Haas Formula 1 driver Ollie Bearman has revealed he went to drastic measures to break a small kart track's lap record during his holiday between races.
Bearman spoke about the usual race preview matters when put in front of the media ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix - but he kept the attendant journalists particularly captivated with his retelling of his "serious quest" between the Silverstone race almost three weeks ago and this weekend's event at Spa.
"I was on vacation in Sweden, and there was a kart track very close to where I was staying on that week," he explained.
"And my girlfriend's family were like, 'Look, you have to beat the lap record'. And I was like, 'Yeah, come on, it'll be easy'.
"Then on the first day I was like three or four tenths off."
The Varbergs Gokart track - on Sweden's west coast, south of Gothenburg - was only 29s in laptime, so that was quite a considerable gap, meaning the F1 rookie felt challenged to keep coming back.
He came the next day but was limited to "just for fun" slicks-in-wet driving due to the weather. So he had to go again the following day.
"I went the final time on the last day, I was at it for almost two hours," said Bearman.
"It was tough, you had to really put the perfect lap together, change the layout a little bit, move some of the walls a little bit.
"I did like, really, 15 laps where I was 0.03s or 0.04s away from it, and when you're that close you can't quit until you win.
"I got photos of me and the guy with me and my girlfriend taking fuel out of the car to try to make it lighter! She was fixing the tyres. I was cooling down the engine between the runs with, like, a leafblower. It was really top-level stuff.
"It was quite hot out there, it was like 28-29°C, the engine was running very hot. So we had to take away some of the bodywork to keep the engine cool and stuff - because the power really drops when the engine gets hot.
"Set the [tyre] pressures as well, dropping the pressures after every run. It was a serious quest.
"At the time it was empty, the track. Luckily. Because I had someone slipstreaming me in the straights and moving out the way in the last minute so I could do the lap. It was, like, really top-level. We were turning over every stone, we were making sure everything was ready."
Finally, the record fell by half a tenth, Bearman said.
Was it surprising to Bearman how difficult it proved for him to break it? Well, he quipped of the previous record holder: "He should be in F1! Or he's 20kg, which is my only other thought.
"I think the problem was, it was too hot. I said if I wasn't going to beat the lap record, that I would come back the next morning at like 6am or 7am when it's really cold.
"You guys are laughing, but there's no radiator with this engine, you know? So when they get hot, you feel the power loss.
"Apparently this guy did the lap record in like April or May, which in Sweden it's like -20°C there. That's how he did it, I think. That's my excuse anyway."
Bearman, like virtually everyone on the F1 grid, was a karting champion in his junior racing days, and felt this was a perfect palette-cleanser after the disappointments of his home grand prix in Britain - where he was fast but picked up a clumsy 10-place grid penalty, then collided with team-mate Esteban Ocon in the race - even if this was also about racing competition.
"I always love karting so much and there it was incredible, such a beautiful country as well, it was really the perfect way to spend the time off," he said.
"I didn't plan to go karting pretty much every day, but it's not a bad thing. It's in the blood. Really takes you back to why you started and love the sport so much.
"It was really nice to kind of get away from the [top-level] racing a little bit, but still be competitive and enjoy the driving as well.
"But now, since the [beginning of] race week, it couldn't have come fast enough, to be here in Spa."
