What It’s Like to Travel the World in Formula 1 with Alpine

LAS VEGAS — Pierre Gasly settled into his seat in the Alpine F1 hospitality area late on a Wednesday night, made his introductions and got his first question: “Between arriving in Las Vegas, racing on the weekend and then heading to Qatar, then heading to Abu Dhabi …”

“You made me tired already,” the driver said with a smile.

Welcome to life on the road in Formula 1, the globetrotting 24-race series that ended December 8 in the Middle East. It can be both a privileged life on the road and a grueling one, especially as the season culminated at Yas Marina to finish a tripleheader of races that started at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

SportsTravel spent four days with Alpine at the Las Vegas Grand Prix learning about life on the road, how the team works and lives within the paddock leading to the race and what it takes to transport the many parts that go into racing the fastest cars in the world.

“It’s the most exhausting part of the year,” Gasly admitted, adding, “I don’t think anyone actually understands — or it’s very underestimated — the intensity of an F1 season.”

Behind the Scenes of F1 Travel

Alpine arrived in Las Vegas basking in the glow of a double podium finish at the previous race in Brazil, which jumped the team to sixth in the constructors standings (where it finished this season). It was early in the week, making it a bit quieter not only because the team wanted to build up energy to Saturday night and the race, but because of the travel involved in bringing up to 150 people a long distance.

“I’d probably say to you now, it’s not too bad,” Alpine Team Manager Rob Cherry said of the travel logistics. “But then I guess that’s because we’re quite complacent in the fact that we do it week-in and week-out. It is quite difficult.”

For that, Cherry said, Alpine has its own travel office to determine for each race when they want people to arrive, book flights and make sure equipment arrives on time. Alpine travels to nearly every race by air; sometimes flights are chartered for people going at the same time as other teams such as Aston Martin or Williams, with the teams splitting the cost.

For the Vegas GP, some Alpine team members arrived the weekend before the race to start setting up the team hospitality and garage areas, with more people arriving each successive day and everybody on site by Thursday. Pre-pandemic, many people within the traveling group shared rooms on the road; COVID protocols mandated each person traveling for an F1 race had their own room, a practice Alpine has continued since, including in Vegas where it has a partnership with The Venetian.

Having a room to relax in by themselves surely helps those who have to assemble the team hospitality areas and garages each weekend, let alone the mechanics who have to break down and re-assemble Alpine’s cars at each track. Cherry laid the numbers out in astonishing fashion — for each race, Alpine transports 30 tons of freight, with the cars arriving to the garage in approximately 1,200 pieces.

“There’s this perception that a car turns up, it’s fully built, you can take it out of a box, the driver gets in,” Cherry said. “What goes into this from trackside, factories, multiple sites across the world and how much work really goes in, that’s the bit that people don’t see and in some ways it’s so impressive.”

And that makes tracking every piece of equipment crucial: “If it’s an important part missing on an F1 car, that’s when you’re in trouble,” Cherry said. “You can’t just go and buy it down the shop.”

The shop itself has changed over the years in Formula 1. There was a time when there was no curfew for the garages, meaning mechanics would be there all times of day and night. F1 implemented a curfew years ago where garages are off-limits to teams; it currently is nearly 13 hours long. When Gasly qualified third in Vegas, once the garages closed early Saturday morning, nobody from Alpine was able to get into the garage, let alone touch the car, until a few hours before the race.

“There’s a reason that these rules have come in and I think that’s made it far more sustainable,” said Cherry, who has been in F1 for 18 years, longer than both of his children have been alive.

Different Approaches to Travel

Even with the changes, Las Vegas is one of the hardest races for F1 teams because of the travel. Esteban Ocon, who finished second in Brazil in one of his final races for Alpine before moving to Haas, said when Formula 1 goes to Singapore, the series still lives on European time (as described in detail here). But in Las Vegas, the setup can be different. Ocon shifted the time in which he went to sleep nearly a full week before arriving in Vegas, eventually waiting until 5 a.m. before going to sleep so that he could be better adjusted once in the U.S.

Most of Alpine’s team members left Las Vegas the day after the race, with a few waiting until Monday. But after arriving in Europe on a 12-hour flight, for those who returned back across the Atlantic, there was barely enough time to re-pack before another long flight, 15 or 16 hours’ in all, to the Middle East and the final two races. For some on the Alpine team, Las Vegas was the beginning of a stretch in which there were 22 days without a break.

“Everyone has a different way of approaching it,” Alpine Team Principal Oliver Oakes said. “I’m kind of the opinion whenever you want to sleep, have a sleep. But it’s tough on everyone, a tripleheader.”

That amount of worldwide travel — Gasly estimated he’s on the road 260 nights a year — also leads to a question Alpine employees probably get at every Formula 1 stop: How do you deal with jet lag and sleep patterns?

“Probably the easy answer is we don’t,” Cherry said. “And (Vegas is) a really good event to ask the question at. I’m sure you’re hearing other people saying the same.”

Tips for Fighting Jet Lag

Formula 1 drivers deal with jet lag in different ways and nowadays, there is plenty of advice and science behind how they prepare for each destination whether it’s sleeping tablets, melatonin or changing sleep patterns even before Alpine hits the road.

“I’m used to getting jet lag,” Cherry said. “You just know what it feels like. You know what to expect. You know that you’re going to get it, but there’s not really any cure. I don’t think anyone will say there’s a cure.”

Especially for Gasly, who admits “I absolutely hate flying — no joking. I hate planes.” So when it comes to being on the road as much as he is, there are a few things that he tries to do to adjust.

“I’m happy to spend money in nice hotels, make sure that I get good quality beds and pillows and make sure that I’m happy and comfortable in the environment,” added Gasly, who finished 10th in the drivers’ standings this season. “I know I could spend less, but it’s part of my job, it’s an investment to make myself feel good, to make sure I recover better, to make sure I have access to better food.”

Food is a big deal within Formula 1. Not just within the paddock — Wednesday night saw a Thanksgiving buffet for any team member served, with a fine sushi bar with minimal seating in the paddock on race night. Not only within the hospitality areas for each team, which is geared more toward fueling performance. There’s also getting a bit of the local taste in each destination, however that may be categorized.

“I was laughing leaving the hotel that a few (crew members) were going to In-N-Out Burger on the way to the track,” Oakes said.

(Ocon’s favorite cheat meal is a different burger spot; he prefers going to Five Guys and getting a bacon cheeseburger, and then a second burger with mushrooms, along with medium-sized fries and a milkshake.)

Within Alpine, there were a few spots mentioned more than once. Gasly and Oakes both referred to the food in Japan and its freshness. Multiple crew members said among the 24 stops this season that Austin’s barbecue makes it one of the favorite races on the schedule.

“The F1 calendar, you’re spoiled everywhere you go,” Oakes said, adding with a smile, “nobody raves about England’s food.”

‘The Best Thing Ever’

Above all, teams like to make the most of whatever destination the circuit takes them to next.

“We like doing this — this is what we do for a living,” Cherry said. “But you also want to see the world, don’t you? So just to see the hotel on the track is a pretty boring prospect.”

That can have a bit of risk in it if you’re not responsible “particularly in Vegas — if you want to see Vegas, that could go horribly wrong quite quickly,” Cherry joked. That’s why when Alpine travels as a team, they try to do things specific to the culture; the team went to a traditional Brazilian restaurant this season and sometimes an Alpine team member can arrive at a destination or stay an extra day to soak in the sights and sounds.

“As a kid, I always dreamed of coming to the States, being able to visit some cities,” Ocon said. “Until I arrived to Formula 1, I never really came to the States.”

The first U.S. city that Ocon visited as a driver was when Formula 1 arrived in Austin. And through F1’s expansion into the American market with races now in Miami and Las Vegas, plus the runaway success of Netflix’s “Drive to Survive,” the circuit is firmly part of the U.S. sports establishment.

“I went to a Lakers game last year, I met LeBron. I’ve seen a game from courtside,” Ocon said. “It’s just super special because American fans, they really live sport in a different way. They live for sports and they really support the players or for us, the drivers, in a different way than anywhere else in the world.”

From courtside to trackside, from the United States to the United Arab Emirates, the longest season in Formula 1 history has come to an end. Once the final race is completed, each team heads to various corners of the world, taking an extended break to recharge their batteries with a feeling of exhaustion and exhilaration, fatigue and achievement, sleep deprivation and satisfaction.

The Vegas-Qatar-Abu Dhabi tripleheader “is the toughest one of the whole year, I would say,” said Ocon. “But we can’t complain, right? Traveling all around the world to do what we love as a job is the best thing ever.”