Anybody who has flown from the UK to Australia’s easternmost cities, across seasons, hemispheres and 11 time zones, will understand the sledgehammer jet leg that ensues. Wide awake at 3am, borderline narcoleptic at 3pm, even the hardened traveller discovers that normal circadian rhythms are scrambled into a state of extreme discordance.
It is a reality to which Formula One has traditionally paid little heed. While touring Ashes teams have three months to acclimatise, and tennis players at the Australian Open three weeks, many of F1’s perpetual itinerants have just three days from landing at Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport to preparing for the first race of the season. In a sport where grid positions...