Formula One is a sport where every gram matters and teams will do anything to give themselves even the smallest weight advantage. A thirst for victory is not the only thirst that Lewis Hamilton has by the end of the race, giving up the luxury of a drinks bottle in his Mercedes.
Being stuck in a racing car for an hour and half can be quite physically demanding for drivers. That doesn’t worry Hamilton though, revealing that his team got rid of the drinks bottle in his car in order to save weight in the car. Hamilton revealed his behind the scenes fact during the post-race press conference at the Spanish Grand Prix, saying:
“A lot of the races that we do with the type of racing that we sometimes have to do, where you’re saving fuel, like in the last race for example. I couldn’t push, the car was overheating, whereas today it was.. from turn one to the end it was flat chat and so those races are the most… you’re just using everything you’ve got so for sure, in that first stint, for instance, to keep… to stay on Sebastian was a killer. Also I don’t carry drinks in my car either to save weight so I’m not having a drink through the race. And then at the end, I used everything I had left when I jumped into my team and my heart rate hit the ceiling. I was good when I got out of the car but jumping into… I don’t know if I will do that again. I was a little bit tired after that one.”
The physical toll that Hamilton was facing during the race was clearly evident through the team race transmissions, showing that he was exhausted. With high temperatures in Malaysia, Singapore and a few other tracks, it’s unlikely that Hamilton will go without a bottle at these races, but it’s certainly interesting to see the extent to which a Formula One driver will go to win a Grand Prix.
