Eye fatigue

Tired eyes – how racing so late at night in Las Vegas could have been an issue for Formula 1 drivers

Formula 1 unwittingly exposed its drivers to dangerous levels of eye fatigue at Sunday’s Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend, Shamir Optical Industry’s research indicates.
By pushing the Grand Prix’s second practice session back to an unprecedented 2:30am, Formula 1’s stars had to manage levels of eye fatigue normally reserved for long-distance truck drivers and Le Mans 24 Hour racers.
Eye fatigue slows driver reaction times and reduces the ability to concentrate. It is a dangerous and underestimated vision issue affecting at least 20% of all drivers, according to research from high-performance lens developers Shamir Optical Industry.
Eye fatigue was one of the key visual issues addressed in the development of Shamir Driver Intelligence™ lenses, and a key to minimising the issue was reducing glare and cognitive load.

Shamir research showed that eye fatigue is an underrated problem experienced by people who had either driven for a long period or were driving outside their normal waking hours, like late at night.
Even BWT Alpine Formula One Team driver Pierre Gasly, who finished 11th i in Las Vegas, admitted to suffering from classic eye-fatigue symptoms when he hadn’t slept normally.
And Las Vegas qualifying began at midnight, while the race started at 10pm, running under lights through the US city.
One of Gasly’s biggest pre-race rituals to help his visual performance is to have a good night’s sleep before a Grand Prix, because he feels eye fatigue if he doesn’t.
“What I do feel, depending on my sleep, is that my eyesight can sometimes be sharper than on other days,” Gasly said during the launch of Shamir Driver Intelligence™ corrective lenses, developed for people who love driving.
“That’s why sleep is important and those guys doing endurance races for sure will suffer eye fatigue because of a lack of sleep, if nothing else

“We do a race of two hours, maximum, so I haven’t experienced eye fatigue in racing, but when I do I will be straight into the shop to get the right Shamir products.”
Eye fatigue would have been an entirely predictable problem in a racing session beginning at 2:30am, and would definitely have impacted driver performance, according to Shamir’s Director of Sales, Support and Training, Shahar Ben-Ari.
“Not all of us understand what visual fatigue is, but you would recognise some of the symptoms,” Ben-Ari said.
“Visual-fatigue symptoms include dry eyes, itchy eyes and tiredness in our body and 20% of drivers know they experience it, but others experience it but don’t talk about it.
“But know that if you experience these symptoms, you can assume your driving performance has been compromised.”
While Gasly insists eye fatigue is not normally an issue in a Formula 1 car, he could see how it would be regular problem in endurance racing.
“Personally, I don’t feel that my eyes get tired during a race, but there are guys in the 24 Hours of Le Mans who are racing cars at night for hours and hours,” Gasly said.
“Then they sleep for three hours and do it again. I’m pretty sure their eyes are getting fatigued in racing conditions.”
Las Vegas was a strong weekend for our technical partner, the BWT Alpine Formula 1 Team, with Gasly qualifying fourth and finishing 11th after succumbing to late problems, while teammate Esteban Ocon raced from 16th on the grid to fourth.