So what’s it like making those tight turnarounds, especially if you’ve had a bad race and need to clear your head for the next one? “It’s crazy,” Ocon admitted. “You need to be on top of your game every single time. I’m going to be coming back to my training centre as much as I can between races to first recover and then re-work, to be stronger and to keep my health going on. Something happened last year, I got to race 21 or 22 and I got sick before the last race. I don’t want to be in that position again.”
Notice how Ocon refers to the races by numbers. They’re all blending into one another – because there are too many. The status and meaning of grands prix have been reduced in the midst of this expansion. If you have a bad one, there’ll soon be another to wipe away the psychological stain.
Of course, both Ocon and his team-mate Pierre Gasly talked up how fresh they feel after the short winter break, how ready they are to go again. They’re not going to say otherwise! Gasly (on his 28th birthday) told me he’s in the best shape of his life – but also admitted the schedule is tough and that it’s the main factor shaping his preparations.
“Once you are part of the F1 circus you basically don’t have any other life on the side,” he said with a slightly rueful smile. “Twenty-four races is going to be intense. Recovery as an athlete will come into play way more than before. Nutrition, physical and mental preparation. It’s just draining. We are flying around the globe for about 10 months, all over the place. That’s what we train and prepare for.”
Perhaps aware that he didn’t want to sound too hard done-by, he added: “At the end of the day, I’ve got a cool job and I wouldn’t change it for anything. It’s not easy in certain ways but I’m still as excited every time I jump in these cars.”
Gasly finished 11th in the drivers’ standings in 2023 ahead of team-mate Esteban Ocon
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A few days later, online for a chat with the media ahead of Aston Martin’s new-car reveal, Fernando Alonso was also talking up his physical state. Then again, he really has to. He’ll be 43 in July and there’s an added pressure for the great man to prove he can still cut it. Sitting facing the camera without baseball cap, Alonso looked incredibly lean, even a little gaunt around the eyes, as he spoke about his preparation.
“I feel good. I feel fitter than ever,” he said. “The numbers that we achieved in all the physical tests we do every season, they were the best ever this year. I was training a little bit differently this year, adding a nutritionist to the team which changed our way of seeing things to prepare the body. Everything I do in life and everything I did in the last few months were just to prepare myself better than ever for a very long season.”
Alonso added that’s he moved to a plant-based diet, “maybe not completely strict but into that route”, in line with trends in the increasingly sophisticated world of sports science. As he says, whatever it takes to stay healthy and race for longer.
He has added motivation by the question about just how much longer he can prolong his career (never mind which team he will be driving for!). His work this winter was “also to prepare myself in case I want to keep driving, being better than ever. If I commit to a project in the future, for next year or the next few years I need to be first ready myself to commit to that. I will not drive a few more years in F1 just to drive and have fun, I’m not that kind of driver, not that kind of person. If I want to keep driving it is because I know starting with myself that I can give 200 per cent to the team on and off track, simulator work, marketing work, delivering the result on track. I’m preparing for that in the eventuality I want to keep racing and if so let’s see what the options are.”
Fernando Alonso is the most seasoned driver in F1 and will seemingly be so for years to come
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Inevitably, Alonso has changed his tune on how long he can go on. “A few years ago I would have said 41, maybe 42, was the limit. Now after I saw myself last year motivated and performing well I was thinking maybe that I could keep racing a few more years. Now this winter I have been exceeding a little bit the expectations in terms of all the physical tests, I would say if you are motivated and if you want to commit you can drive maybe until 48, 49 and even 50. But at the same time you have to give up everything in life. F1 needs total dedication.”
