Why drivers should try life outside F1

Alexander Rossi's shock victory in the Indianapolis 500 was yet more proof that drivers, if they have sufficient time and drive to do so, can escape the Formula 1 bubble and enjoy the sweet taste of success.

Rossi's rookie IndyCar season is taking place alongside his role as a reserve driver for the Manor team with which he made his F1 debut last year. Complementing it with a full race programme in his homeland is more than most reserves have to show for such a nominal position.

That makes Rossi a good example of what lies outside the walls of F1 - and he's not the only driver to have peered out either.

When Romain Grosjean was quizzed about the possibility of him competing in a one-off NASCAR race, an idea Haas is working to make reality, a smile crept across his face. The Frenchman is keen. Why wouldn't he be? It's the chance to drive another type of racing car in an immensely competitive series.

Daniel Ricciardo is up for it, too, having been given an open invite from Dale Earnhardt Jr to drive a JR Motorsports car on a road course.

Lewis Hamilton got behind the wheel of a Chevrolet Impala at Watkins Glen as part of a promotional car swap day with NASCAR ace Tony Stewart back in 2011, and said he too wants to give it a proper go one day.

Sergio Perez said this month that he fancied a shot at the Indy 500, though only once his F1 career was over.

Several drivers have given other motorsports a try after or between life in F1. Kimi Raikkonen made his World Rally Championship debut in 2009 and then used his two-year sabbatical at the end of his first Ferrari tenure to widen his horizons, contesting two seasons of the WRC and two races on the NASCAR ladder in 2011.

Nelson Piquet Jr has enjoyed a career resuscitation after F1, winning two Truck Series races and an Xfinity (then-Nationwide) race in America and claiming the inaugural Formula E title among other nomadic outings. Juan Pablo Montoya managed two Cup race wins after abruptly leading F1 for NASCAR and has also claimed a second Indy 500 victory in the decade that has passed since his last grand prix start.

But Nico Hulkenberg entering the Le Mans 24 Hours last year during the season was a rare scenario. An in-season NASCAR appearance for Grosjean would also be uncommon.

So why is that the case?

The obvious answer is time. Back when the likes of Mario Andretti, Jim Clark and Sir Jackie Stewart were criss-crossing the Atlantic to compete Stateside alongside their F1 programmes, there were far fewer races on the calendar.

With 21 races this year, plus pre-season and in-season tests, there are few weekends without clashes. The Indy 500 has long clashed with Monaco but this year's edition of Le Mans is on the same weekend as the European Grand Prix in Baku.

There are options. The Watkins Glen NASCAR round takes place on August 7, which falls nicely in the F1 summer break. The only other non-oval is Sonoma, and that doesn't clash with F1 either.

But as Grosjean pointed out, his wife probably won't be pleased if on one of the few weekends he has free, he's off Stateside. It wouldn't just be for one weekend either as Grosjean wants to do it properly. He wants enough time to get familiar with the car and the team he is working with.

Another reason is they don't have to. Stewart and Andretti were picking up races in other series to earn more money. Nowadays, Formula 1 drivers get paid quite handsomely. There are also potential health issues through overworking.

Stewart came down with a case of mononucleosis, a debilitating disease that sucks away your energy, in 1971 as a result of a busy workload that involved more than 80 transatlantic flights when racing in F1 and Can-Am as well as engaging in significant promotional work.

Felipe Nasr fancies doing the Daytona 24 Hours again, having contested the 2012 edition as a reward for his British Formula 3 title the previous year and then returned in 2013, but even with it being out of season in January, it is a challenge to fit it in.

"It takes preparation," he says. "Look how many races we have in the year - it's so tight for time to schedule everything. I would rather wait for the right time to do it, it's not the priority at the moment.

"I have other goals in F1 to be thinking of but in the future, why not? I could have done Daytona again this year, and I don't think the team would have a problem with it, but it's just that it's so close to testing, we have all the preparation in full swing. It's not that I don't want to but I think time is against us."

For Felipe Massa, as much as he would like to try another form of motorsport, he does not want to jeopardise his F1 campaign and would much rather leave opportunities until after F1.

"We need to respect our contract, we need to respect whatever is the most important things for your season in Formula 1, which is the main target," he said. "So any things that can maybe not help, it is maybe not good to do it. But one day, it will be nice to do it."

There are also the practicalities of creating an opportunity. Where does Haas plan to slot Grosjean in for this one-off race? The Stewart-Haas NASCAR team fields the maximum four cars permitted under regulations.

The chances of Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, Stewart or Danica Patrick moving aside for Grosjean are remote. But entering him at another team is a possibility and SHR has an affiliation with midfield outfit HScott Motorsports, so it can be done.

It also depends what stage of his career a driver is in. Massa is in the twilight of his F1 career and wants to give it one last push before leaving. By contrast, Esteban Gutierrez is at the beginning and under pressure to perform, so it was no surprise that he said flatly he has not interest in doing anything outside F1 during the season.

Hulkenberg jumped at his Le Mans opportunity because Porsche came calling and offered a genuine shot at victory, and Force India was accommodating. And winning Le Mans had a positive impact, sparking an immediate surge in form in F1 post-race.

There is also the issue of contracts, which are far more complex these days. Drivers have deals to race full-time in F1 - so Hulkenberg doing Le Mans last year was the exception not the rule - and their commitment must be to the team and to their sponsors.

Should a one-off deal happen, it will be tricky to align sponsor interests of both series and the driver. That, combined with a full F1 season now counting instead of X number of rounds from Y, is why in the modern era no driver would surely replicate the Jim Clarks and Graham Hills by ditching Monaco for Indy.

F1 bosses may not be so keen because it considers NASCAR, IndyCar and Le Mans to be threats - but the reality is that it would only be a benefit.

There seems to be the will from America to make such variety happen, evidenced by the potential Grosjean NASCAR drive. In the States, complementing programmes is normal and considered achievable - IndyCar champion Scott Dixon is racing for Ford's GT team at Le Mans, for example. It may be run by his usual Ganassi squad, but it puts him up against his IndyCar engine and aero kit supplier Chevrolet in the World Endurance Championship's main event.

Yet Hulkenberg is unable to repeat his Le Mans heroics because a calendar shift forced a clash. It's time for F1 bosses to loosen the shackles and allow or encourage their stars to try other motorsports.

I'm not saying drivers should try and balance two championships and overwork themselves. F1 is a career path and while it remains that way it should rightly be their main focus. But a one-off race, even if it's just once a year, would be very cool and not have a detrimental effect in the grand scheme of things.

Remember the buzz when Valentino Rossi got behind the wheel of a 2008-spec Ferrari on GP2 tyres at Barcelona and got within 0.1s of Raikkonen's 2008 pole time? Or when multiple World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb performed strongly testing an F1 Red Bull?

Though conditions and car configurations would have been naturally different and prevent a perfect comparison, such tests inevitably generate excitement - people want to see drivers test themselves outside their comfort zone.

F1 is desperate to break America - Bernie Ecclestone has spoken of wanting six races Stateside. Putting an F1 driver in its most popular categories would boost awareness of F1 and complement efforts made by the current United States Grand Prix at Austin and the Haas team.

Haas is planning to bring Busch out to the Baku race to give him an insight into the F1 world. That could be one step towards putting him in a car for a test or promo run. The interest it would generate would be huge.

In light of falling viewing figures across all forms of television - globally F1 saw a drop of 25 million in 2015 for the second successive year to 400 million - F1 needs to embrace opportunities that will capture fans' imagination.

It won't be easy to make it happen, but the best things in life rarely are.