Relief Driver

A relief driver is a substitute driver who takes over driving duties from the primary driver during a race, either due to planned rotation or unexpected circumstances.

In motorsport, races can range from short sprints lasting minutes to grueling endurance events that continue for 12 or 24 hours straight. While one driver can handle a short race alone, longer events require multiple drivers to share the workload. This is where relief drivers become essential to a team's strategy and safety.

Relief drivers are most commonly seen in endurance racing, such as the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans. These marathon races are physically and mentally exhausting, making it dangerous for a single driver to stay behind the wheel for the entire duration. Teams typically rotate between two or three drivers throughout the race, with each driver taking shifts that last several hours. These driver changes happen during pit stops and are carefully planned as part of the team's overall race strategy.

However, relief drivers aren't only used in endurance racing. Sometimes a substitute driver is needed unexpectedly when the primary driver becomes injured, ill, or too fatigued to continue safely. For example, if a driver gets sick during a race weekend or suffers an injury in practice, a relief driver must be ready to step in at short notice.

The history of motorsport includes many memorable relief driver moments. In the very first Indianapolis 500 in 1911, winner Ray Harroun was relieved by Cyrus Patschke during the race. In NASCAR's early days, relief drivers were more common due to the physical demands of racing cars without modern comfort and safety features. One remarkable example occurred in 1975 when Dick May drove five different cars in a single race at Dover, substituting for multiple ailing drivers.

More recently, Kevin Harvick became a relief driver under tragic circumstances in 2001, taking over Dale Earnhardt's car for the remainder of the NASCAR season after Earnhardt's fatal crash. In 2016, both Jeff Gordon and Alex Bowman served as relief drivers for Dale Earnhardt Jr. while he recovered from a concussion.

In Formula 1, substitute drivers occasionally get unexpected opportunities to race. Nico Hülkenberg, Sebastian Vettel, and Stoffel Vandoorne have all made notable substitute appearances. These opportunities can be career-defining, as Vettel demonstrated by scoring a point in his debut race as a substitute in 2007.

Different racing series have specific rules about driver substitutions, including regulations about how long each driver must stay in the car, how points are awarded, and who is eligible to serve as a relief driver. Being a relief driver requires significant skill and mental preparation, as these drivers must be ready to jump into an unfamiliar car and perform at a competitive level with little or no practice time.