Left Di Resta impressed
in tough circumstances
subbing for Massa in ’17Above Ocon is having
to wait for his turnBelow left Sauber
chose experienced
de la Rosa over
Gutierrez in 2011SUTTON15F1 SUBSTITUTES
1 AUGUST 2019- people who I’d never spoken to before,”
he recalls. “During the race I didn’t have
a problem with fi tness, the only issue was
my boots weren’t standard race-driver
boots. They were too tight and my feet
went numb – I now have sympathy for
my wife when she goes out with stilettos
on and she says she has sore feet!”
Anyone keen to become a reserve driver
for an F1 team now doesn’t have the luxury
that the tester used to have. It’s no longer
a viable option unless the team is keen to
appoint you and spend a year beforehand
running you in Friday practice, as McLaren
did with Lando Norris last year.
Esteban Ocon is the most prominent
driver in F1 who is not in a race seat this
year. After Ocon lost his Racing Point drive
to Stroll, Mercedes stepped in to appoint
him as its reserve driver. Before every race
he is on the simulator, running late into
the night at European races, before fl ying
to the track early on Saturday morning.
He attends every debrief, listening and
learning. But as he doesn’t qualify for the
young driver test, the simulator is his
chief means of staying sharp, although
it is divorced from the real thing.
“There’s no better gym than the race
car,” reckons Davidson. “You can only be
match-fi t through driving. A simulator
gives you all the time you need in a
non-pressurised environment to learn
the vast quantities of changes you can
make on the steering wheel and can help
develop the car, so it does have its place,
but I would still prefer to have an
understanding of the real car.”
While Ocon waits patiently for his big
chance to remind everyone what he can do,
it shows that the life of a reserve driver is
tough. At least with his work for TV he’s
allowed access to the F1 grid. He’s still
luckier than those who aren’t... Q
the second was a much tougher ordeal.
“I’d read the driver manuals, I’d kept
up with briefi ngs throughout the year,
but when the decision was made after
FP3 on Saturday morning, I thought it was
absolutely bonkers to be going straight into
qualifying,” recalls di Resta. “I thought it
was a big ask, but I wasn’t going to say no.
“Getting into the car I was at maximum
capacity, taking it all in. When I left the
garage it all became natural. It was right
to go, left to brake – and steer. I was
guided through the qualifying run
plan and I just wanted to make sure
I didn’t do anything silly.
“My spatial awareness wasn’t there
and I struggled with the downforce
I was losing in the dirty air of these
bigger, beefi er cars. When I look back
now it was all very new and diff erent,
but at the same time familiar.”
Although he fell in Q1, di Resta
was just over seven tenths slower than
team-mate Lance Stroll and outqualifi ed
the Sauber of Marcus Ericsson. He failed
to make the end of the race due to an oil
consumption issue, but gained credit
for stepping into a virtually impossible
situation and not making a mistake.
“The number of messages I received
from people in the paddock and team
principals after qualifying was incrediblein the team’s simulator back at base
running development parts or tweaking
set-ups. Then at races they take on PR
appearances and sponsor meet-and-greets,
even dovetailing with television work.
It’s a far cry from spending thousands
of hours in the car itself to stay sharp.
In addition, the complicated systems
on a modern F1 car make the challenge
of instantly stepping into a race seat
and performing doubly hard.
Reserve drivers who aren’t competing
in any other championship cast a lonely
fi gure during a grand prix weekend.
They are literally a spare part.
In 2016, Paul di Resta was appointed
as a reserve driver at Williams. He was
an ideal candidate: present at races for
Sky Sports F1, had experience from more
than 50 grands prix – albeit none in the
turbo hybrid era – and still race-sharp
from competing in the DTM.
After Martin Brundle was taken ill and
forced to miss the 2017 Hungarian Grand
Prix, di Resta was originally set to fi ll in
for him in the commentary box. But when
Williams lead driver Massa was stuck
down with a virus on Saturday morning,
the Scot had to set down his microphone
and qualify the car, having only spent one
day in the simulator before the start of the
season. The fi rst substitution was easy, but