On the start-finish straight of a long Formula 1 season, the drivers are faced with a special tour de force at the Belgian Grand Prix. Hardly any other race subjects them to comparable physical strains as does the highly varied and demanding circuit of Spa-Francorchamps, which winds its 6.973 kilometres through the hilly landscape of the Ardennes. “During this race, the drivers are constantly at their limits,” says Frank Dernie of WilliamsF1.
Fascination has a name: Eau Rouge. Formula 1’s most famous corner is the subject of legends; its allure remains undiminished. Taking it at full throttle for the first time is regarded as a rite of passage in the top class of motor racing.
The journey into the outer limits of driving physics begins after the hairpin La Source. The drivers have taken the slowest corner of Spa-Francorchamps in second gear, now they are hurtling down the hill, accelerating flat out. At the lowest point, Eau Rouge awaits. Once in the dip, inertial forces of 4G apply – four times the Earth’s gravity. The cars arrive here at 300kmh and are pressed down onto the track with a force equivalent to 2.4 tonnes. At this rate, a driver with a body mass of 75 kilogram's would weigh 300kg. Only a flick of the eye later the drivers are speeding up the 15 percent incline towards Les Combes and experiencing, as a contrast, the lightness of existence: first, they see the hill loom up before them like an impenetrable wall, while their next view is then the sky – like a jet pilot pulling up his plane. For a tiny instant the car takes off and in the same moment the drivers take the corner. A ride on the razor’s edge.
“The race on this circuit demonstrates how tough this sport is,” Dernie says. “And how physically and mentally resilient the drivers need to be to cope with these strains.”
The experts assure us that the extreme demands placed on the drivers are exceeded, if at all, only in the manoeuvres of stunt pilots or in space travel. A comparison that is by no means exaggerated – after all, a Formula 1 car is undoubtedly a kind of rocket on wheels. With its full assortment of race equipment, it weighs 600kg. An engine power rating of 900 horsepower means that each kilogram of car is propelled by 1.5HP. This leads to a performance expressed in almost unbelievable values: a Formula 1 racing car accelerates from 0 to 100km/h in 2.8 seconds, from 0 to 160km/h in only 4.2. The tremendous axial and lateral acceleration that the drivers are subjected to is felt especially strongly on winding high-speed circuits such as Silverstone and Spa.
And the forces applying during acceleration are even exceeded during deceleration. Braking from a speed of 110km/h down to standstill takes a Formula 1 car no more than 2 seconds. When braking hard from high speeds, the drivers are subjected to up to 5G. This makes it difficult to hold your head straight. With the helmet, a head weighs approximately 7.5kg – at 2.5G when cornering, this corresponds to a load of almost 19kg. When braking, the equivalent of 37.5kg tears at muscles, tendons and ligaments. Frank Dernie says: “When you are subjected to 5G during braking, you feel as if your eyebrows will fall off.”
How extreme these strains are is best demonstrated by comparing them to the experiences of drivers in everyday road traffic. “Typically, an average driver will experience accelerations of less than 0.4G when cornering – values exceeding about 0.6G are already pushing the limits of stability,” Dr. Christoph Lauterwasser of the Allianz Center for Technology (AZT) explains. “Merely releasing the accelerator pedal in a fast-travelling Formula 1 car results in a deceleration of approximately 1G – as much when braking hard in a high-quality passenger car.”
These battles at the very limits also harbour risks. But the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) makes sure that the high standard of safety in Formula 1 is maintained. Before the start of the current season, for example, restrictions to the cars’ aerodynamics were introduced which – not least in regard to circuits such as Spa-Francorchamps – reduced downforce and thus cornering speeds. Nevertheless, chasing through the corners in the Ardennes remains one of the greatest challenges for the drivers who, from the viewpoint of sports medicine, count as certified extreme-sports athletes. The strains during the formidable accelerations and decelerations when driving at the limits inevitably lead to the drivers’ brains shifting inside their skulls. In addition, the volume of blood flowing through the heart’s ventricles keeps on changing. Together, these facts lead to a brief undersupply of blood to the brain. Without regular fitness training, these situations would immediately precipitate a blackout. However, that is not a danger that exists in Formula 1.
“The drivers are highly trained and entirely fit,” Frank Dernie says. “They would probably remain conscious up to 8G, but we will never achieve values like that in Formula 1.”
And did you know...
... that the legendary Eau Rouge corner at Spa-Francorchamps survived only thanks to the drivers? In 1994, following the prompting of the FIA, the world’s most famous corner had been defused by the construction of a chicane – for safety reasons. But in response to the requests of the drivers, who were unwilling to forego this athletic challenge, the corner was returned to its original shape the following year.
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