Singapore, in intolerable heat and humidity, requires riders to drive at night on street circuits, requiring 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 harder.”
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 of his experience facing uncontrolled races. He said that he would arrive early but that he would not overdo it either. For example, he would normally arrive in Singapore on a Tuesday and by Friday he would have settled in.
