At the 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, after claiming his second top-three finish of the season, George Russell, looking visibly weary, walked onto the podium above the track and proceeded to splutter and cough his way through the prize-giving ceremony.

“I’ve been really ill the last two weeks,” he confessed in the post-race press conference. “Firstly, in [Las] Vegas with a big fever. I couldn't sleep and just felt awful. And then I've had a horrendous cough that’s stayed with me all week. In the car I was coughing every single lap but when you're strapped into the car, you can't breathe. You can't take a deep breath in to get the cough out, so it was just constantly with me. It was pretty, pretty miserable.”

Drivers falling prey to the ravages of illness is not a new phenomenon and on plenty of occasions racers have battled sickness to bring a car home in the points. Staying healthy for the duration of an F1 season can be difficult. However, as F1 performance coach Mark Arnall explains, there are ways to keep the bugs at bay.

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“Nutrition plays a foundational role in staying healthy,” he says, “because from food your body has to get everything it needs to function from an immune system support point of view. What you feed your body helps a lot. At certain times of the year supplemental Vitamin D is really important – we actually use it year round – because it's part of an optimally functioning immune system. In northern Europe at least, we just don’t get enough sun.”

Arnall, who spent two decades jetting from circuit to circuit as Kimi Raikkonen’s performance coach, adds that immune system support is particularly important when travelling.

“Going through airports, you're exposed to a lot more bugs and bacteria than normal, so supporting the immune system when you’re on the road is really important,” he says. “I sat down with my biochemist and said, 'Okay, I need you to create the best immune system support supplement possible, but I also want to include a hydration element, because dehydration is such a big part of the flights.'

“Kimi would take that every day. We would also take ginger shots and turmeric, all of the things that naturally support the immune system. Before going to the airport, Kimi would take these drinks as a preventative measure, and then we would use those supplements again halfway through the flight, just to maintain hydration and immune system support.”

Prevention didn’t stop at the arrivals hall either, with Mark adding that hotels would be pressed into service to boost his driver’s resistance.

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“I always made sure that we had the ginger shots available in the hotels – that was the low hanging fruit of overall health and immune system support, and if they didn’t know how to make them, I would send the recipe. That's kind of how we tried to set things up to make sure the driver didn't get sick.”

Mark also says that his driver’s diet at races was also important in warding off sickness.

“Breakfast would normally feature oats, which are a good source of complex carbs, but they also contain beta glucan, which has been shown to boost immunity. It’s also found in mushrooms. Again, you're trying to get as much positive nutrition into the body that naturally supports the immune system.”

Criss-crossing time zones is another debilitating element of the season, particularly in the latter stages of the season when long haul races come thick and fast. At a time when immunity may already be running low, illness often occurs.

“What’s the best way to cope? Well, three days before you should start shifting to the time zone of the destination. If you've got a six-hour time difference, if you can get rid of three or four hours of that beforehand by shifting your body clock in the direction you're going, it’s going to be a lot easier,” Mark explains.

“If you're going east, you basically want to incrementally, by an hour each day, go to bed and get up earlier and also get light at the right time (bright light in the mornings while avoiding wearing sunglasses). You plan when you're going to sleep on the flight, to be in sync with the destination time.

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“Food is also super important to plan because you don't want to be eating an evening meal when you should be eating breakfast. It completely throws the body out of sync. You need to look at all of those different elements, including the hydration side, and the immune system support.

“Admittedly, for drivers it's a little bit easier, because you've got your first-class cabin. You can shut the door when you need to be asleep, and it is more comfortable. As a trainer, you’ll give them a guide of when they should be sleeping, when they should be awake and getting light, and when they should be eating to match the destination time.

“Australia is a difficult one because of how extreme the time shift is,” he adds. “With Mika [Hakkinen] we used to go rowing on the Yarra river to help stay awake in the early evening, because if you’re on the water, or in it, you can’t fall asleep! You find all of these different things to try and keep the body awake.”

Mark’s final tip for staying healthy enough to power an F1 car around at speeds of up to 370km/h and experiencing up to 5g in some corners, is to recover properly.

“If you want to stay healthy, you have to give your body time to get over the beating it might have taken in a race,” he concludes. “The whole recovery side of things is super important. It really is just to stop the body from getting sick. And if you can find the right balance in all of those things then you’ll have a healthy season.”