DURING RACE WEEKENDS THE AMOUNT OF G-FORCES EXPERIENCED BY F1 DRIVERS.

F1 drivers are some of the fittest athletes in all of sports, but are exposed to high amount of g-forces throughout a race weekend? What are some of the forces they experience and when are they highest?

One thing often levelled at F1 drivers is that it doesn’t matter how good they are, if they don’t have the car, they won’t win or come close to it.

However, this is not entirely the case.

Yes, you need a strong, competitive car to put you among the front-runners, but as a driver you need to be able to extract the maximum from the package to put the car where it deserves to be.

One way drivers can help push themselves to the limit is by putting the hours in during training to be in peak physical condition – and it is important they do so.

Such as the g-forces of F1 cars, drivers need to be able to cope with this as well as continue to drive the car, quickly.

But what are some of the g-forces F1 drivers are exposed to? When are they at their highest?

G-FORCES IN F1
While F1 has always had g-forces, the amount drivers have been affected by them has increased in recent years.

In 2017,the new technical regulations produced cars with more downforce and grip – allowing drivers to push flat-out for longer around a lap.

This increase in grip correlates to an increase in g-forces.

Not only that, the 2022 breed of cars has seen a new problem develop in the form of porpoising – or bouncing.

Drivers must now deal with bouncing along the straights, before being exposed to g-forces throughout the corners and in braking zones.

In heavy braking zones, such as the end of the back-straight in China, drivers can experience 5g after they throw the anchors out.

In high speed sweepers, such as Maggots and Becketts at Silverstone, 4-5g is also not uncommon for drivers to experience.

THE BIGGEST AMOUNTS IN RECENT YEARS
In the last couple of years, there have been two big accidents in F1 – with the g-forces involved some of the biggest experienced.

At the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix, Romain Grosjean experienced 67g during his fiery accident after hitting the barrier at 119mph.

He briefly weighed 3.9 tonnes at the moment of impact and highest g-force.

At the 2021 British Grand Prix, after his first lap contact with Lewis Hamilton at Copse, Max Verstappen was pitched into the barrier at 51g.

The Red Bull was destroyed as Verstappen took a trip to hospital as a precaution following the nature of the impact.