Mild Seven F1 Heroes: These drivers don’t take driving mildly

The job description of a Formula One (F1) driver can be summed up in three sentences — Step on the gas pedal every time you can. Step on the brake pedal only when you have to. Overtake every car in front of you before you reach the finish line.

The fourth and fifth items (if they do in fact exist) would merely be optional — Try to keep our multi-million dollar race car intact for the season. And while you’re at it, stay alive, too.

Two drivers who work under such conditions are Jarno Trulli, 29, and Fernando Alonso, 22 — the men behind the steering wheel for the charging Mild Seven Renault F1 Team.

"Driving is a constant challenge with yourself to push beyond your limits, to push further. But it’s also about teamwork. It’s amazing to think that I’m carrying the expectations of over 500 people in the pits, and back at the factory," says Trulli about his profession.

With so much hopes riding on their backs, it is not hard to imagine why Trulli and Alonso do not take their driving mildly.

Men of Speed

Throughout his career, the Italian Jarno Trulli has been a much sought-after driver racing for reputable F1 teams such as Minardi, Prost, Jordan, and currently the Mild Seven Renault F1 Team. F1 analysts and aficionados regard Trulli as one of the 10 best drivers in the world.

On the other hand, Alonso, the third youngest driver in F1 history, has proven that he deserves to rev it up with the best of them. Then 19, this driver from Spain finished as the 10th best driver in the world by the end of the 2001 season. This year, at age 22, Alonso became the youngest ever F1 grand prix winner at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Outside the Racetrack

Perhaps it is the mettle which race car drivers are made of. Or maybe the irresistible seduction of danger. But even in their private recreational hours, both drivers take-up extreme sports. Trulli loves rock climbing while Alonso takes up canoeing and rafting.

But make no mistake about it. For these young men who work and play under breakneck conditions (literally), there is life outside the racetrack, a life wherein the dangers of their occupation is relegated to the backseat as they commiserate with the dangers that the less fortunate face in the real world. This is a life of charity.

Trulli and Alonso are constantly involved in fundraising football matches. Over the past year, the two have been involved in charity soccer games wherein the beneficiaries were earthquake and landmine victims and the financially needy.

In one of these charity activities held before the Austrian Grand Prix, Trulli and Alonso were part of a team of professional race car drivers that took on an all-star team of Australian athletes and celebrities. The event raised a total of US$100,000 for landmine victims, a testament to the popularity as well as social responsibility of these drivers.

At one level, the F1 driver is unlike any other professional in the world. But at yet another level, they are just ordinary members of the human race who also carry in their hearts the same seeds of compassion, sympathy and empathy.

Alonso encapsulates this sense of normalcy when he says, "I feel safest in my hometown of Oviedo. When I’m there, I can just be myself, chill out and do the same things as any other 22 year old."

Yet, try as they may, try as they might, Trulli and Alonso will never be ordinary.

How many people actually have their own personal wine label? Trulli does. It is called "Podere Castorani" which is red wine made from the Montepulciano d’Abruzzo grape, with a ripe fruity taste.

And how many people, can emerge out of a total wreck and still give the crowd a thumbs-up as he is being wheeled into an ambulance? Alonso did. In Brazil in early April, Alonso’s Renault racecar was mangled into a treacherous pulp after he drove into the remnants of a tire and debris. He had to be fitted with a neck brace. But before going to the hospital, Alonso flashed the audience a thumbs-up. He had, after all, finished the race at third place.

Eight lucky Filipinos will have the chance to see and meet Trulli and Alonso live during the Malaysian Grand Prix slated in Sepang this November. Mild Seven, the title sponsor of the Renault F1 Team, will be giving away eight all-expenses-paid trips to the Sepang Formula One race circuit in Malaysia plus 1,000 Malaysian Ringgit in pocket money as grand prizes for its "F1 Slipstream" raffle promo. Other prizes for the promo include authentic team mountain bikes, jackets, backpacks, and other premium items.

As the premium educators for F1 in the Philippines, Mild Seven has already mounted a string of successful promos carrying F1 racing themes. In 2001, the company staged the "Mild Seven F1 SPEEDshow" which introduced local racing aficionados to the R201 race car. Last year, "Mild Seven XLR8: The Mild Seven F1 Experience starred Jenson Button, one of the top ten racers in the world and the first F1 driver to visit the Philippines, and the R202 race car.