F1 digest: sleep doctors can give Mercedes and Hamilton the edge

Champions Mercedes are leaving no stone unturned in their preparations for the new Formula 1 season.

According to The Daily Telegraph, the reigning constructors’ champions have turned to sleep experts to ensure that all team members – the drivers, pit crew and management – are as fresh as possible during the gruelling campaign.

With the season starting this weekend in Australia, then moving on to Bahrain and China, the sleep doctors are giving Mercedes the “most significant edge of all” in F1, the Telegraph says. Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, the current world champion, has a personal sleep plan to counter jet lag.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Hamilton hits out at F1’s lack of diversity

World champion Lewis Hamilton has accused Formula 1 of lacking racial diversity ahead of the opening race of the new season in Melbourne.

Alongside an Instagram video the Mercedes driver wrote: “There’s barely any diversity in F1. Still nothing’s changed in 11 years I’ve been here. Kids, people, there’s so many jobs in this sport of which anybody, no matter your ethnicity or background, can make it and fit in.”

Alonso has high hopes for McLaren – after Australia

McLaren driver Fernando Alonso admits that the opening Grand Prix of the season in Australia will be tough for the team, but he expects great progress from them afterwards.

The Spaniard told Autosport that Melbourne will be McLaren’s “lowest level” but during the season the team will “improve a lot”.

In an interview with Sky Sports, Alonso added: “The expectations are always high because we are McLaren and we have to deliver better results than we saw in the last few years. This is the season to do that. I understand we are not at the level of Mercedes now, or Red Bull and Ferrari, after winter testing.

“We are not in that leading group yet but we should be there in a couple of races time or the second part of the championship because we are McLaren.”