Esteban Ocon’s performance coach Tom Clark on what it takes to handle being an F1 driver

Alpine F1

F1 drivers deal with a lot inside and outside the car. Tom Clark told SB Nation exactly what it takes to excel

There are very few people who know what it takes to be a Formula 1 driver, the training that is necessary to compete at the highest level of motorsport, and the toll that the sport and its intensive schedule can exact on the human body.

Tom Clark is one such person.

Clark is Esteban Ocon’s physio, or as he is quick to point out, his job description goes far beyond that. A better way to describe his job with Ocon and Alpine is that of performance coach, given the wide range of training he has, and the wide range of training he puts Ocon, and members of Alpine, through.

On Friday evening ahead of the United States Grand Prix in Austin, I sat down with Clark along with two other media members for an extensive discussion on what Clark does, how drivers need to prepare for life in Formula 1, what everyday people can learn from F1 drivers, and more.

Tom Clark, performance coach

Clark may be listed as Ocon’s physio, but to hear him tell it as the sun began to set in Austin last Friday, the tag of “performance coach” is much more applicable to what he and the other F1 physios do daily.

“A performance coach,” said Clark when I asked him his preferred job description. “So generally there’s one of me for every driver, and all of us have slightly different skill sets, albeit some similarities. So generally all of us will have some forte in strength and conditioning, and then some of us might have physiotherapy degrees. Usually, we have two areas of specialism, and then we have to be kind of a jack of all trades. I have an awareness of nutrition, whatever it may be.

“So my background is in as a sports scientist, and strength and conditioning nutrition were like my first sort of things that I specialized in.”

Clark has taken on another specialization, one that is critical to the new era of Formula 1. With an exhausting 24-race schedule, one that crisscrosses the planet from Melbourne to Las Vegas and points in between, there is another component to life in F1 that drivers and team members need to focus on.

Sleep.

Thankfully for Ocon and Alpine, Clark is here to help.

”Jet lag and sleep are some of the newer things that I would say that I’m embracing as part of this job. More of my specialism now. And I consult in that outside of this space as well, not just in Formula One, but in boxing and in other sports as well,” said Clark.

That extra specialization leads Clark and other physios to take on the performance coach tag.

“That’s why we call ourselves performance coaches. Because ultimately, physio, it is the name that got put on most people. But a lot of us aren’t actually physios,” added Clark. And a lot of the time, actually, it’s the driver, the athlete that you work with that dictates the type of skill sets that you have or that that might be the reason why you’ve got this job, because of the skill sets that are more geared towards what they need.”

Clark has years of experience working not just in Formula 1, but in various levels of motorsport. But his resume goes far beyond the racing world.

”So I’ve been in motorsport in general for 11 years now,” said Clark. “Five of those full-time in F1, and consulting in F1 for about six of those. So half of the time.

“The rest of the time, it’s been all other forms of motorsport,” added Clark. “I’ve probably worked in most of them when it comes to four wheels. But then also consulting in football [soccer, for our American readers] on a nutrition front, golf on a nutrition front, and boxing as well.

“And now, more recently, the sleep and jet lag in rugby.”

What travel does, and how F1 drivers and teams prepare

The conversation then turned to Clark’s new emphasis on jet lag and sleep study. As mentioned above the Formula 1 schedule is brutal. Earlier in the week Pierre Gasly, Alpine’s other driver, told me in our exclusive discussion how the demands of F1 mean he is away from home all but 50 days each year.

But consider what the drivers face as the 2024 season comes to a close. F1’s teams and drivers are located in Europe, with many factories in England and many drivers living in Monaco. Alpine’s Enstone headquarters is located in England, but they also have a factory in Viry-Châtillon, France.

The season ends with a triple-header that will bring the grid from Europe to Las Vegas, then Qatar, and finally Abu Dhabi to close out the season. That is a demanding three-week period that will exact a toll on team members and drivers alike.

Clark’s job is to help make it as easy as possible.

“So I’ve done education sessions with the team, our team. I’ve worked with a number of different people and teams as well. It’s a really big contender for this particular triple header. The main part is actually coming out to Austin because the remainder of the triple header is Mexico City, [and then] Sao Paulo,” described Clark. “I think Sao Paulo is three time zones different to where we are now in Austin, and Mexico City is only an hour difference, and jet lag is only typically seen over three or more time zones.

“So it’s not a big contender for the rest of the triple.

“But for this first race, it is something that we have to bear in mind. The best thing to do, as most people know, is [to] get to the new destination early. But we can do plenty of stuff back in Europe as well before we transition over the second triple head of the final three races of the year,” continued Clark.

However, the final triple-header of the season is going to be much more difficult.

“That will be a really big one because we go from Europe to Vegas and then we go from Vegas to Qatar. So it’s really big swings with the body clock and jet lag,” Clark outlined. “It’s pretty unpleasant, even when you know everything that you must do to keep on top of it. It’s still pretty rough to switch 10 to 12 time zones, which is what we do twice when we go out to Vegas and then when we go to Qatar.”

So what can drivers and team members do to ease that transition? It starts at home before they even leave for the trip.

And light is a critical component of the preparation.

“The two main things are clearly sleep, like adjusting sleep to mimic that of the localized time zone. But the critical part of that is actually when you see and don’t see light as well,” began Clark.

“So your light exposure, so light from the sun, ambient lighting from electronic devices, or just lights in your hotel room, house, whatever it may be. The timing of when you see and when you don’t see light is the key difference, I would say, compared to what most people commonly know, and that will be the big differentiator between how much jet lag you will or will not get.

“So when we’re in Europe, we will make sure that those key periods of time where we need to see bright light are aligned with this time zone to help with that shifting so that before we get on the plane, Esteban is already closer to this time zone.”

Clark then shared that Ocon’s sleep data is actually synchronized to Clark’s phone, so the performance coach can track how much sleep his driver is getting each night, and when he is getting that sleep. That helps Clark with his job of preparing Ocon to make these time zone transitions throughout the season.

“I mean, I won’t show you his sleep data on my phone, because I do have his sleep data linked to my phone. But he slept eight hours night one, nine hours night two, nine hours last night,” Clark described. “So I feel like he’s pretty well now on this time zone, and that comes as part of the prep and the work that we can do beforehand, and that’s going to make a huge difference come practice session, [come] qualifying, because he’s going to be aligned. The body is more used to being active and performing at this time.”

Clark was then asked if any supplements are used to aid in sleep, and the performance coach indicated that that is not a path they tend to go down. Primarily because such supplements or sleep aids do not assist in the “time shift” that is necessary to prepare the body to perform in a vastly different time zone.

”We are staying far away from any sleep medication, which is typically cast as a hypnotic that is generally not going to do any of the shifting component. It might allow you to get to sleep for that given point in time, but you’re not going to get the same restorative benefits of sleep,” outlined Clark. “Sleep is so important for everyone. But in this particular context of this sport, the various phases of sleep will help with things like memory consolidation, will help with sort of the general physical recovery process. And if you’re taking things like a hypnotic, you’re going to miss out on all of that.

“And when you think of Formula One, like the guys right now, they’re in the engineering office. They’ve just had the sprint qualifying session. They’re trying to now learn from the days running. So then, from the driver’s perspective, to understand what they need to do differently tomorrow,” Clark continued.

He then outlined how the expression “sleeping on a problem” actually has data to support that proposition.

“And the old saying, ‘[i]f you’ve got a problem sleep on’ it is actually very true to what the scientific literature will tell you actually happens with sleep,” added Clark. “We learn a lot through that process. So, if we take that type of medication, it’s not going to be helpful with that.”

Clark then discussed melatonin, a supplement that people often turn to when looking for help falling asleep. He called melatonin a “tool in the toolbox,” but not what he goes to first.

“Melatonin is actually a naturally occurring hormone. You can take it as what’s called an exogenous supplement, so, like a tablet, it’s not very well regulated, particularly in the US,” described Clark. “You can get pharmacy-grade melatonin, and that is something we may use on occasions, particularly if there’s a big shift of the body clock that is required. It will help potentially with that falling asleep component as well.

“So that is like a tool in the toolbox we might use.”

However, shifting the body clock based on light exposure is where Clark’s athletes start first.

“I always try and go first and foremost with trying to shift based on that light exposure and trying to get the sleep cycle moving closer to the new time zone.”

The physical toll of driving an F1 car, and what it takes to prepare

One of the things I’ve grown to appreciate about F1 is the physical demands driving one of those cars takes on the human body. During the Miami Grand Prix, for example, with high humidity and temperatures consistently in the upper 80s during race week, drivers exited their cars — even after the shorter F1 Sprint Race — looking completely drained. Even working through their media sessions post-race was taxing, given what their bodies had just been through.

Part of Clark’s job is to prepare Ocon for handling that over a 24-race schedule.

The main differentiator? What the sport asks of a driver’s neck.

“So the the big I guess, differentiator when you look at our sport is the neck, and that’s part of the G-Force exposure,” began Clark when I asked him about the physical training he puts Ocon through.

“[The] average human head weighs about five kilograms. “The helmet weighs about two. So grand total mass is like seven kilograms. So let’s say you’ve got two Gs, so two times the gravitational force on the side of the head, you’re getting 14 kg of load there,” described Clark. “So when you see at some corners, the drivers are experiencing five, maybe even six Gs. “You can start to understand that they might have as much as 30 plus kilos going through their head. So that’s the key thing that really we have to prep for out of the ordinary.”

While neck training is the main differentiator, like many athletes F1 drivers like Ocon need a multi-faceted approach when preparing for an F1 season.

“Having said that much like a multifaceted athlete who has to run, who has to sprint long distances, who has to have a good engine has to be strong, powerful, [F1 drivers] have to have fitness across a full spectrum. So that would come from a good aerobic base, and being strong for your body weight,” continued Clark.

“So a lot of strength training. The boys are generally training most days of the week, outside of the race weekends, and it’s very important for them to have that as well,” added Clark. “To be able to have the resilience across a Formula One season. Because being in a car, you’ll watch them in the car. The way the car bounces, the way the car oscillates. It’s a toll. It takes a toll on the body, and so the stronger the fitter they are, to be able to recover from that, it’s going to set them up better going forward.”

Clark noted that the demanding F1 schedule, with 24 race weekends, means their physical training and fitness needs be at a much higher level than it was in F1’s yesteryear.

“Maybe their physical fitness wouldn’t have to quite be where it needs to be if we only had ten races a year, but because of the nature of how regularly we’re competing, there’s only a few quality rest days before,” said Clark. “Then you’re having to consider, like training to keep fit enough to be able to do a triple header, stay healthy, stay sort of sharp and be able to perform like optimally. So in short, it’s a real spectrum of fitness. In terms of an athlete comparison perspective to something like a boxer where you’ve got to be pound for pound, very strong in a lot of areas.”

Ultimately, however, the only thing that can truly prepare the human body for what toll driving an F1 takes on the body … is driving an F1 car.

“We will use the racing as that finite conditioning component because in the end, racing a car is so unique that the only true thing that preps you really well for the feelings of the vibrations and the speed is racing cars. So we do as much as we can out of a car,” said Clark.

“But recognize that we could do any manner of innovative, weird, and wacky things. But really and truly, it’s not going to give them that level of sort of refined conditioning that they’ll need,” Clark added. “But there is still a lot we can do, and actually, the stuff we do out of the car is to complement what they will get in the car because the other good thing is they race so much that once you’ve done testing at the beginning of the year and the season starts, they’ve got a lot of that part of the conditioning already acquired.

“So if the sport changed, for example, and let’s say we only had ten races and we had a lot of downtime in between, and we weren’t allowed to go racing, that’s when I think we would need to see us introduce, more novel and innovative ways to replicate that,” Clark described. “But because of the nature of the season at the moment, once the season starts, they’ve already done quite a few laps.

“So that part of it has kind of been done, and boxes ticked. The stuff we do out of the track now is actually more geared towards improving those other qualities of fitness, and making sure that they’re robust, like I say, to handle the other components of what the car puts on the body.”

The importance of nutrition for F1 drivers

What happens to the driver’s body during an F1 race matters, and is a part of Clark’s work with Ocon.

But what goes into Ocon’s body, both before and after a race, is also critical.

Throughout a single F1 race, a driver may lose between four and six pounds due to the conditions inside the car and the stress that is put on the body. In more hot and humid conditions, such as those drivers face during the Singapore Grand Prix, the weight loss can be even higher.

Then there are extreme situations, such as last season’s Qatar Grand Prix, where drivers were put through grueling conditions that led to some dealing with heat-related illnesses, and other drivers actually vomiting during the race itself.

As a result, nutrition matters, especially after a race.

“It really depends on the type of race. You come from Singapore, where the drivers might lose two, three, maybe more than that percent of their body weight. There’s a clear need to get fluids in them, but we’re looking at their electrolyte balance,” began Clark. “We’ll do a lot of testing before we can go racing to understand the specific needs of the driver.

“Understanding, for example, what Esteban’s salt secretion rate is, how much of the key electrolytes does he lose?

“Then there is clearly a big energy component to it. So if you’re racing for two hours at heart rates of 60 to 70 percent of your maximum [heart rate], you’re burning a lot of energy,” continued Clark. “So after a race, in short, it’s all of those things we might look to supply the electrolyte drinks, but also something like a high-calorie protein shake where we’re going to replace the carbohydrate and the protein, and it’s really horses for courses. It depends on the race. Those hot and humid ones, it’s more of that fluid component. You might have a really physical race, which is going use up a lot of carbohydrates, and therefore we might go with more of a carb-heavy, protein-heavy, recovery shake, kind of straight out of the car. It just depends on the nature of the event and then also, what are the following hours like? Are they going to have adequate time to sort of take on more good quality nutrition?

“The good thing for us typically is we race, and then we’re done. So we’ve got a good window to be able to get in the quality things that we need to get in,” continued Clark.

However, F1 Sprint weekends — like the United States Grand Prix where we talked — complicate matters.

“The complication is slightly when we have things like sprint weekends like we’ve got now, because we’ll have a sprint race tomorrow morning, qualifying in the afternoon, and then the main race the following day,” described Clark. “So that’s when we have to have then look at the problem through a slightly different lens and actually think ‘ok, it’s not just about recovery. How do we get them to perform well again in a few hours time?’ So that’s where it will change and be quite a fluid thing.”

All of these levels are closely monitored by Clark and the team, making sure each driver is ready to take on the challenges of each session during a race weekend.

“When we move through the weekend, it will be dependent on the physicality of the race, the environment, and also what the situation is of Esteban or the driver. How well did they eat that morning? What was the week leading up to this point? What’s the hydration status like?

“And we can test for all those things.”

Mental health in Formula 1

Photo by Qian Jun/MB Media/Getty Images

Mental health awareness is having a moment, including in the tough, brutal world of Formula 1.

In recent years drivers such as Lando Norris, and team principals such as Toto Wolff, have spoken about their mental health journeys, and Alpine’s drivers have also been open about their mental health. In a partnership with JAAQ, the team works with Ocon, Pierre Gasly, and Abbi Pulling about their own mental health.

This is another part of the performance coach aspect of his job that Clark works with Ocon, and the team, with each week.

“I think if you look at F1 in a post-Netflix world, as we would say, the drivers are under more and more scrutiny, and they live lives like I would say pop stars now in terms of the amount of attention and the level of surveillance that they’re under,” began Clark. “And I think that, coupled with the fact that there was a time where 10 to 15 years ago, Formula One was 16, 17 races.

“We’re now at 24.

“So the calendar has got bigger. There’s less time off. There’s less time to have hobbies,” continued Clark. “There’s less time to spend with your loved ones, and that’s the same for the drivers as it is for everyone in the paddock. So that has a very obvious toll on everyone, and the drivers are most definitely in that group as well, and they obviously have the sort of added disadvantage that I can, if I want to, just take some time for myself.

“But the sport is so intense that you’ll barely see the drivers through the day because they go from marketing appearances to sponsor appearances, meet and greets, marketing, engineering.

“There’s not much time for just them.”

That is why Clark believes a part of his role, as well as a part of everyone’s role in F1, is to be cognizant of this fact and to support drivers and team members in this area.

“And that’s why, as part of my role and indeed everyone’s role almost in this sport, you have to be able to have a conversation with each other and be able to support people, but also know how to sort of give people space when they need it.

“And I spend as much time with Esteban as I do with my partner, so you get to know each other pretty well, but you also need to recognize that everyone needs their space as well.

“There’s nothing to really replicate what they feel in those cars.”

How everyday people might benefit from training like an F1 driver

Before our time together drew to a close, I had one final question, submitted to me by a tremendous reader and fellow writer on Threads.

What is something that Clark does with Ocon and/or Alpine, that he thinks the everyday person would benefit from?

In a word, everything.

“Nearly all of it has a role,” began Clark. “I think particularly for tall guys like myself. The neck training is usually quite useful because most of the time we’re spending life like this.”

Clark then mimicked looking down at a phone in his hand, driving home the point that so much of modern life is spent looking down at a hand-held electronic device.

“Our necks are very rounded, and actually getting some load through neck extension is generally one of the good things,” described Clark. “I don’t think they probably need to go nuts and start doing a lot of the stuff that we do, particularly with like lateral resistance on the neck.

“But in short, I think because what we’re ultimately preaching is to be healthy, to have a spectrum of fitness that isn’t just one particular domain.

And generally speaking, when we look at longevity, when we look at good practice and health and well-being, you need to have good, lower body strength,” continued Clark. “You need to be strong generally to have a good aerobic system, level of fitness. So all of those things very much have applications to your life.”

Clark then came back to sleep, a focus of his work with Ocon and Alpine.

“We prioritise sleep as our number one modality, and most people should also really look at that as well,” added Clark. “It’s the thing that all of us will do, but to take it as a real, not take it as a given, and to prioritise that sleep, give yourself the best opportunity for good amounts of sleep, do things that are indicative of leading to good sleep and having what’s called having good sleep hygiene leading up to sleep, these things are all important regardless of job, age, or anything like that.”

You heard Tom. Practice good sleep hygiene friends. Turn off those screens well before bedtime, and make sleep a priority.

Because sleeping on decisions matters, for everyday people as well as F1 drivers.