F1 Fanatic

This might be something everyone knows already, but how do you take a leak during an grand prix?

Are there special pipes?
Do they just do it in there jump suit ?
Do they train not to need it?
Do they sweat it out?

I’m out of options. But I tell you one thing, I would be a bit embarrassed collecting a trophy with wet smelly pants

No idea where I read it, but I heard some drivers wear big, thick absorbent underwear to soak up wee if they do go – but many drivers simply don’t. After all, the longest they will spend in the car is two hours, and all of us can hold it in for that long. It could be worse – remember, Mark Webber vomited in his helmet at Fuji in 2007 after a nasty bout of food poisoning.

As far as number twos are concerned, there’s a special box under the seat which the driver can open on his steering wheel to jettison the contents onto the track into the path of a following car, and that’s why drivers need tear offs on their visors.

*Some of that second paragraph might not be true.

I seem to remember seeing an interview where Eddie Irvine said you just wet yourself if you need to and that you’re so sweaty is makes almost no difference.

I’m not 100% sure how accurate that is though.

Johnny Herbert was renouned for weeing in the car, particularly on the grid or any time the mechanics were about to work on the car.
Jacky to Johnny: “pit on lap 28 for fuel, tyre and nappy change”

I was a little curious about this over Le Mans, because I’d always heard faint whispering about endurance drivers going, but I wasn’t sure if this was a common occurrence or only in emergencies, and whether it applied to F1.

I always wondered what happens when they have to sneeze. Through 130R for example. In the wet. That’s a problem…

@victor I’d be very surprised if a driver sneezed during a race, as the body will generally prevent a sneeze if it’s busy doing other things of higher priority. You can test it yourself – next time you feel a sneeze coming on, breathe in and out heavily and it should go away. This is because the lungs are more focused on getting oxygen in rather than a mass expulsion of air.

I imagine they just let it go…I imagine team bosses would be keen for the driver to shed some weight!

Given how sweaty they are when they come out I doubt it really matters. Plus you can probably condition your body hours before to ensure that you never need the loo anyway.