Track sessions to simulators: discover how F1 drivers sharpen their skills (2024)

Oracle RedBull Racing driver Max Verstappen became the youngest Formula One driver in history when he made his debut at the 2015 Australian GP aged just 17 years and 166 days. Some say it’s in his blood, as his father was also an F1 driver and his mother competed in karting. But if you ask Verstappen, it's all those hours spent on and off the track has that been essential to his success.

Discussing his desire to always improve, Verstappen said: “I told [RedBull advisor Helmut Marko] I want to install a simulator in my motorhome so I can keep driving at night. It’s my hobby and it also keeps me sharp.”

While simulators like RedBull’s initially began as basic computer games in the late 1990s, every team now has one, and they mimic the exact vehicle model and road conditions the driver could encounter on race day.

In this article, we'll detail the many ways that drivers stay sharp for race day, from endurance and strength training to countless hours on the track and utilising technology to simulate a variety of race conditions.

With F1 banning private testing in 2009, teams needed another way to get extra preparation on tracks outside of race weekends – which gives rise to the use of simulators.

Simulators are exactly what they sound like – they simulate the race conditions that drivers will experience at any given circuit. There are two types of simulators drivers use: factory simulators and home simulators.

Factory simulators:

• Owned and run by the teams.

• They have a host of instruments and technology that give drivers the most realistic experience possible of racing on a real track.

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• Allow teams to change the parameters of the world around their drivers, from weather and tyre tread to visibility, exposing them to several different scenarios that they could find themselves in.

• Structured like an F1 car co*ckpit, drivers wear their full race suit and helmet while they’re in the simulator.

Home simulators:

• Used for additional training when away from the factory.

• Most feature a few screens set up side-by-side along with a F1 steering wheel and pedal system.

• These setups aren’t equipped with all the fancy technology that the factory simulators have, so some of the more vital yet technical information is left out.

• Gives drivers an opportunity to learn how to drive a circuit, including discovering a racing line, learning what angle to take on certain turns and figuring out a track’s layout.

The only opportunity racing teams have to test their cars on the track is during pre-season testing days.

These days occur early in the World Championship campaign during February and March, before the season begins. During these tests, teams try different parts and components on their cars to find competitive advantages and see how well they handle different environments and circuits. You can find some teams simulating races, while other teams simulate performance laps, trying to push their car to its maximum limit to understand reasonable bounds for performance.

Drivers can test as much as they want from 9am to 6pm local time, but, of course, teams have a limited amount of fuel and an even more limited number of tyres to test on, so they typically only run for a few hours at a time.

F1 drivers have at least two free practice sessions during every race weekend.

Free Practice sessions give drivers and their teams a chance to go around a track without worrying about positioning or times. With no repercussions, teams often use this time to test out new equipment or see how their tires will perform on the circuit. Drivers use this time to find a rhythm and develop a racing line around the track, building up their comfortability so they can post the best times during qualifying and the race.

These are different from training days as practice sessions occur during the season and are a part of the overall race weekend.

Most race weekends have three free practice sessions that last an hour. But race weekends that feature sprint qualifying will only have two free practice sessions that last an hour.

Practise makes perfect

The F1 season can be very draining on its drivers. In order to ensure that they are always at their best, F1 drivers practice for countless hours in order to post the best times possible.

It's this dedication to training and continuous practice that makes F1 drivers able stay sharp even when driving at 300kph and enduring excessive amounts of g-force.