Sam Bird, a former Formula E driver who previously served as a reserve driver for the Mercedes F1 team, said in an interview with Lucas Stewart that Formula 1 reserve drivers spend most of their time in simulators performing pre-event setup work and post-event correlation.
Sam Bird described pre-event simulation tasks as tuning setup, power distribution and energy recovery windows, while post-race work focuses on correlating sim data with on-track performance to recommend changes.
He said some teams run a sim driver at events and do not take their reserve to every race, and that teams also run FIA-permitted two-year-old car test days and rookie days.
Sam Bird noted reserve drivers’ racetrack duties often include testing sessions, sponsor and media obligations, garage observation and occasional on-site support.
This report is based on information originally published by Motorsport.
Read the full article at Motorsport.
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