http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2009/04/21/how-...s-an-f1-driver/

[QUOTE]Toyota team doctor Ricardo Ceccarelli gives some extraordinary insight into the punishing forces an F1 driver is subject to - and how fit they need to be

 

[QUOTE]In F1 the driver is working all the time and the slightest misjudgement on the controls can cause a crash or a spin. Ceccarelli explains:

 

^ absolutely true - anyone who has spent time on the track knows that you have to keep your concentration up at all times. Watching the road, looking for your braking points, feeling the back end of your car, etc...

 

That's one of the reasons I love going to the track: total concentration on the moment and absolutely nothing else. You kind of get hooked on being in that state of mind.

 

They are in shape, but there is no way I am going to believe that the average F-1 driver has a heart rate of 180 bpm over the course of a race.

I have had VO-2 Max and Lactic Threshold tests once a year for the past four years. I would have to see the data before I could accept that the drivers have rates this high.

First, a 180 bpm HR is likely to be a max for many, if not most, racers, not a rate that could be averaged for 90 minutes or so. For this figure to be correct, a 180 bpm HR would likely have to be an aeobic HR rate at a sub-Lactic threshold. I'm not buying it.

I am not at all saying that they aren't athletic, but this number doesn't seem reasonable. I'ld have to see the verification.

 

I have seen data reports of this for many years on race car drivers when they monitor it as part of the telemetry.
I seen to recall that some were over 200.

 

[QUOTE=triman54,Apr 22 2009, 03:46 AM] They are in shape, but there is no way I am going to believe that the average F-1 driver has a heart rate of 180 bpm over the course of a race.

I have had VO-2 Max and Lactic Threshold tests once a year for the past four years.

 

so why does the heart rate become so high in F1? is it because of the work load on the driver?

 

I can get my HR up to 180 bpm, but that is about my max. I probably run qbout 25 to 30 miles per week, bike about 125 to 150 miles and swim about 10,000 yards per week. My long training weeks are up to 20 hours, with about 17 hours of aerobic. I am not saying that this report is inaccurate, but I am aged 49 and in pretty fair shape for someone my age. I work with a triathlon coach, and I have a relatively technical and involved training regime. Your personal HR may be quite different than mine given age, etc., (you are probably a fair bit younger than me, but I am almost a dinosaur anyway) , but I still am shocked by this report and find it something I wouldn't necessarily agree with unless I could independently verify it--just based on my personal experience with endurance sports for the last 20 years or so.

I would expect that these drivers would have to be doing over 15 hours a week or so of aerobics (given their relative youth compared to me) if the data are correct. It may be...I just don't know.

Irrespective, the current breed of F-1 driver is probably in very good physical shape.

 

Wow, nice training program

I've been a bump on a log for quite a while now, I was biggest into biking around 5 years ago (late teens/early 20's) when I could do those numbers. I could probably come back into some sort of good shape, but at the moment I'm garbage physically....no fault but my own.

A lot of these guys are YOUNG, for example, Vettel is only about 22 years old.

I think what these guys do is totally possible based on the same idea as guys who ride the Tour de France or compete in the Ironman or what have you: the best endurance competition guys are in practically superhuman shape compared to just about everybody else on the planet, so I don't really doubt it.