How fit is an F1 driver?

matt_shaw

Just another .ca?
Joined
May 15, 2005
Messages
1,399
Location
Prince Rupert, British Columbia
Compared to other athletes...


There has been some tension between me and a few friends who have been arguing about this for the past while.
 
Pretty fit, but i mena, theyre not gunna be doing any olympc events, but more work than most of us. I kno there was an article on it in F1 Racing Magazine i'll try and find it.
 
I'd imagine that to do any type of racing nowadays, you're going to have to be on the same level of fitness as a fighter pilot. Considering the constant G-loads induced on the drivers (especially F-1), everyone in just about every level of racing needs to be fit enough to take the punishment.

Compared to other athletes? Thing is that different types of athletes train differently. Just looking at (American) football players, you can see a huge variation in how fit each player is depending on their jobs. Linebackers are large, quarterbacks are scrawny, but have a hell of an arm. They also train for lots of quick sprints. Soccer players have more lower body training, and train for endurance. Marathon runners couldn't take the G-loads F1 drivers undergo. I doubt that Schumacher could jump high enough to play for any pro basketball team.

Basically, the best way to compare is to those who undergo the same training for the same type of purposes. And as I said. F1 drivers are probably equally fit as fighter pilots.
 
YF19pilot, very well said!

Don't quote me on this, but I think I read that an F1 driver looses kilograms worth of perspiration in one race. I can't imagine what kind of concentration levels they need to have while going around hairpins at 100MPH.
 
epp_b said:
Don't quote me on this, but I think I read that an F1 driver looses kilograms worth of perspiration in one race. I can't imagine what kind of concentration levels they need to have while going around hairpins at 100MPH.

I read on http://www.mclaren.com that they can lose up to 3 litres a race!!!
 
I have had the same argument with my friends as well... And I always compare kart driving. I am the most unfit person I know and as such am completely wasted after 15 minutes at the wheel of a kart car. But even the most fit people I know (and they are really fit, like pro atheletes comepting on national level) are out of puff after 30mins.

Now imagine driving at full tilt for 2hours, I cannot even imagine how hard that must be at the speeds they are going.

So to give my opinion, I think they are extremely fit. Their training is just really specialised so they might not be able to compete with other athletes trained secifically for their own events.
 
Didn't Tiff go and do F1 driver training for a day?
 
Viper007Bond said:
Didn't Tiff go and do F1 driver training for a day?
I think Clarkson did the same kinda thing with Coulthard on Motorworld (Monaco)
 
They're some of the most fit athletes in the world, especially in terms of stamina.
One of the things they train a lot is using their oxygen effectively enough.
Accelerating out of a corner and up through the first 2-3 gears experience so immense Gs that it's almost impossible to breathe. It's the same for breaking and cornering. The pressure on the lungs is just too high to be able to breathe properly, so the amount of oxygen they're actually able to get in one lap is very, very limited.
As YF19pilot said, you can't really compare athletes like that, but if you set up an F1 driver and a tennis player to run a marathon, the F1 driver would be able to keep up.

Unless his name is Yuji Ide, of course.
 
I do seem to remember a Monaco race in the 90's when one driver had to quit because he just didn't have the strenght to continue...

Can't remember his name though, but it was one of the guys who bought their seat.
 
If I remember right, last year Kimi's trainer said that Kimi has physics level of best in NHL.
 
As YF19pilot said, you can't really compare athletes like that, but if you set up an F1 driver and a tennis player to run a marathon, the F1 driver would be able to keep up.

Unless his name is Yuji Ide, of course.
Or Mark Webber. Then he'd break an ankle or something 15 minutes into the race :lol:
 
mmap said:
I have had the same argument with my friends as well... And I always compare kart driving. I am the most unfit person I know and as such am completely wasted after 15 minutes at the wheel of a kart car. But even the most fit people I know (and they are really fit, like pro atheletes comepting on national level) are out of puff after 30mins.

Now imagine driving at full tilt for 2hours, I cannot even imagine how hard that must be at the speeds they are going.

So to give my opinion, I think they are extremely fit. Their training is just really specialised so they might not be able to compete with other athletes trained secifically for their own events.
I play Varstiy level tennis and i used to play soccer in High School. I am in pretty good shape and every time i go kart racing i am dead the next day. Even times where i had to play soccer/tennis for almost 6 hrs strait with only a 30min lunch break in between, i wasnt that tired. However with karting i drove for about 3-4 hours and was beat...my body felt like jello the next day.
 
trionic said:
If I remember right, last year Kimi's trainer said that Kimi has physics level of best in NHL.

probably better, caus he'll be doing it without steroid and stuff....
 
I've heard that M. Schumacher did 6 hours straight racing when testing his Ferrari in Italy. That is seriously fit even on F1 terms.
Schumi is also one of the fitest of them.
 
Quote from autosport.com
?Q & A with Ross Brawn By Jonathan Noble (Saturday, September 30th 2006)?
Q. Do you think he (MS) will test the car?
RB: It is possible. To be frank, to drive an F1 car nowadays you have to be really fit and really sharp. I don't know if Michael wants to maintain that level of fitness when he stops, he trains for four to six hours per day and you need to to drive the car...

link
 
Top