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Rio Haryanto: Shifting his gears
The 24-year-old’s life as a motor racer is a vigorous one
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Indonesian former Formula 1 racer Rio Haryanto. (ANTARA FOTO/Yudhi Mahatma)
H
aving raced in various circuits around the globe, former Formula One driver Rio Haryanto of Indonesia has taken up a new hobby: cycling. Followers can see on his Instagram account @rharyantoracing pictures of him taking part in various cycling activities in several Indonesian cities, whether by himself or with his friends.
“I’ve been enjoying cycling since the beginning of 2017; cycling is a great exercise to preserve my stamina. It is also a great way for me to spend my free time in the mornings before I go to work,” Rio told The Jakarta Post recently.
Rio was the first-ever Indonesian Formula One driver, taking part in the 2016 German Grand Prix, where he drove for the Manor racing team. Formula One is the highest class of single-seat auto racing that is sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (the International Automobile Federation; FIA), the governing body of motorsport which promotes safe, sustainable and accessible mobility for all road users around the world.
He is setting his sights on returning to the circuits soon after finishing a driving test in Formula E in Valencia, Spain, in early October, his first run after last year’s championship in Germany. While waiting for his next race, he has also started to work in a business owned by his family: PT Solo Murni, which produces notebooks bearing the local Kiky brand, particularly famous among schoolchildren and their parents.
“Personally, however, I prefer racing cars to being a businessman,” he said with a smile.
Born in Jan. 22, 1993, he first became interested in racing cars when he was six years old. Life as a motor racer, along with the exercise required to keep him physically fit during the races, has made Rio’s life a vigorous and energetic one.
“You have to remain in your top shape to race cars. Inside the car, the temperature is very high; if you don’t maintain your physical fitness properly, you run the risk of dehydration,” he said.
“I exercise five times a week, while also taking up race simulations in order to adjust myself to the different climates and fields that different circuits have. Once you have prepared yourself well for your races and listened to constructive feedback on your performance from people around you, you will have enough confidence to enter the circuit," he added.
He added, however, that in order to succeed as a racer, talent alone was not enough; you also need to secure enough funding from your sponsors, citing his difficulty in terms of sponsorship when he was about to take part in the German Grand Prix last year.
“I was discouraged for a moment at that time, because I was already qualified to join the race but found obstacles in sponsorship,” he said. Fortunately, he was able to take part in the race with state-owned energy firm Pertamina as his main sponsor. Although he was not able to win the championship, he hopes he can return to Formula One racing again one day with better results.
He offered some tips for aspiring racers to secure sponsorship: “You have to convince them that you are capable of doing it, using your past achievements as evidence”.
“You have to do what you love with maximum effort and eventually you will find people who will support you. If you are given an opportunity to try something, why not take it?” he advised.
He added that if someone has high aspirations, other people might dismiss them as a “dreamer”, especially in this digital age when netizens can spew out negativity without careful thought, given the anonymity offered by the internet.
Rio encouraged Indonesian youngsters to just stick to their guns no matter what people say. “Instead of letting them bring you down, focus on working hard to prove that we can do what we want to do,” he advised more than 250 university students who attended the gathering.
Although convincing different people and organizations to provide sponsorship is not always easy, the satisfaction of racing has prompted Rio to keep at it.
The biggest satisfaction Rio gets from motor racing is the challenge of finding ways to drive his car as fast as possible, while making precise turns to navigate the circuit.
“You have to keep your emotions in check, because if you give in to the impulse to drive too fast without being careful, you can end up making a fatal mistake. You have to concentrate fully on the track in front of you,” he explained.
He is proud of his success as Indonesia’s first Formula One driver at the age of 23. “It is not easy for a motor racer to go international, let alone be qualified to join Formula One,” he said.
