Let's Get Physical

Alain Prost recently said he believed Nick Heidfeld was lacking the physical stamina to drive at his optimum best at race distances. When Jenson Button was signed to Williams this year one of the many dinner table debates sparked was whether he'd be fit enough to stand the grueling physical pressures of an F1 season. The role of physical fitness in a driver's career is now deemed as a vital as the car they're put in. It is now accepted, and expected, that drivers are supreme athletes, a title once denied them. Once, sporting stars were perceived as presiding at the top of the human ability ladder. Now, they must surpass that standing as athletes push the limits and are regularly declared 'super-human'. After Olivier Panis's 1997 Canadian Grand Prix accident, in which he broke both legs, his trainer noted 'Olivier will recover a lot quicker than a normal person'.

Whilst the performance level of today's drivers cover a small percentage range, it is interesting to note the difference in body size and weight of drivers before considering the physical needs to drive in F1. Bouncing around facts and figures can be a somewhat fruitless exercise but consider the average measurements of this year's drivers - the average driver height is 1.75 (about 5ft8 in 'old money'!), the average weight is 70.3kg (11st). This year's shortest driver is Jonny Herbert, just hitting the 1.67m mark (5ft5) compared to the lofty frame of the tallest driver, Alex Wurz who is 1.86m (6ft1). The rather unflattering title of paddock heavyweight goes to Rubens Barrichello at 79kg (12st6) whilst the lightweight of the series at 60kg (9st6) is Jarno Trulli. Though there is a 19kg (3st) difference between them, Barrichello and Trulli stand at a height, in fact, at 1.73m (5ft8) Trulli is a fraction taller than Barrichello. The statistical comparison of Barrichello and Trulli proves the sterility of facts and figures in isolation unless considered in conjunction with body type and frame. Whilst it is commonly held that the 'perfect' driver would be of small and light stature, casting an eye down the grid at the likes of David Coulthard, Jenson Button and Alex Wurz their height has not hindered their careers. Stand Jacques Villeneuve next to Alex Wurz and it can be hard to reconcile they compete in the same physically demanding sport. Formula One, so dependent on other financial and technological factors, has yet to produce a physical ideal so dominant as to quash the hopes of would-be drivers before they've turned a wheel. Whatever their body type, the physical requirements for all drivers remains the same, strength, cardiovascular stamina, flexibility and quick reflexes.

The dedication to the training needed to attain this finely tuned machine has roots in the early 1970's. Jackie Stewart has written of his realisation at that time that fitness could be a deciding factor in improved driving performance that others weren't utilizing. Stewart joined sessions at a training camp in St Mortiz run by Gunther Trube, who'd convinced Michael Kranfuss, then head of Ford's competition department, that fitness training would benefit their drivers. One such driver to benefit from this new approach was Jochen Mass. In the 1970s there was a television programme that pitted sporting stars against one another in a series of different physical and aptitude tests. Now, whilst I remember watching this, I was young and the memory of the title is foggy as my mind wanders to other programmes that I classed as more important at the time such as Bagpuss and Mr. Benn - anyhow the current consensus is it was called 'Superstars' and you get the idea anyway! Mass fared well in these inter-sport competitions and impressed many with his all round ability, upending the idea that racing drivers weren't 'proper' athletes.

In the 1980's, Ayrton Senna's fitness regime marked another milestone in the acceptance of intense physical training as a must. Senna charted his typical exercise plan in his book 'Principles of Race Driving'. Senna was a great advocate of running for all round and cardiovascular fitness with a dedicated off-season routine. More recently, Michael Schumacher has been hailed by his peers as the driver to set new standards of physical ability. A man who has had an obsession with fitness since an early age, Schumacher has pushed the physical peak further still and fellow drivers have ably followed his lead.

Drivers require long, lean muscles as opposed to short and bulky. A bulky frame would be physically restrictive in the close environment of a racing car, bulky muscles increase weight and make the heart work harder as more blood is needed in larger muscles. Although drivers such as Jacques Villeneuve strip down to look quite stocky and bulky due to their short stature, taller drivers, Niki Lauda being a classic example, can appear deceptively puny due to their lean physique. To develop long, lean muscles with increased stamina, training consists of high repetitions with low weights and resistance work. Crucial muscle areas are those in the neck, back, shoulders and arms; areas subjected to intense forces when racing. Drivers are regularly subjected to stresses of 4g on their upper body when cornering and sometimes higher. After the tragic accidents at Imola in 1994, the FIA set up an Expert Advisory Committee to review circuit safety - they found 27 corners with a g-force rating of around 4g. When cornering at 4g a driver with an average head and crash helmet weighing 6.5kg (14lb) will experience the feeling that the weight is now the equivalent of 26kg (57lb), add this load to the work already being done by the body and it is easy to understand why drivers physically unprepared could make catastrophic mistakes under pressure. It also explains why drivers develop the distinctive bull neck appearance. As well as being strong whilst lean, it is equally important for drivers to have a high level of flexibility and quick reaction times. Their muscles must respond and flex in split seconds. Training must develop this finely balanced equilibrium between strength and responsiveness. Drivers partake in a number of co-ordination and skill exercises to hone their overall reflexes. Benetton's new state of the art gym includes a 'reaction wall' akin to an oversized arcade game where hitting randomly flashing panels measures reaction time.

Endurance and cardiovascular fitness is achieved by aerobic exercise, many drivers choosing activities such as running, mountain biking and cross country skiing, where the pulse rate can be raised over a lengthy time period to simulate race conditions. Whereas 'normal' people have a pulse rate of around 70 beats per minute at rest, drivers can have pulse rates as low as 40. When racing their rates can raise in the region of 150 - 160 beats per minute for up to a two hour period, Michael Schumacher aims to keep his heart rate at 140 beats per minute throughout a race. In times of stress this race pulse rate can raise as high as 200 beats per minute or higher - a level which would lead normal people to seriously collapse. A driver's cardiovascular training is therefore imperative to make sure the heart is working at maximum capacity and can recover quickly. In extreme exercise conditions, David Coulthard can raise his heart rate to over 190 beats minute yet can return to a resting pulse of below 50 beats per minute in five minutes. His trainer, former army instructor Terry Woods, puts this lightening recovery rate done to another important aspect of cardiovascular fitness, oxygen consumption. Whereas most of us only utilise half the oxygen we breath in, Coulthard uses up to 70% of the oxygen he inhales, combine this with an increased lung capacity through training and you have a supremely efficient oxygen supply to the body. But, before we are bogged down with images of drivers as Stepford athletes I like to remember the story of Gerhard Berger in 1984. Joining the BMW training camp in St Moritz, Berger joined in the cross-country skiing but was always trailed at the back. One day, much to the others surprise, his training partners found him at the restaurant which marked the end of their run first. Not only was he there first, he had been there half an hour ahead of the rest, was tucking into one of the restaurants famed puddings, supposedly not his first. If this had been the result of an amazing feat of skiing he may have been forgiven his sweet tooth's indulgence but when it was revealed he'd hired a horse-drawn sledge to take him to the restaurant the trainer was none too pleased!

All in all, drivers can spend up to five hours a day training depending on the time of year. To keep maximum levels of fitness through the winter off-season is a grueling demand and this is when a drivers regime is its most intensive. Training during the season is basically maintenance as the act of driving in itself keeps drivers in peak condition, indeed it is excellent for building neck muscles for which it is difficult to simulate similar stress conditions in the gym. The nomadic nature of the sport brings with it its own difficulties. Living from hotel to hotel, drivers are designed special fitness routines incorporating chairs, doors and water filled weights as makeshift gym equipment to maintain their regime. The unsettling nature of being on the road, and especially long-haul flights, adds another hurdle of physical stress to overcome. Denny Hulme was envied for his ability to walk off a long flight as fresh as he walked on whilst Jackie Stewart found long-flights disrupted his body clock and he needed to prepare himself to fly to try and avoid jet-lag symptoms.

However well prepared a driver is for the strains they will face on the racetrack, they must endure knocks over which they have no control - they're mere passengers. The stresses they endure can lead to both short and long term painful injuries. Squeezed and strapped into a restrictive carbon-fibre cocoon, the arms and legs are particularly vulnerable to constant knocking against the cell interior. This knocking can lead to bruising and pain, but more seriously, can cause bruising to superficially lying nerves which in extreme circumstances can numb the limbs and lead to the loss of sensation. This was the case when Ayrton Senna was unable to get out of his car after his victory in the 1991 Brazilian Grand Prix. Pressure on nerves in Senna's arm had stopped them working properly giving him floppy, weak wrists so he could not support his own weight when he tried to push himself up, out of the cockpit. The sensation can soon return though Professor Sid Watkins, FIA medical chief, remembers the most serious case of such nerve bruising was to the nerves below the knee of an F3000 driver who took months to recover the full sensation in his ankles. In 1965, Jackie Stewart went as far as to have a nerve from the ball of his foot removed as the constant pressure from driving caused the nerve to be painfully inflamed. Another major complaint from drivers in previous years has been back pain. Confined in a small space, low to the ground, every bump and vibration is sent through the drivers spine causing the discs between the vertebrae to compress and decompress - the body's shock absorber system. As the cars have been designed with softer suspension, the vibrations have lessened and fewer drivers have complained of noticeable back pain. Driving an F1 car will never be a comfortable ride but the use of improved seat design incorporating energy-absorbing padding and the reduction in suspension stiffness has helped the situation.

Laying the physical foundations is but one aspect of the game. The next step is to fuel and oil this most intricate of machines.

© Rebecca Hobbs

(c)RH PR 2007