Being a professional athlete requires putting in a lot of work — mainly physical, with fitness being of paramount importance. In F1, where drivers take to the track at speeds exceeding 200mph, it is especially important to maintain a high level of fitness for which they work year-long.
However, during the busy F1 season—which currently has 24 races—drivers barely get time to hit the gym or performance centers as frequently as they would like to. That’s where the pre-season preparations come into play, something Daniel Ricciardo spoke about in detail with American actor Dax Shepard during the Armchair Expert podcast.
During pre-season, Ricciardo—a former F1 driver who lost his seat in 2024—revealed that they have the ‘least commitments’. The drivers don’t travel as much nor do they engage in as many marketing events as they would mid-season.
F1 drivers can experience 5Gs while decelerating into a turn, equivalent to 20KG of force on the neck. So, their neck strength training is next level (see Max Verstappen). pic.twitter.com/uQMekxeyV5
— Trung Phan (@TrungTPhan) January 17, 2024
“So for us, that’s kind of out like January, February. So through that time I guess I’m training six days a week, two sessions a day,” the ex-Red Bull driver said. Strength is only a part of what they focus on, as F1 drivers also train heavily to build endurance because races at the pinnacle of motorsport can be grueling and long.
“We don’t have to be like powerlifters, but we need to maintain good strength over coal at ninety minutes,” he added. “But yeah, we have to also be very light so we can’t afford to put too much muscle on.”
Pre-season is admittedly a busy time for F1 drivers even though they aren’t competing in races. Preparations for the season ahead go on in full swing which is why they are required to report to the team factories and take part in simulator sessions to relay feedback to the squad on what aspects to improve on.
Pre-season is crucial for teams and drivers to prepare for new campaigns
The immediate aftermath of an exhausting F1 season merits a well-earned break, whether one comes out on top or with disappointment. But during that vacation, introspection kicks in from top to bottom, and soon, work on how to improve begins.
Teams always look to get better, regardless of where they finish in the standings and for that, new set-ups and technical alterations are introduced. The data on the computers provide engineers with insights, but it is the drivers who need to feel the machinery to determine whether it is good or not.
On a personal level too, drivers look at how they could improve their performances. For instance, Lando Norris had the fastest car (McLaren) underneath him for most of the 2024 season but still failed to win the Championship because of mistakes he had made. Ahead of the start of the 2025 campaign, he is expected to come back with a bang.
For that, many, including 2009 Champion Jenson Button, have advised him to take a look at his footage from 2024 to decipher where he went wrong. Surely, Norris will be hard at work to determine the same in addition to being in the gym, training for another year of traveling around the world driving cars.
