Welcome to Grand Prix Gastronomy Season 2!
We started by cooking national dishes — and now we're turning our attention to the drivers.
Welcome to Grand Prix Gastronomy! In 2024, this series is dedicated to cooking the favorite dishes of every driver on the grid.
Allow Me To Introduce Myself
If you're reading Grand Prix Gastronomy, there's a chance you likely know me — but if you're new, hello! My name is Elizabeth Blackstock. I'm an automotive and motorsport journalist based in Texas. I love cats, cooking, and doing a thousand projects at once.
Last year, I decided I wanted to cook my way through the Formula 1 calendar. That meant that each race weekend, I whipped up the national dish of that Grand Prix's country. Without many changes to the 2024 schedule, though, I wanted to find a way to keep things exciting. For me, that means turning my focus from the tracks to the drivers!
I've reached a point in my F1 journalist life that it's a little tough for me to consider myself a fan of any one particular driver; I see them more as the subjects of the coverage that I've been doing for years. I can't really have favorites, but I've also noticed that that results in a disconnect in my enjoyment of motorsport. So I decided that this year, I'll be cooking each driver's favorite food.
How I Got My Recipes
Kicking off this year, I had a pretty big goal: I wanted to ask every F1 driver what singular dish reminds them most of home. I was hoping I'd get some interesting responses, and maybe some thoughtful comments on why those dishes mean so much to them. I emailed every single press representative for every single Formula 1 team to request a brief interview — or, if that wasn't possible, could they please have their drivers answer one or two questions and email me with the results?
It appears that my request was simply too ambitious, because I did not get a single affirmative response!
One team straight-up told me that they wouldn't be participating. Two or three wrote me back to say that they were interested but would make no promises — then never responded. One said their drivers would not be available, but would I like to speak to their reserve driver instead? (Even though I said yes, I didn't hear back.) Most teams just didn't respond.
Alas! I knew that I'd be able to find some answer to the very general food question on the internet; there's no way any F1 driver has raced in the series for a year without being asked about their favorite food. However, I also know that when you ask people for their favorite food, you're not as liable to get well-though-out responses as you would be if you asked a driver to share the dish that reminds them of home. I also knew I was going to find a lot of “well, I just eat chicken and pasta before races,” and I also knew at least four drivers would pick “pizza” as their favorite food. It's rough out there, folks.
Thankfully, after plenty of research by my eternally patient husband, I ended up with a great list of articles where drivers talked about food. Some drivers were chattier than others about the things they love to eat, so I had plenty of options for some folks; others were a little more reserved in their culinary enthusiasm, but they still gave some great answers.
I reviewed all the food mentions, and I've picked out a selection of diverse dishes that I think serve as authentic representations of the drivers as well as being pretty distinct from one another. I've also set aside a few races to cook the dishes that everyone selected — for example, tons of drivers picked pizza as one of their favorites, but rather than make pizza multiple times this year, I'm going to put on one singular pizza masterclass.
As for how I got recipes, well… there's a lot of play and interpretation available when someone says their favorite food is a burger. I've tried to pick recipes that represent classic but elevated interpretations of each dish — so you can definitely guarantee that that burger will be the best you've ever made at home!
How This Year Will Work
Even though I'm not centering my dishes around race locations this year, I still intend on coordinating my posting schedule to line up with every race this season! I've tried to pair drivers with races in a few different ways:
A driver of a particular nationality will be the focus of that Grand Prix (ex: I'll cook an Australian driver's favorite dish for the Australian Grand Prix)
A driver selected a dish that perfectly represents that race (ex: a non-Mexican driver selects a Mexican dish as their favorite, so I'll cook that for the Mexico Grand Prix)
A driver has a particular connection to that race (ex: their took their first win there, made their first start there, etc)
Some drivers and dishes didn't fit well anywhere on the calendar — in that case, I've popped them in where it makes the most sense within the context of the overall cooking schedule. So, if a driver didn't fit neatly anywhere on the calendar but chose a red-meat dish as their favorite, I'll try to pop that driver in the middle of a very white-meat heavy stretch of the calendar.
And because there are more races than drivers, I'll be hosting a few “masterclass” style weekends — like the pizza masterclass I mentioned above!
Ready… Set… COOK!
If you’re interested in seeing the progression of Grand Prix Gastronomy, you’ll be able to do so in a few places. Instagram will feature most of the visual content, while Substack will be a little wordier. If you need a handy mid-week roundup, you’ll be able to find those on Twitter.
Here are all the relevant links in one place, if you want to subscribe:
All Grand Prix Gastronomy-related content will be free — but if you want to drop me a donation on PayPal, that’s always welcome.
Plus, if you're looking to delve deeper into motorsport history, don't forget to check out my new podcast, Deadly Passions, Terrible Joys! I have a Patreon; sign up, and you'll receive extra content!
My son has been working in F1 for a year and has just been promoted to the race team. He flew out to Australia last weekend. I will be unlikely to see him now until Christmas. To be with him in spirit, I decided that every GP weekend, we would cook a dish from whichever country he is in. Then I discovered your blog! I will be reading your ideas with interest!