Why F1 drivers are nervous passengers (and other extremely fast facts)

It was as if a swarm of giant mosquitoes had been let loose when grand prix time came around at Albert Park in the ’90s. Days out from the big race, the first high-pitched buzz would float through windows across Melbourne – exactly where depended on which way the wind carried the sound – rising to a big, buzzy crescendo for the final contest on the Sunday.

In the years since, I’ve still only glimpsed F1 from afar, namely while walking past a TV screen in my household, the cars weaving around Monaco’s famous streets, say, or the track at Suzuka, a string of shiny machines zooming around and around ...

Daniel Ricciardo drives the McLaren team Mercedes during the F1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia on March 27.Credit: Getty Images

Despite considering myself quietly capable behind the wheel (I once owned a Renault Megane in racing yellow that I would drive to the supermarket and back), when it comes to car racing I know zilch. I haven’t even watched Drive To Survive yet (although, I did recently see Superswede, a documentary about ’70s Scandi sportslegender Ronnie Peterson).

I was the perfect candidate, then, to chat with Formula One writer Matt Clayton. Matt, who has been reporting on F1 since 1999, takes a side-by-side look at the machines from 2021 and 2022 in an entertaining explainer ahead of the Australian Grand Prix. With car graphics by Jamie Brown, it’s interesting stuff, even if you already know your winglets from your sidepods. Matt also explains how much wriggle room the teams have to tinker with their cars’ designs – and which drivers are likely to benefit most from the new F1 car.

I spoke with Matt about life in the F1 fast lane.

Dutch driver Max Verstappen (back to camera) talks to the media after the Bahrain F1 Grand Prix.Credit: Getty Images

Matt, is reporting on F1 a glamorous job?

It can be, and sometimes it’s good to slow down from chasing stories to notice! I’ve never been someone to get particularly starstruck by the celebrities who might attend a race, but there’s no doubting the level of prestige that comes with such a big-budget sport, and the sheer number of corporations or countries who want a seat at the table.

Do you get to hang out with the drivers?

It’s much harder to get to really know drivers once they make it as far as F1 these days because they’re being pulled in a million different directions. At the track, it’s press conference here, corporate event there, fan signing time somewhere else.

Getting to know them as they’re coming through the lower ranks pre-F1 is easier. You build that level of rapport before it becomes a transactional relationship governed by time, and that goes a long way.

Generally, the drivers come from relatable backgrounds. OK, some grow up as second-generation racers who were driven by the family’s nanny to school in Monaco (yes, that does happen), and it’s hard to have much common ground there. But some come from more humble backgrounds that, at their core, stay with them. Michael Schumacher’s dad was a bricklayer, Sebastian Vettel’s father a carpenter. Mark Webber’s dad, Alan, ran a motorbike dealership and a petrol station in NSW. Normal people doing normal things, who just happened to have kids who were elite at their chosen sport.

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That’s you (above) with Daniel Ricciardo? Does he really smile all the time?

Yes, he really is a pretty happy person pretty much all the time. He’s a breath of fresh air in a sport that can be a bit stuffy and corporate. This pic is from an event he did in Perth after the 2015 season, when he was still at Red Bull and I had more hair!

I’ve known Daniel for a long while now, and the one thing that never changes with him is his authenticity. Just a genuine guy, a normal Australian in an abnormal workplace is how I like to describe him. He’s a great ambassador for us overseas.

Who are the unsung heroes of an F1 team?

The mechanics are the real troupers. They’re not getting on planes and turning left to the expensive seats for 20-plus races a year away from families and the like, but they just never stop. They build the internals of the garage, piece together the cars, fix them – often doing all-nighters. And then the pit stops – watching up to 18 people working in unspoken choreography under pressure to change four wheels and have the car on its way in under a tick over two seconds … it’s mesmerising to watch. The teams practise and practise the pit stops each morning of a race weekend because a quick (or slow) stop can make or break a race. Their passion and energy – for the lack of recognition they get – it’s very impressive.

Have you ever persuaded someone who’s not into car racing to watch a grand prix? What’s your selling point?

Isn’t that what Netflix and Drive to Survive has done? I don’t tend to push F1 on to people, but as “an F1 guy” I get asked questions a lot, particularly from people who are discovering it via Netflix. I’ve had people say to me that it’s not that impressive because, well, they can drive a car, and they go pretty fast on some freeways every now and then … Imagine driving at 350km/h, racing wheel-to-wheel with 19 other drivers while relaying information back to the team via a car-to-pit radio, changing settings on your steering wheel, dealing with G-forces experienced by fighter pilots while sustaining a heart rate of 170 beats per minute – for two hours. It sounds impressive because it is.

It’s an old chestnut, is it not, whether the car or the driver makes the key difference in F1? But will this year be a good test of that?

Absolutely. A clean sheet of paper for the regulations – and the 2022 regulations are the biggest change to the sport in decades – definitely has the potential to change your perception about who is the best of the best. A great car can make an average driver good, but a great driver can take an average car to places it has no business being. Of the current drivers, Fernando Alonso dragged uncompetitive Ferraris into title contention year after year but fell short. Combine a great driver with a great car, and you end up with Lewis Hamilton for most of the past eight years. Mercedes looks to be off the boil so far this season, so it’ll be very interesting to see how he responds.

The cars are not as loud as they used to be, right? Will that change with these new rules?

Sadly, not. Ever since F1 changed to 1.6-litre V6 turbo hybrids in 2014, the volume of the cars is muted compared to their predecessors. Which is much better for the fans and their hearing, but there was something about the older cars – the high-shrieking V10s of the early 2000s – that was mildly terrifying and pretty intoxicating. There was nothing remotely like it in any other form of motorsport. And they sounded faster, which makes no sense ...

Are there any lessons in F1 driving for the everyday driver?

I vividly remember being at the first Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai in 2004 and the F1 drivers being impressed at the skill level of the locals negotiating chaotic traffic in a city that big. The focus and attention to detail of an F1 driver is something that’s translatable to all of us, no matter what speed we’re doing.

What’s interesting is that a lot of F1 drivers aren’t massively fond of driving on the roads – at least you can trust the other people you’re sharing the road with on a racetrack. And they’re generally pretty nervous passengers. When you’re among the best 20 people in the world at any one time at one specific skill, it’d be hard to relinquish control to someone less competent.

Read the explainer here: What’s behind the new F1 changes?

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