MH.CO.ZA/ August 2019 121It’s impossible to know
exactly what effect the suffocating,
carbon-to-diamond-crushing pressure
of Formula One will have on you until
you experience it for yourself.
You might have seen Aussie F1
ace Daniel Ricciardo stomping around
pre-race, headphones glued to his
ears pumping a thrashy metalcore
song from favourite band Killswitch
Engage, his trademark ear-to-ear grin
suddenly wiped from his face as he
gets into the zone.
Or you might have seen Dutch f lyer
Max Verstappen in race-prep mode,
head down and deep in conversation
with his lead engineer, taking a final
microscope to his car’s strengths and
weaknesses and nailing down any last-
minute strategy changes.
But you probably won’t have seen
rising star Pierre Gasly do much of
anything before a race. In fact, it’d be
more than a little bit creepy if you had
seen him.
Not because the French wheelman
doesn’t have his own pre-race ritual. It’s
more that it’s not what you might expect
from someone about to strap himself to
a 750kW-plus missile masquerading as
a race car.
“How do I relax? It will sound a bit
weird, but an hour before the race I go
for a nap. I’ll probably sleep for around
20 minutes,” says Gasly. “I’m quite a
calm guy, so I don’t know if everyone
else manages to fall asleep an hour
before the race. But I find it’s the best
way just to switch off.
“Usually I drink an espresso just
before my nap, and I wake up 20
minutes later and I’m full of energy.
That’s how I get into the zone.”
Quite a calm guy? Earlier this year,
Me n’s He a l t h caught up with Gasly on
the eve of the Melbourne Grand Prix,
the first race of the 2019 season and his
first in a Red Bull Racing car. And whileBALLS TO THE WALL:
GASLY PLANS ON
TAKING THE FAST LANE
TO F1 STARDOM.
SPEED