![]() ![]() The driver will use free weights and chest presses to strengthen chest and back muscles in order cope with assisting the neck and arms with moving the car round the track. Steering this 750 horsepower beast of a car, which weighs the same as a modern Mini Cooper, is no easy task. Are you starting to get on board with me yet? Getting back to the cardiovascular level, the fact is there is no other sporting activity other than a full distance marathon that will keep heart rates and temperatures as high and at such a long time as F1 does. ![]() Even then the pump system used to transport this fluid to the driver often breaks and leaves the driver parched for the remainder of the race. Yes, the drivers do get liquids on board the vehicle, but at the very most it will be one litre of an energy drink that will contain vital salts lost through sweating to try and help maintain the high level of brain and muscle function. During a normal race in mild temperatures a driver will sweat out up to three litres.ĭehydration is bad for F1 drivers as it causes confusion and slow responses. Most drivers jumped out of the cars and almost passed out with the heat and dehydration. At the season’s hottest race in Malaysia the heat soared to 40 C and humidity was at an astounding 80 percent. I am sure that it is difficult to breathe at the best of times in an F1 car. He will be strapped in with a five-point harness, which puts pressure on the crotch and chest. Our driver is operating in cramped conditions that are hot and noisy. Count it and then imagine your heart going through that for the full two hours.ĭid you know? - A driver’s blood pressure will increase by approximately 50 percent during a two-hour race. That heart rate of 170 bpm is equivalent to almost three beats every second. This will give an average reading of approximately 170 bpm. During the race adrenaline will push the heart rate up even higher, sometimes over 200 bpm. Our drivers tend to have a resting heart rate of about 45-50 bpm, which increases rapidly come race time.Īs our driver sits on the grid waiting for the lights to go out, his heart rate has increased to 185 bpm even though he is not moving a single muscle. is reading this), has a resting heartbeat of 70 bpm. The average human being, that’s me and you folks (unless Lewis and Co. For F1 drivers it's constant physical endurance for the full race length, which as I have said before at an extreme level can be anything up to two hours long. They can’t go to the touchline and grab a drink from a trainer and they don’t get a halftime or a time out. It’s not uncommon for the driver’s personal trainer to learn the next track that the driver will race and simulate the track by making the pulleys move in the corner sequence of the track thus making the driver prepared for the coming race.ĭrivers have to go the distance on race days, there are no breaks where they can just get out of the vehicle and cool down. The driver must then resist the pull to strengthen the neck and upper back muscles. To train for this the drivers may use a piece of equipment that is basically a helmet attached to pulleys, which pull and move the head and neck in different directions and angles. So to understand this weight just imagine having five butane gas canisters or five large fire extinguishers strapped to your head for two hours and then tell me that this is not a demonstration of physical agility. The reason I choose F1 drivers for my study is to show that the makings of a great athlete come from not only the body, but also the mind. When we say the word athlete we think of fit men and women who can run fast, hit hard, go for longer and are generally at the peak of physical fitness. In this article I will try to explain just what it takes to be a Formula 1 driver. It’s not only the survival that is in mind but just to get through a single race is a task in itself for a human body. They go through rigorous training schedules and diets to maintain a level of fitness that should this kind of accident occur, then they have a higher chance of survival. Sorry Nick, you tried your hardest.īut these F1 drivers are no ordinary human beings, they are super humans who push their bodies to extreme high limits for their passion. This is enough to kill our alpha male in an instant. Are your internal organs strapped in? Absolutely not, they keep on going, hitting the inside of your rib cage at 160mph. Now think about this, his rib cage is static due to the five-point harness he was wearing. Well Nick, I would disagree that you could do better and this is why.Īn impact at this speed, 160 mph (approximately 257 kmph) like in the case of Heikki Kovalainen in Spain this year causes the car to decelerate at a force of 26G, that’s 26 times your body weight. ![]()
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