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Eyes blinded by a blend of floodlights and blurry bodywork. Eardrums drenched in the whirring neighs of 1,000 mechanical horses. Nostrils stained with the stench of burning brake ducts. Spine rattling to-and-fro against the rhythms of the road. Limbs and neck wrestling relentlessly with immense gravitational force.
Firing a Formula 1 car around a racetrack at top speed is one of the most intense sensory experiences a human can undergo.
During races, drivers can suffer motion sickness, light-headedness and vision glitches. They can lose up to 3kg in under two hours while at the wheel.
With the success and failure of their split-second decisions laid bare for the world to witness, a driver's existence can be isolating as well as physically draining.
But an F1 driver is never racing entirely alone.
They are accompanied, always, by the guidance of a softly-spoken ally at the other end of the team radio system, aiming to maximise the driver's result at race end.