By Cassandra D’Angelo
Ranging from eating the same meal, wearing the same clothes, athletes across sports have superstitions.
According to a study by Michaéla C. Schippers and Paul A.M. van Lange, athletes use rituals and superstitions in situations where athletes may feel they need control. They also found that superstitions and rituals reduce tension before an event.
Throughout the history of Formula 1, there have been many superstitions and rituals. Some are more popular and widely accepted than others.
From the beginning of Formula 1 there were superstitions.
Alberto Ascari, two-time world champion, had several superstitions, but his most notable was his lucky blue helmet. He would always race with the same blue helmet and wouldn’t let anyone touch the case it was carried in. When he was the victim of a fatal testing crash at Monza in 1955 he wasn’t wearing his blue helmet, but a white one borrowed from Eugenio Castellotti.
Several driver superstitions are rooted in religion.
Sergio Perez kept a photo of Pope John Paul II in his cockpit. “He’s someone who I really trust and feel is on my side all the time. I feel having him in my car is very important; he gives me extra strength,” Perez said.
Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel was known for keeping a St. Christopher’s medal tied into his shoes during race weekends. St. Christopher is the patron saint of transportation, traveling and athletics.
Some drivers rely on a piece of clothing instead of a token.
Alan Jones had lucky red underwear that he credited with helping him win the 1980 championship. He told the media that he had lost them and his wife had to find and send them by special express back to him before the race.
Drivers like two-time world champion Fernando Alonso rely on not gaining bad luck instead of finding good luck.
According to notable photographer Kym Illman, Alonso avoids certain people on race day for fear of them bringing him bad luck and will sanitize his hands immediately if he shakes hands with anyone.
Superstitions are popular throughout the grid and many drivers share the same rituals.
Entering the car from a certain side is a popular superstition. Michael Schumacher would only enter from the left side, as would Mark Webber, Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg. Whereas Adrian Sutil would only enter from the right side and needed to put on his right boot and glove first.
Some drivers’ superstitions go beyond the order of getting dressed. Alex Wurz wore mismatched racing boots for every race. And Stefano Modena always wore one glove turned inside out. Although widely believed to be a superstition, he has said this was due to the seams cutting his fingers.
Modena took things a step further than most other drivers. Martin Brundle shed light on the depth of his Brabham teammate’s superstitions in his book “Working the Wheel”. There was one instance of Modena requesting his car to be moved from the left side of the garage to the right because he wouldn’t get into his car if it was on the left half. In a 2014 interview with Motor Sport Magazine Modena confirmed he is “still very superstitious and always was.”
Sometimes drivers stop rituals and superstitions. David Coulthard was forced to stop wearing his blue underwear after they were ruined during an accident, but did continue bringing them to the track until they were thrown out by a McLaren employee. Lewis Hamilton decided when he was 18 that his rituals were just blocking him mentally and stopped being superstitious altogether.
From entering the car from a certain side to lucky underpants, Formula 1 has seen strange superstitions. Superstitions and rituals are unique to each driver and will continue to evolve depending on what reduces tension for each driver the most.
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