Formula 1 has built its reputation by pushing every aspect of it to the limit. The essence of competition is the relentless quest to be faster; be better; be bigger.
The push to get there also applies to the calendar. The World Motor Sport Council has ratified a provisional 23-race calendar for 2022, the largest in F1 history.
Holding 23 races in just over eight months will give F1 fans plenty of action, allow drivers plenty of track time and bring significant revenue to the series. However, all of this will come at a higher personal cost than ever before, especially when it comes to well-being and mental health .
Drivers and top management of F1 teams can enjoy the luxuries of private jets, posh hotels and reduced hours. But for mechanics and staff committing to a 23-race season, with each race weekend putting in 12-hour shifts and on- site periods that far outpace the action on the track, such a commitment can be daunting. .
The debate about mental health in F1 is something that has picked up steam in recent years. Lando Norris has been particularly active, admitting to struggles in his rookie season in 2019, while the likes of Daniel Ricciardo, Lewis Hamilton and Alex Albon have also spoken out about the importance of good mental health. For them, talking about it is not a sign of weakness, even if not all of their colleagues agree.
World Mental Health Day is an opportunity not only to talk about it in F1, but also to raise awareness of the practical steps teams are taking to care for their employees ahead of the most quoted season in F1 history. the F1.
Mental health problems are nothing new. What has changed is the stigma that surrounds them and the openness with which they are talked about. And the teams are very aware of the importance of taking care of their employees, because, as well as being the right thing to do, it can also improve performance on the track.
This year’s 23-race calendar has elicited a lot of positive feedback. AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost called it “fantastic” and said “we should all be happy to be in Formula 1 and to have 23 races”, when asked by Motorsport.com about the human toll it could take.
The comment may have been flippant, but it also lacks appreciation and empathy for the challenges facing the F1 staff right now. As exciting as the schedule is for some, those who carry the burden of putting the cars on the track can find it hard to get excited when they spend entire weeks away from their friends and family.
Williams team boss Jost Capito pointed out that when he started in F1 in the 1990s, the schedule was also difficult due to the large number of tests that the teams carried out, which made it “even more difficult than now”. “. It is an opinion that could be refuted, since the tests were carried out mainly in Europe and by specialized test teams.
“It’s not just about saying, ‘Oh, it’s just as difficult now as it was then, so don’t worry about it,'” Capito told Motorsport.com. “I think the world has also changed a lot since then. You have to take care of the employees.”
“Most of them have families and are away from home for a long time. You have to have a really positive attitude for the team, that everyone enjoys doing this. If it becomes a suffering to be away from home for so long, then it has an impact on the result. “.
Sebastian Vettel warned that F1 “must not neglect that we are a group of people and human beings who travel all over the world” and that “it must be very careful where we want to put our interests.”
“We are facing this reality now, I would say, with people tired and worn out,” Haas team boss Gunther Steiner added. “We try to do things differently to help them get on with it, so that we can come to the end of the season with people who are not worn out and who don’t want to leave Formula 1.
McLaren has been one of the teams that has most denounced the challenges of the calendar, which according to the team boss, Andreas Seidl , is a “huge burden for our people”. But instead of just accepting things as they are and settling for it, Seidl felt it was essential to openly discuss as a team the problems it can cause.
“The way we approach it within the team is trying an inclusive approach, to talk openly about the challenges each one faces, which is quite personal as well,” Seidl said. “We just try to help our people, for example with the partnerships we’re having with Mind , to get through these challenges together.”
McLaren’s partnership with the Mind charity is an important example of an F1 team directly and openly addressing mental health. Ahead of World Mental Health Day , all team members wore Mind badges, while the drivers, Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo, designed special t-shirts to raise funds for the charity that quickly sold out (image lower).
McLaren has eight trained mental health paramedics as part of its racing team, ensuring those traveling can receive support when they need it. In addition, they also have a sports psychologist who attends a number of grands prix throughout the year to integrate into the team and help monitor their internal well-being.
For Mercedes, mental health is a topic that is taken very seriously, thanks in part to team principal Toto Wolff ‘s passion for the subject.
It is a subject that the Austrian has been interested in since his adolescence, while attention to people and their well-being has always been part of his management style and approach. In an interview with Motorsport.com on the occasion of World Mental Health Day , Wolff stated that although the stigma surrounding her is “a very difficult thing to break”, she hoped she could “help reduce it”.
Wolff recalled that he once attended the Monaco Grand Prix and that, looking at all the attendees, he thought that they could not suffer from any mental health problem. With so much glitz and glamor in the best environment of F1, what more could you ask for in life?
But it didn’t take long for him to realize that it wasn’t, so it’s important to talk about it. “We are working in this fantastic environment and you see us all smiling on television,” he said. “But I think it’s important that we say all that glitters is not gold.”
Mercedes has an in- house wellness program that focuses on physical health, mental health, and recovery. The program is overseen by a wellness officer, Chris Armstrong , who joined a couple of years ago.
As part of his role, he holds weekly meetings not only with race engineers and senior management, but also with travel staff and a wellness task force made up of people from across the team. All team members are also offered the chance to practice mindfulness , while encouraging discussions around mental health.
The team also emphasizes that employees can do other things besides working in F1. The clearest example is that of Lewis Hamilton, whose forays into fashion and music have coincided with some of the greatest successes of his career in recent years.
Mercedes has a confidential and anonymous support system for those who need a safe space to talk about their mental health if they need to, as well as more than 40 mental health trained clinicians across the company.
The challenge for those who travel to 23 races remains great. Staff rotation has been discussed regularly, and has been implemented by some teams in some locations. But It’s easier to say it than do it. Some members are so essential to the teams that they have to participate in every race.
To try to make things easier, teams have taken steps, such as reserving a more comfortable hotel at the end of a Mexico-Brazil-Qatar treble, even at extra expense, adjusting travel schedules to shorten travel times where possible, or making sure that staff have individual rooms to have more privacy and be able to speak more freely with their families.
But Wolff wants F1 to go further and for staff rotation to be part of the regulations. “Out of 23 races, being able to take five makes a big difference for all the guys that are in the series,” he said, adding that it would also allow more young talent to gain experience and move up the ranks.
Wolff considered that the sensitivity linked to mental health was in fact a “superpower”: “I think it gives you an advantage to understand yourself. If you understand yourself, it is much easier to understand others. Many of the who identify as top performers or high achievers actually perform because they have this extra.
In such a close title fight as Mercedes has with Red Bull, any improvement, no matter how small, could be decisive, making human performance a key area of interest. It is something that mental health is an intrinsic part of.
The debate around mental health is doing a lot to break down the stigma in F1, but it is the action that follows that ensures those who work in the industry can enjoy long and sustainable careers, and that they are not burn by the ever-expanding calendar.
