Drivers tackling 2014 races without drinks to save weight

Adrian Sutil will go the entire duration of the Bahrain Grand Prix race on Sunday without a sip of water.

The tall and therefore heavy German lost almost 4 kilograms over the winter and is now complaining that, given the heavier 2014 engines, the 692 kg car-plus-driver minimum weight is unfair.

Sutil claims he is barely training in order to further shrink his muscles, and eating and drinking so little that - tapping his head - "you don't work well up here".

Not only that, Sauber's car and Ferrari engine are both overweight, so the Swiss team is cutting corners in every area - including taking away Sutil's half-kilo drinks bottle.

But Ferrari's super-fit cycling enthusiast Fernando Alonso has revealed that, even in stifling Malaysia, he raced comfortably without a drink.

"In the past, Malaysia required a specific training programme," he said in Bahrain. "But this year I told the team I didn't even need a drinks system. The cars are much less physically demanding." (GMM)

Subbed by AJN.