16.09.2011

The difference between an F1 test driver and a reserve driver is that a test driver tests the cars, practices on them (mainly in a simulator) and develops and overhauls them, while in addition to this job, the reserve driver is the driver nominated by the team to be a substitute for any of their regular drivers. It seems like the same thing, but it’s not. The reserve driver, if his team takes his role seriously, has to travel to every GP with the team, has to prepare for every GP as if he was going to race. What actually happens is that with so much travelling, the reserve driver in a serious team cannot combine his job with driving in another category, which would be the ideal. But it doesn’t work, it’s a fact and it’s as true as it’s sad that the same desire to race “in whatever comes along” can destroy any reserve driver’s dream of racing in F1. You can’t have one foot here and the other one there because cars are driven with two feet. Probably that reserve driver will end up racing both categories at 80%, he will end up tired of traveling, in the process of separation, disheartened and his team will end up not renewing his contract. Now, read these lines in the first person because this is exactly what I’ve always tried to avoid. This is why when people ask me if I would like to go to other categories I bite my tongue. Of course I would like to compete in other categories but is it smart to do it? What do I want to become? I always reply in the same way, I’m not willing to risk my future in F1 to compete in another championship because I’ll have time in the future, there’s no hurry and no age limit to racing in any other category, but there is an expiry date for F1. Right now, my only interest is F1, nothing else. It might be because it’s been my dream since childhood, maybe because nothing can compare to driving an F1 car, maybe because I had the chance of being in a team like McLaren and it may also be because there’s no other single-seater championship that can compare to it. For all these reasons I’m here, quite proud and calm since I have no intention of changing my strategy for the next coming years. I can’t complain, I’ve been doing all right till now but it hasn’t been only luck, without strategy I wouldn’t be here, there’s always someone better and luckier, let’s never forget it.

As you can see, without being able to compete much, what motivates a reserve driver is thinking and believing that you can replace one of your team’s first-choice drivers at any time. Your opportunity can come at any time, but like my father said, you have to believe in it, you have to dream about it because the opportunity always comes. Probably that opportunity will come unannounced, or at the last minute between practice sessions. It can catch you sleeping at 4 am or in the form of a voice message getting off the plane. It’s like that, or at least it has always been like that for me. In my fifth complete season as a reserve driver for McLaren I have replaced one of my team’s drivers on nine occasions and once I replaced another team’s driver. That’s a total of ten GPs at an average of two a year since I have been in this position. There are people who say I’ve been lucky, because there are reserve drivers who haven’t raced a single GP in five years. Others say I’m like a scavenging vulture, always looking for another prey. There are even people who say that it’s a pity to waste so much quality without being able to compete once every two weekends. The worst thing of all is that they are partly right, and I would like to add that on top of all that, I’m still so gullible that I keep on waiting.

It is also true that a good reserve driver is never completely happy, and can’t be completely proud of his work because you want someone else’s job and you know your opportunity always comes because of your fellow team member’s bad luck. Not everything in life is beautiful in a reserve driver’s life but the secret is always to be ready for action. And I believe no one is better than me at that.