14 Grands Prix down, 10 to go. As the 2024 Formula One season takes a brief pause for the summer break, Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team Doctor, Rahul Chotai, reveals what it takes to keep our mechanics and the rest of our travelling race team in top condition throughout F1's longest-ever season.
"My work will never have a direct impact on the car, but it will help the team perform to the best of their ability."
More than 100 Aston Martin Aramco team members travel to each Grand Prix, and Team Doctor Rahul Chotai is the person charged with keeping them in peak physical and mental condition.
From illness and injury prevention to training our race team to ensure they're at their sharpest 'Doc', as he is affectionately known, oversees it all.
An A&E doctor by trade, with a Masters degree in Sports Medicine, Rahul began work with team during the global pandemic in 2020, getting the call-up as Formula One returned to action in Austria that year.
Having travelled to every race since, he lifts the lid on some of the ways we keep our travelling race team fit and healthy throughout the season.
The Doc will see you now…
1 | Pre-Session Warm-up
"We use various mobility and stretching exercises to prepare the mechanics and increase their flexibility ahead of a session and also to prevent injuries. We also incorporate reaction drills using tennis balls to sharpen reaction times and hand-eye coordination – two key factors when it comes to a pitstop.
"It's vital to ensure there are no injuries during pitstop practice and live pitstops during the race, otherwise the execution of the stop is impacted and, potentially, the on-track result is too. You are only as strong as your weakest link.
"We've had instances when someone's not sufficiently warmed up, they spring to action, move around the car, and suddenly they tweak their back and they're out for the weekend due to that injury. You then have to find a replacement which impacts on the synchronicity and performance of the unit, which in turn impacts on the stop as a whole and can cost precious tenths when it matters most."
2 | Specificity
"To get the best performance from each member of the team, training must be relevant to the individual and their role. Their training is therefore tailored to the individual and their position-specific needs.
"Mechanics are encouraged to undertake sport-specific exercises based on their role in the pit crew. For example, a wheel gunner needs to do a lot of forearm work and upper body work to counter the recoil of the gun.
"Whereas if you are responsible for moving the wheels on or off the car, that requires a lot of lower back and glute work. When you're moving 22kg tyres, you need to make sure that your body is sufficiently primed for the task at hand."
3 | Don't stop
"The bulk of the training and preparation is during the pre-season, with training also taking place throughout the year – a key focus is strength training in the gym. The pre-season starts in January, comprising interval training and strength training, and getting the pit crew back in the motions of a pitstop after the winter break.
"We have a training facility at the AMR Technology Campus and a rig that simulates a corner of the car coming in for a change. Essentially, it's a rinse-and-repeat exercise to get the pit crew into the rhythm of a pitstop. It's all about developing that muscle memory."
4 | Managing the mind
"F1 can be hugely demanding physically, but also mentally. Everyone in the team is giving 100 per cent but over the course of 24 Grands Prix in a season, mistakes are going to happen – there's no escaping that. What matters is how you react.
"When you watch a race, the mechanics at a pitstop are covered head to toe in layers of protective clothing. It's easy to forget that there are human beings beneath those layers, having an 800kg Formula One car coming towards them at 60mph. There is a substantial degree of psychological pressure that comes with needing to perform a pitstop in just a couple of seconds with the world watching.
"You have to be resilient. If you're in the middle of a race and you make a mistake in a pitstop, you need to be able to reset yourself mentally and go again. It's easier said than done, but you have to put that mistake out of your mind and treat the next pitstop as a completely fresh opportunity. Otherwise, in dwelling on a mistake in the heat of the moment, you're more likely to set yourself up to make another.
"It's only after a session that we really dive into what went wrong to understand how it can be prevented from happening again.
"We encourage team members to take ownership of their roles and responsibilities, but we are also very supportive of each other. If a mistake is made, we go back to the basics, asking what went wrong and what we can do to rectify it for next time.
"Mistakes will happen. Things won't go to plan. You will naturally become frustrated or disappointed, but it's important to see each error as a learning opportunity and work on how to do it better next time."
5 | Keeping your cool
"When we're racing in particularly hot and humid climates, such as in the Middle East or Singapore, it's particularly challenging for those in the garage in their race overalls, so we employ a number of cooling strategies to lower the mechanics' core body temperature so that they can focus during the race and to prevent mental fatigue. The methods we use are incredibly effective but something we like to keep close to our chest."
6 | Prevention is better than cure
"Racing in different locations, climates and time zones throughout the season brings its own unique challenges. Before the team has even stepped on a plane for the first time in a season, I will have identified races where there is a statistically significant chance of contracting an illness unique to that country or environment. We will then put in place measures to try to prevent team members from becoming unwell.
"For example, stomach infections can be rife in some locations because of the water quality. We will provide everyone with antibiotics to take as soon as they land, so if anyone in the team were to accidentally ingest contaminated water, they are protected. Since the introduction of these measures, we have had next to no cases.
"Long-haul flights cause substantial stress to the body, which has an impact on immunity and cognition. We have therefore introduced nutritional supplementation for flyaway races to help boost innate immunity and to promote recovery."
7 | Combatting jet lag
"The long flights also pose challenges in terms of jet lag. You need to start preparing several days before you travel: adjusting your sleep schedule, your meal times, and your training times. This isn't an absolute solution given the short turnaround time between races, but it certainly helps with the fatigue and time zone transitioning for the team.
"I prepare a chart outlining what team members need to do for the days leading up to the flight and what they should do during the flight and when they land, depending on if we travel east or west. Paying attention to these small details helps your baseline level of performance which in turn translates into performance on the track."
Trust me, I'm a Doctor
"This one is not so much a step, but more one of the most rewarding aspects of what I do. I have attended every race with the team since 2020, and during this time I have been fortunate enough to build individual relationships with every team member. You get to know them, both professionally and personally. You become a go-to person for them and that creates a bond. It creates trust.
"That trust is earned, and it forms the foundations of the work I do with each member of the team. Whether it's advising someone on the exercises they can do in the gym to help them move a tyre that bit quicker or helping them through personal challenges they may be facing at work or even at home, I take great pride in the trust I have been gifted. Knowing this only pushes me to do more for the team and to help them perform at their very best."
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