Working with Aston Martin, boxing and golf: Behind the Visor with Cian Shields

AIX Racing’s Cian Shields is competing in his second FIA Formula 2 campaign and has been building up his experience in the car and in F1 machinery.

Along with Aston Martin expertise, he talks about what he’s learned and how he handles the downtime during a season, how a career in boxing was on the cards at one stage and why golf is a popular go-to for drivers.

BETWEEN THE ROPES

“Boxing was the first choice of career path and then my mum put a stop to it so I took up racing. Mum's like, ‘let's do something a little bit different’.

“It was just a fitness thing really, but then obviously I ended up quite enjoying it. The plan was to do a few fights, but then my mum wasn't too happy with the whole idea of it.

“That's when I took a back step and then got a kart when I was nine and then that's where the racing started.

“Nowadays, I've got quite a few specific training programmes that come from Aston and so overall I can't do boxing training anymore unfortunately, but I still like to keep fit when I can and I enjoy doing it.

“Aston's got me set on a pretty strict programme so it's quite hard to veer off it. But obviously sometimes they do let me incorporate some of what I enjoy into it, so whenever I get to do it, I do enjoy it.

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DRIVING RANGE

“I enjoy golf as well. I went to the driving range, played when I was a kid, nothing serious but then obviously stopped when racing took over.

“It’s quite difficult to consistently play in the UK with the weather because I don't really fancy having to wrap up and a jacket going to play golf.

“I'd say I'm a more kind of shorts and t-shirt kind of golfer so once that weather comes back then I'll get back into it. I'm not quite PGA level yet but we're getting there.

“We do a lot of travelling with what we do so you get to visit some cool places and sometimes we end up with quite a bit of spare time, so that’s what I enjoy doing in the down time.

“I think obviously if you have too much downtime when you're out of the car, when you jump back in you can feel a bit rusty. But obviously I think you need to have time away from it and time off to then come back with a fresh mindset.

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“Other than the hobbies, I watch the highlights if there's a big boxing fight on, I'll watch that. I’ll be watching a bit of the Scottish side in the World Cup later this year.

“Overall I wouldn’t say I’m a man of many hobbies. I've got my mates to unwind with and stuff like that. But there's nothing that I have a big commitment to outside of racing. When I can fit it in I do it and it's all for a bit of jolly.

“But obviously the benefits of driving the car as much as you can is massive. There's pros and cons to both.”

ASTON MARTIN INFLUENCE

“Working with Aston now, all the sim work we do down there to help both of us out. Then there’s the support they give me on the race weekends.

“All my nutrition stuff comes from them for example, they have a meal plan I get from them on race weekends.

“All those kinds of things are obviously massively beneficial and add up across the board. You don't think it helps massively in itself, but for sure it does overall.

“The private test TPC days and then the Abu Dhabi FP1 was an awesome experience. Overall the benefits and help the guys are giving me is definitely good. Hopefully we can continue.”