Haryanto may stop Muslim fasting for race day

Rio Haryanto’s religious beliefs may need to take a back seat to safety in the Canadian grand prix on Sunday.

The Indonesian rookie is a strict Muslim, and therefore currently fasting - including not drinking water - between dawn and sunset.

But the Mirror newspaper quoted Haryanto’s manager Piers Hunnisett as admitting that Ramadan might need to take a back seat to safety when it comes to Sunday’s long and high-speed race on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

"It’s more of a safety issue," he said.

"He has been following his faith in Montreal this week but we will see what the advice of the team doctors is. It is a long race and there is a worry about dehydration.

"Drivers lose a lot of body fluid during a race and we don’t want him losing concentration when he is driving at 350kph," Hunnisett added.