Time is a gift think about Formula 1. Teams and drivers work across the clock to shave off each millisecond, efforts that would make the distinction between a podium end, and ending outdoors the factors.
But for this week’s Australian Grand Prix, there may be one other time-related problem going through the groups and the drivers.
A Grand Prix on the opposite aspect of the world.
As the drivers take to the grid this weekend they, and all of the crew members in Melbourne, might want to modify to the brand new time zone. This is a course of that does take a while, and as George Russell mentioned previous to final yr’s Australian Grand Prix, it poses challenges.
“Having Melbourne in between races, especially as a standalone, is too tough for the teams and everybody,” Russell stated final yr. “People came out on Saturdays and Sundays to get [acclimated] to the conditions, to the time zone change, and it’s just too much. I think it needs to be thought about more.”
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr. really walked followers via the method of getting acclimated to the time change this week, as he traveled to Australia. On his Instagram web page, Sainz talked at size concerning the journey to Australia, and the lengths he took to be able to hit the bottom working as rapidly as attainable as soon as he reached Melbourne.
“I have to stay awake during this 1st flight so I’m going to explain how a good jet lag plan works when you travel to Australia,” Sainz wrote on his Instagram tales.
“1st flight 7 [hours] to Dubai: tough one, it’s 8am in Melbourne so it’s important NOT to sleep. Plenty of caffeine is allowed but most importantly, plenty of light exposure,” the Ferrari driver added. “Keep the reading lights on, watch a film and entertain yourself, quick visits to the bar to have a few conversations with your colleagues work also. It’s 22.30 in Europe so it will not be easy.”
Sainz added a later replace throughout a stopover in Dubai.
“2h stopover in Dubai: probably in a zombie state after staying awake all night but it’s important to keep making an effort, never sleep and focus on staying in bright places with plenty of sun or artificial light. Have your last bit of caffeine if [it] helps. It will be 7am in Europe, afternoon in Melbourne.”
Of course, the difficult time change impacts not solely the drivers, however all the groups. And not simply these making the journey. Even these crew members who would possibly keep again on the manufacturing facility or at crew headquarters, the time distinction will pose some logistical challenges.
For instance, the second observe session this week begins at 4:00 p.m. native time. That is 6:00 a.m. in Brackley, United Kingdom, the place Mercedes’ manufacturing facility and crew headquarters is positioned. The similar goes for qualifying, which begins at 4:00 p.m. native time on Saturday.
Tougher nonetheless may be the primary observe session, which begins at 12:30 p.m. native time. That is 2:30 a.m. again in Brackley.
The time distinction is one thing that Mercedes famous of their preview for the Australian Grand Prix. The crew even shared a video that includes a few of their key personnel highlighting how the drivers, and even the crew members staying again within the United Kingdom, modify to the time distinction:
“We have very good guidance from a scientific point of view, especially on sleep, nutrition, on how to best adapt what to do, when to start eating, when to shift and by how much in order to get onto Australian time,” defined Dominique Riefstahl, who runs the crew’s Race Support Operations on the manufacturing facility.
And what concerning the drivers?
Aleix Casanovas, Performance Coach for Russell, added this perception: “Every race is different. We go to different continents and jet lag makes it complex… Australia is a big time zone shift for us. We start preparing beforehand, we change the body work a little bit and then use light and darkness a lot to adapt.”
And if that weren’t robust sufficient, Mercedes identified that the timing of this yr’s Australian Grand Prix creates an extra wrinkle.
Australia turns their clocks again one hour this weekend.
“This is complicated even further with the clocks ‘going backwards’ in Australia on early Sunday morning of the Grand Prix weekend,” famous the crew of their race preview. “The time difference at the start of the weekend is 10 hours and reduced to nine hours for race day once Daylight saving time ends.”
Time at all times issues in F1.
This week, nonetheless, it issues for a very totally different motive.