First up in the Whatever challenge is our Swedish rising star, Formula 1 driver Marcus Ericsson. He's the ear-piercing genius who fell in love with go-karting at the age of 8, a love that would take him around the world – and he's currently in his fifth season in the world's most prestigious racing series: Formula 1.
Whatever challenge – what is your biggest challenge now?
It's definitely the ongoing Formula 1, it's my fifth participation and after a couple of tough years there are still many qualities that I haven't had the chance to show yet. On the other hand, the conditions have never been better, with my team and the investment that Alfa Romeo is making, I'm more than ready.
If you look at a typical training week, what do the workouts look like? What type of training do you do?
Motorsport is so much more about physics than many people seem to think. The races are often up to 2 hours long, there are high g-forces and on average I am at 75–80% of my maximum heart rate: it is tough and places high demands on me. That is why I train six days a week and vary between cardio and strength exercises based on my body weight. It is important to find a good balance: to be able to train hard but not build too much muscle, I don't want to gain weight. I like CrossFit-inspired exercises!
F1 involves an extreme amount of travel. How many travel days do you have in a year?
That's about 260 travel days per year. Sometimes it feels like I live on an airplane!
How do you maintain your focus?
It's largely about myself, that I feel as good as I can. I eat right, train hard, live a healthy life and make sure to focus on what's important. Also, my environment plays an important factor, that I have good people around me.
What inspires you the most: realistic plans or bold dreams?
For me, it's really important to dare to dream: I set high standards for myself and have tough goals to aim for. Therefore, it's also important for me to have smaller, short-term goals that are easier to achieve in order to feel like I'm succeeding.
Who inspires you? (Private person, public person, fictional)
I am very interested in hockey, I trained ice hockey myself until I was 15–16 years old and the turning point came when I had to choose between hockey and racing. A great role model is Peter Forsberg and if I had not chosen motorsport, it is likely that I would have continued on the ice. In motorsport, Michael Schumacher is of course a great role model and one of the reasons why I dreamed of – and decided to – become a racing driver.
What do you think is the best thing about CLN Athletics products?
They are very comfortable to work out in. Of course, it doesn't hurt that they are also stylish, but most important to me is that the fit is good and that the garments are functional. In fact, I don't have a favorite garment, but wear and enjoy pretty much everything from the collection.
Finally, what do you do when motivation dips?
I have two tips that almost always work for me. The first is that I push myself to the gym, that's where I always get going. My second tip is to hang out with positive people who make me happy!
