Formula 1

McLaren drivers' preparations for Malaysia

During the course of the Formula One season the West McLaren Mercedes drivers are subjected to forces of up to -5G on track, an extensive travel programme and major climate changes, all placing a range of physical stresses on Kimi Raikkonen and Juan ...

Edited: Mar 17, 2005, 10:32 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

During the course of the Formula One season the West McLaren Mercedes drivers are subjected to forces of up to -5G on track, an extensive travel programme and major climate changes, all placing a range of physical stresses on Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya.

The Malaysian Grand Prix is one of the most physically demanding events of the season with extremely humid condition. As a result acclimatisation and increased fluid intake are key aspects of Kimi and Juan Pablo's preparations.

The affects of heat and humidity on the human body:
*Dehydration levels of just 2% have a negative effect on concentration levels, muscle contractile strength and endurance.
*Losses of 5% or more can lead to up to a 30% drop off in physical performance.

*Fluids are an integral part of any nutritional programme, because water comprises 92 percent of the blood in the body and 75 percent of the brain, as well as 75 percent of the muscle tissue.
*Just a three percent loss of body fluid reduces muscle strength by 10 percent.

Pre-race preparations:
*Kimi and Juan Pablo travelled to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore respectively following the Australian Grand Prix, as it takes the body around 10 days to get used to heat. The majority of adaptation occurs within the first three to four days.

*The training is progressive and not flat-out from when the driver arrives in the local climate for the race. There is a small adaptation in time difference from Australia and the drivers start training outside in the local conditions progressively, building up day by day until the race weekend starts.

*The West McLaren Mercedes drivers train in the heat to get the body used to performing in the type of environment they will experience at the Sepang Circuit, and the more training that takes place in the local conditions, the better the drivers will adapt.

*This will also ensure their bodies get used to taking in a greater amount of fluids to replace what is lost through sweating, as they will learn to conserve electrolytes in the form of potassium, salt and chloride more efficiently

*Nutrition plays a vital role not only in refuelling the driver, but also in overcoming jet lag, acclimatising and helping the recovery process whether post-race, testing or training. As a consequence both Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya follow a specific nutritional programme created by their respective trainers, containing the appropriate amounts of proteins, carbohydrates, fats and vitamins and minerals.

Conditions during the race:
*The drivers are working in a cockpit environment that can be over 50 degrees centigrade.
*In an average race, a driver loses up to a litre of his body fluid. In Malaysia the heat and humidity can cause them to lose up to four litres.

*During the build-up to the race the focus is on getting the body used to taking in more fluids, whilst during the race weekend itself it is to ensure the drivers are re-hydrated as effectively as possible after free practice, qualifying and the race.

-mclaren-

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Renault's Dudot to retire

Next article IPS: IRL: Indy announces new SAFER barrier

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Kaden Honeycutt wins incident-free Phoenix NASCAR Truck race, extends points lead

NASCAR Truck

NSTR NASCAR Truck

Phoenix

2 h

Kaden Honeycutt wins incident-free Phoenix NASCAR Truck race, extends points lead

GTA VI 'Vice City' blimp to appear at NASCAR championship weekend

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Phoenix II

7 h

GTA VI 'Vice City' blimp to appear at NASCAR championship weekend

Verstappen Racing struggles to 15th as Porsche takes emotional Portimao pole

GT World Challenge Europe Endurance

WCEE GT World Challenge Europe Endurance 7 h

Verstappen Racing struggles to 15th as Porsche takes emotional Portimao pole

Franco Colapinto urges fans to stop the abuse: “You’re not helping me or my future”

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Singapore GP

12 h

Franco Colapinto urges fans to stop the abuse: “You’re not helping me or my future”

Feature

Discover prime content

Lights, Camara, action: How Haas picked F1's latest rookie for 2027

Formula 1

Singapore GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

Lights, Camara, action: How Haas picked F1's latest rookie for 2027

Employing team orders can simply be a matter of common sense

Formula 1

By Kevin Turner

Employing team orders can simply be a matter of common sense

Why Christian Horner sees history repeating itself for Adrian Newey at Aston Martin

Formula 1

Singapore GP

By Ronald Vording

Why Christian Horner sees history repeating itself for Adrian Newey at Aston Martin

Laurent Mekies under the microscope: How different is his leadership at Red Bull from Christian Horner?

Formula 1

Singapore GP

By Ronald Vording

Laurent Mekies under the microscope: How different is his leadership at Red Bull from Christian Horner?

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts