Jet lag, the great enemy of Formula 1 drivers: how do they fight it?
09/28/2024 08:42 AM
Do F1 drivers ever suffer from jet lag? In an increasingly crowded calendar, with 2024 reaching a record of 24 races in a season, the invisible enemy for motorsport athletes is the constant change of time zones.
Over the course of ten months, Formula 1 drivers and their teams are constantly traveling from one continent to another. For 2024, efforts have been made to slightly reduce the number of trips, trying to group as many races in the Old Continent as possible during the same period. For example, Azerbaijan, which is usually scheduled in spring, has been moved to autumn, after the Italian Grand Prix in Monza.
The weekend at the Albert Park circuit in Australia is the toughest, with a time difference of 12 hours. This means that when it's daytime in the southern hemisphere, it's the middle of the night in Europe (here we explained better why this year the timing has changed).
A Grand Prix week starts on Thursday and ends on Sunday, and when there are two consecutive races, the teams don't spend much time in one place. The drivers, therefore, have little time to recover from jet lag, which is far from ideal for both body and mind.
How do F1 drivers combat jet lag?
On social media, Carlos Sainz explained his personal routine for fighting jet lag. During the flight to Melbourne, the Spaniard stayed awake for 7 hours until the stopover in Dubai (when it was late morning in Australia). To stay alert, he watched movies the entire time.
Once in Dubai, Carlos Sainz tried to expose himself to as much sunlight as possible (as this produces melatonin, a hormone that helps with sleep) to avoid sleeping on the second flight. This way, upon landing in Melbourne in the evening, the driver managed to adapt his biological clock to Australian time.
In addition to sunlight, drivers also use caffeine to stay awake as it blocks adenosine receptors, a substance that promotes sleep.
The controversial 2023 Las Vegas GP and its “damage”
The nighttime scheduling of the 2023 Las Vegas GP sparked some controversy among the drivers. Max Verstappen sharply criticized it: "There's already a 12-hour difference, but also a completely different time zone. We are practically living on Japanese time (in Las Vegas), but with almost a full day difference."
Sergio Pérez joked about taking sleeping pills like Lewis Hamilton, which seemed to work.
In October, Formula 1 will return with three consecutive races in the New World: the United States, Mexico, and Brazil. The final three will start in late November, beginning with Las Vegas and ending in December with Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
Source: f1ingenerale
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