Although they are competing on one of the world’s biggest sporting stages, Formula 1 teams and drivers have to deal with an increasingly long calendar.
The 2024 season was the longest in the championship’s 75-year history with 24 races, and it looks like there is no sign of that getting any smaller in years to come.
F1 has already outlined its plans to group together races more regionally in a bid to save on travel time and cut emissions, although it is still set to be a tough years for drivers and teams.
Last year there was two occasions when a driver had to be replaced due to illness, with Carlos Sainz stepping back in Saudi Arabia while Kevin Magnussen was unwell in Brazil and gave up his seat to Oliver Bearman for a second time in the season, which he later regretted.
Drivers becoming ill is an usual sight because of how healthy and fit they are, but Max Verstappen thinks there is an increased risk to illness now because of the amount of long-haul flights they take.
David Coulthard has said he is not a fan of how easily some drivers now pull out of race weekends or days due to illness, when speaking about it on Lucas Stewart’s YouTube channel.
David Coulthard not a fan of how easily F1 drivers pull out of weekends with illness
Fernando Alonso was among the drivers to take some time out after falling ill over the Mexico GP weekend, however, he only missed the media day on Thursday and later the post-season Abu Dhabi test.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli missed the final F2 weekend in Abu Dhabi and his planned Super Formula test due to illness, while Lewis Hamilton and George Russell both fell ill with ‘borderline heatstroke’ in Singapore.
Coulthard believes drivers need to ‘get on with it’ having done the same himself during his years as a driver in the late 90s and early 00s.
“I’m of a generation where, even if you were sick, you get in the car. That’s why when I’m doing commentary today, if a driver takes a weekend off because he’s got the flu I struggle with it personally,” said Coulthard.
“If you’re a soldier on the front line, you can’t say ‘Can we delay the battle, I want to have a lie in’ You just have to get on with it.”
FIA makes changes after drivers suffered nightmare Qatar GP
F1 drivers faced extreme conditions during the 2023 Qatar GP which led to some passing out and vomiting while behind the wheel.
The mix of high humidity, ambient temperatures, and high-speed nature of the Lusail International Circuit coupled with the mandated stint length due to tyre safety concerns ended up leading to an unsafe scenario that prompted action from the FIA.
From 2025 drivers and teams will have access to cooling kits that can be used during extreme heat conditions.
The system will be akin to an AC unit being available to teams, with the minimum weight of the cars allowed to be increased where applicable.
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