How do F1 drivers take care of jet lag in the course of the season?

F1 is a really international motorsport championship, as a season sometimes covers 5 continents inside a 10-month interval.

This implies the paddock is consistently on the transfer and F1 drivers must get snug with a brand new time zone at brief discover.

Australia is a very tough one as Melbourne – host of the Australian Grand Prix – is 11 hours forward of the UK, which is the place over 50% of F1 groups are headquartered.

F1 additionally visits international locations like Japan and Mexico who’ve a time distinction of 5 plus hours to the UK, which means groups and drivers have sure methods to fight the consequences of jet lag.

So, what are these strategies and the way dangerous can the jet lag be?

Why do F1 groups want to contemplate jet lag?

The 2024 F1 season will function a record-breaking 24 grands prix, so groups will consistently swap between time zones to be able to get from one vacation spot to the following.

A few of these circuits even have a considerably completely different time zone to the opposite, like Shanghai is 12 hours forward of Miami but the 2 races are separated by simply a few weeks on the calendar. So, when an individual undertakes such heavy travelling like that, it can trigger jet lag which is excessive tiredness felt after an extended flight.

It’s common for everyone within the paddock as a result of F1 has a gruelling schedule and runs to such tight timings. A grand prix weekend, for instance, sometimes goes from Thursday to Sunday which means groups and drivers don’t spend lengthy in a single location – particularly when the races are on consecutive weekends.

This leaves drivers with minimal time to recuperate from jet lag, which isn’t excellent as a result of the impression it may have on athletes is large, as excessive tiredness can result in an absence of focus – an important ability when driving a racing automobile at excessive speeds.

Jet lag can subsequently have a damaging impression on efficiency which implies it’s important for groups to beat the potential for that.

Nevertheless, it isn’t simply the drivers that want to beat jet lag – it’s the identical for the entire storage. Think about how tough it could be to finish a extremely pressurised pitstop in lower than two seconds whereas the crew are all affected by jet lag.

Each member of an F1 group must be at peak situation in the course of the race weekend, which is why squads should contemplate methods by which to beat jet lag.

How do F1 drivers overcome jet lag?

F1 drivers utilise completely different strategies to fight jet lag as a result of having the ability to adapt rapidly can have vastly useful outcomes.

Nico Rosberg is the right instance of that as a result of the former Mercedes driver sought specialist help to overcome jet lag in his 2016 F1 championship-winning marketing campaign and his strategies are broadly used amongst groups and drivers immediately.

Rosberg instructed F1’s Past the Grid podcast in 2018: “In case you go to Australia, you begin 5 days earlier than, [shifting your sleep by] one-and-a-half hours, and by the point you get to the final day, you’re seven-and-a-half hours in.

“I might rise up at one o’clock within the morning on the final day, or vice versa, no matter, some loopy time of the day. My spouse would have a look at me and say, ‘are you fully nuts now? Have you ever misplaced your thoughts?’

“At 3:30, 4am, I might be on the market in Monaco working. Then [I would] take the flight, land and once more, while you get there, one-and-a-half hour steps – don’t fully right away alter to the time.”

The 2016 world champion described it as “a revolution for my life” as Rosberg lastly beat rival Lewis Hamilton to the drivers’ title.

On social media, Carlos Sainz as soon as shared his personal jet lag plan when travelling to Australia. It entailed staying awake for the primary leg of his journey which was a seven-hour flight to Dubai, as a result of it was late morning in Melbourne but in a single day in Europe. To cease himself from falling asleep Sainz ensured there was lots of gentle, whereas he stayed entertained via movies and dialog.

On the stopover in Dubai, once more, Sainz tried to get as a lot publicity to gentle as he may to remain awake earlier than avoiding sleep in his second flight as nicely. By doing this, Sainz may fall asleep when it was night time time in Melbourne and that may alter his physique clock to race timings.

Carlos Sainz, Scuderia Ferrari

Picture by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

The publicity to gentle is a vital step F1 drivers take to regulate their physique clocks as a result of it suppresses the manufacturing of melatonin, which is a hormone produced by the mind to assist someone sleep.

Nevertheless, F1 drivers might have to be protected against gentle as nicely. So, drivers will even put on sun shades indoors generally as a result of sporting sun shades on the proper level in a day can assist to regulate the physique clock.

Train shortly after waking up, or a light-weight session simply earlier than sleep, can even actually assist in adjusting the physique clock, so many drivers will go for a sport of golf as a result of its publicity to pure gentle and it not being too intense is extremely useful.

Caffeine is one other dependable instrument to assist with jet lag. It is because it’s a stimulant that helps an individual really feel extra awake, because it blocks the adenosine receptor which is a substance that promotes sleepiness.

Nevertheless, F1 groups are nonetheless cautious in its use of caffeine as a result of an excessive amount of in sooner or later may cause undesirable unwanted side effects like restlessness and an irregular heartbeat. So, caffeine is taken little and sometimes moderately than heaps directly whereas it is just consumed throughout a sure time interval on account of its long-acting life.

Does F1 do something to assist its groups and drivers address jet lag?

The 2024 season has seen F1 method its calendar in another way, as there’s now a better give attention to regionalisation. This method has introduced ahead the Japanese GP by 5 months, whereas Qatar is now the penultimate spherical in a back-to-back with Abu Dhabi, whereas in 2023 Las Vegas was a weekend earlier than the ultimate race.

Melbourne is a type of venues by no means a part of a double-header as a result of ample relaxation on both aspect of the grand prix actually is required to reset the physique clock, on account of how completely different Australia’s time zone is to a number of different international locations.

So, though F1’s major motive for regionalising the 2024 calendar was to be extra sustainable as a part of its efforts to be carbon impartial by 2030, it also needs to assist with the jet lag.

That’s very true as a result of there was a lot controversy surrounding the scheduling of the inaugural Las Vegas GP.

Charles Leclerc, Scuderia Ferrari, 2nd place, Max Verstappen, Crimson Bull Racing, 1st place, George Russell, Mercedes-AMG, third place, in the course of the submit race press convention

Picture by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

Regardless of the American metropolis being 11 hours behind Abu Dhabi, the paddock was nonetheless pressured to regulate to the time zones in a short time as a result of each occasions have been merely days aside.

It induced a lot backlash as Max Verstappen stated on the time that it is “very tiring” and “doesn’t really make a lot of sense”.

Nevertheless, F1 has not managed to regionalise the entire calendar as avenue circuits like Miami and Montreal are nonetheless surrounded by grands prix in both Asia or Europe, which means there are arguably extra methods by which the collection may assist personnel take care of the consequences of jet lag.

However, F1 does nonetheless implement a monitor curfew on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights which doubtlessly helps. This curfew states the time interval that groups are usually not allowed to work on their automobiles, in order that it will probably assist cut back working hours for crew members and guarantee all of them get sufficient relaxation.

Nevertheless, there are nonetheless some exceptions to the curfew as a result of a group can break it twice in a season with out incurring a punishment and that’s in case of unexpected circumstances like logistical delays or heavy injury to automobiles.

Do F1 drivers all the time journey again residence after a race?

With the period of time between races differing all through the calendar, F1 drivers generally elect to not journey residence between rounds. It normally relies on the state of affairs – for instance, Nico Hulkenberg stayed within the center east along with his household between the back-to-back Bahrain and Saudi Arabian GPs moderately than returning to Europe.

Sergio Perez, Crimson Bull Racing, Max Verstappen, Crimson Bull Racing, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-AMG, George Russell, Mercedes-AMG, the 2023 drivers line up on the grid

Picture by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Typically if races are back-to-back drivers would possibly nonetheless return residence, however that can solely be when the 2 grands prix are in or close by to Europe. So, that European leg of the F1 calendar from Might to September would possibly enable drivers to return residence in between races, even whether it is for simply 24-48 hours.

In the meantime, F1 drivers will certainly go residence if there’s a week or two till the following race, like what occurred between the 2024 Saudi Arabian and Australian GPs.

Drivers may also be required to go to their group’s manufacturing unit in between races, in order that has a giant say as to whether or not they return residence or keep within the location of the grands prix. It is very important contemplate that drivers do lots of work away from the circuit, so even when they aren’t racing, they may nonetheless be required to enter the manufacturing unit or attend a advertising occasion which additional reveals how F1 is simply consistently on the highway.