We're now entering a time
Where there are seven or eight long-haul races.
A lot of mixed geographical travel
It's the time where the Championship is decided.
The environment is very foreign
The food is very foreign
These are long-haul travel races
There's a night race in Singapore
Which is very un-natural
The schedule is very difficult
And we're under artificial light
It's that time in the season where
The end is not quite in sight
The Championship is still very tense
And people are really feeling
Three quarters of the way through a long season
That the work is still ahead of them.
In Singapore it's a special case
Very hot, very humid
The best preparation is specific heat training
Often a week in Asia somewhere
Training in a very hot, humid climate
If that's not available, training in Europe
In a specifically built heat chamber
Drivers have been known to
Move an exercise bike into a sauna and train
So, very specific heat exposure is important
Then, at the race weekend, you try to
Use cooling practices around the race sessions
To bring the drivers' core temperatures down
As much as possible
And give them as much benefit
As far into the race as we can
That means keeping everybody as healthy as possible
As fit as possible
And sleeping as well as possible
As well as getting the best possible nutrition.
Let's have a little look
At our medical facilities here trackside
So this is our trauma bag
Our trauma and emergency bag
Which you hope not to use very often
We're prepared here
With a range of emergency medications
Intravenous drugs
Drugs for heart attacks, asthma attacks
This kind of thing
Some basic airway emergency equipment
We have up to 200 people working here trackside
Sometimes, during packup
There are forklifts and trucks
And cargo containers everywhere
A major trauma is something
That doesn't happen very often
But it's something
We need to be prepared for.
We have a performance centre in Brackley
Which is staffed by a couple of Hintsa coaches.
So, basically what we look at is
Each individual person, depending upon
Where they're working on the car
We try to look at how they're moving
Because they're on their feet a lot
During the race weekends
So, what we try to look at is
The amount of stress
They're accumulating in their job
And also how much stress
We need to do in their training sessions
Because a training session
Is accumulated stress
We need to give them the right dosage
So, based on how well they move
What injury history they've got
We basically create this programme for them.
Sarah is a very talented physiotherapist
And at the pit stops specifically
Every corner of the car is different
Everyone is orientated slightly differently
Everybody has different length arms and legs
Different back strength
And so Sarah is monitoring
Each individual member of the pit crew
In the specific role that they're doing
Whether they're putting a wheel on
Whether they're working a wheel gun
Just looking at the fine detail of their movements
To see if that can be optimised
Or if a particular person
Might be better in a different position
For example.
Most of our team live in the UK
They aren't home very much through the year
And so we tend to become the family Doctor
We're dealing with all of the usual problems
That people have when they're sick at home
So yeah... it never stops!