MENTAL HEALTH IN F1 – THE STILL UNSEEN SIDE OF AN ELITE SPORT?

Mental Health has become a topic in all walks of life, not least because of added struggles throughout the pandemic. Formula 1 is slowly waking up to these important conversations more and more, thanks to the likes of Lando Norris, Romain Grosjean or Nico Rosberg speaking about their struggles. 

This Sunday, 10th October, is World Mental Health Day. 1 in 4 people will experience a mental health problem of some kind each year in England, says Mental Health Charity MindUK. The pressure to perform at your best and show results is high in every profession. But sportspeople, in this case F1 drivers, experience a unique set of pressures in their jobs from being the fastest on track, winning trophies to facing media scrutiny and meeting the high expectations of fans, sponsors, partners.

Research shows that while sportspeople are susceptible to mental health problems to broadly the same extent as the wider community. There are a number of key risk periods – such as times of injury, retirement and competitive failure – when sportspeople may be particularly vulnerable to illnesses such as depression (Rice et al. 2016; Hughes and Leavey 2012).

F1 drivers, when we see them on TV in interviews or on social media channels, often seem calm, collected and relaxed. We see Daniel Ricciardo bounce around with his headphones, we hear Sebastian Vettel crack a joke. So when mental health, and mental health issues, are brought into the conversation, there still seems to be a lot of resistance to hear these issues.

Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen an increase in drivers – and other team members – speak out openly about mental health struggles. A team, and driver, to name at the forefront for this currently is McLaren and their young, talented driver Lando Norris. Just on Monday, the Briton shared on ITV This Morning how he’s coped with his own struggles since joining Formula One. McLaren partnered with MindUK in July 2020, in line with their increased focus on mental health as part of the team’s overall health and wellbeing program. In 2020, the team raised £285,000 through fundraisers and other initiatives for the charity, and continue their partnership throughout 2021.

Having a top team like McLaren, which is so deeply rooted not only within F1 but motorsport in general, is a great step for the sport. Indeed, it is notable that whilst a growing number of high-profile people within sports have spoken about their mental health issues (e.g Damon Hill, Mike Tyson, Ian Thorpe, etc), the majority have done so once their active career had ended. When there is less at stake professionally, and when one is less immersed in a high competitive sporting environment for most of the year – a sporting environment that is uncomfortable with vulnerability. It is important to hear about everyone’s experience, for sure, but the sports needs more people currently involved with the sport, to really drive change.

In 2016, while he was still in Formula 1, Romain Grosjean shared his need for help after the first corner crash at the Belgian Grand Prix in 2012 and the one-race ban handed to him as a result. He said:

“I’ve been seeing a psychologist since September 2012 and Spa-Francorchamps. It has helped me a lot to become a better driver, a better father and a better man. We use engineers to set-up the car and we use coaches to improve our physical performance. Why wouldn’t you use a psychologist to improve your brain and the way it works? That’s why I did it.”

Last year, 7-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton opened up about his mental health struggles in a post on social media. He said

“Like many of you, I’m just trying to be and do my best in everything. I also have a lot of difficult days….especially in the bubble that we’re currently in. You get lonely, you miss your friends and family, and with back to back race weeks it means there’s not much time for anything, but work.

“I guess what I’m trying to say is it’s never a bad thing to ask for help if you need it or to tell somebody how you feel. Showing your vulnerable side doesn’t make you weak. Instead, I like to think of it as a chance to become stronger.”

Fairly recent research by Doherty et al. (2016) on the experience of depression in elite male athletes noted, that there was little scope for athletes to admit vulnerability, stating ‘in addition to their worth being conditional on results, performances, and actions on the sporting stage, they were expected to express positivity, deny weakness, display emotionless qualities and fit the script of the mentally tough athlete’. We all just need to look at social media really for that, don’t we?

Speaking of social media: Social media these days plays a big part in mental health issues. As public figures, athletes are constantly exposed to outside opinions anyway. The ability for practically anyone to voice their opinion, hiding behind a username and a screen, however has made it a hundred times easier for harmful and hateful comments to not only reach the athlete in question, but the entire community. For mental health issues to become more widely accepted, and openly talked about, we – as a community – need to feel able to openly talk about it.

In an interview with Men’s Health, Daniel Ricciardo shared his stance on social media and how he handles it“I think social media increases pressure on a lot of people, it’s the nature of the beast. You’ve got to have a lot of self-awareness on how you deal with it. I’ve always kept it pretty one-way, as it’s there for me to put out things, but I don’t necessarily take a lot in. You can read 100 good comments and read one negative one, and that’s what will stay with you. You have to be disciplined.”

In spite of the high incidence of mental health issues, concerns have arisen about the limited support-seeking amongst elite athletes, with stigma and fears of being viewed as weak cited as the most common reason for suffering in silence (Gulliver et al. 2012). Stigma surrounding mental illness is not limited to a sporting context but can still be found in society generally. Research shows ethnic minorities, youth and men are disproportionately put off from seeking support as a result of stigma (Clement et al. 2015). Earlier this year, soon-to-be Mercedes driver George Russell shared, how a psychologist helped him ahead of the 2021 season. He said:

“I think so many people, men particularly, see psychology as a weakness, which is absolutely not the case. Your mind is the most powerful tool in your body.”

Mental Health of course not only affects Formula One drivers. Everyone in this sport, trackside or not, is facing immense pressure to perform, travel the world and bring the best result possible for stakeholders involved. There are thousands of motorsport professionals outside of the spotlight, working behind the scenes, who nobody has ever heard of and yet, these are often the ones who struggle the most with mental health. Just this week, we’ve heard about the 23 race plan for the 2022 season – teams are going to be exhausted, emotionally drained, and quite simply put: in need of support.

To seek support and be comfortable doing so is not easy. One has to acknowledge the need for support. One has to tolerate stigma, externally and internally.  Sporting organisations have a key role to play in encouraging this by moving towards a culture that supports rather than undermines recovery and values personal development as well as performance goals (Doherty 2016). Speaking of McLaren’s work with MindUK to raise Mental Health Awareness, Lando Norris said: “It’s something that affects us all, but it’s equally something people don’t feel like they can talk about. This needs to change and I hope that the work we’re doing at McLaren, in support of Mind, can be a driving force for better mental health for everyone.”

This Sunday is World Mental Health Awareness Day. We can all play a part in driving change for better mental health awareness in motorsport, and Formula One.

Headline Image Credit: McLaren F1

References:

Clement, S., O. Schauman, T. Graham, F. Maggioni, S. Evans-Lacko, N. Bezborodovs, C. Morgan, N. Rüsch, J. Brown S. L., and G. Thornicroft. “What Is the Impact of Mental Health-related Stigma on Help-seeking? A Systematic Review of Quantitative and Qualitative Studies.” Psychological Medicine 45.1 (2015): 11. Web. 14 Sept. 2016.

Doherty, Steve, Barbara Hannigan, and Mark Campbell J. “The Experience of Depression during the Careers of Elite Male Athletes.” Frontiers in Psychology 7 (2016): 1069. Web. 7 Sept. 2016.

Gulliver, Amelia, Kathleen Griffiths M., and Helen Christensen. “Barriers and Facilitators to Mental Health Help-seeking for Young Elite Athletes: A Qualitative Study.” BMC Psychiatry 12.1. (2012)

Article first published on FormulaNerds.com in Autumn 2021