Why F1 Drivers Prefer Sedate Road Cars

[Dare]

I like the last paragraph




Why F1 Drivers Prefer Sedate Road Cars
By Chuck Squatriglia  December 29, 2008  | 
 

By Tony Borroz

What cars do F1 drivers use on the road? F1 Fanatic asked that question, and the answers are surprising. Fernando Alonso has been seen behind the wheel of a rather pedestrian Renault Megane, while Lewis Hamilton tools around in a Mercedes GL. Not exactly the excitement you’d expect.

It’s always interesting to hear what the world’s best drivers have in their garages because they should have more of a reasoned and thought-out opinion on the subject than your average driver, or even your average gearhead. I remember seeing an article many years ago in a European racing magazine that asked this very question, and the answer, almost universally, was Mercedes. Michele Alboreto and Gerhard Berger both said Ferraris, of course, since they were driving for Il Commendatore at the time. And it wasn’t just loyalty. One of the perks of racing for Ferrari is the company car you get. Just ask Michael Schumacher.

At any rate, every other driver on the list said Mercedes. In fact, apart from Jonathan Palmer (who mentioned the Merc 190 with the 16 valve Cosworth head), they all drove a Mercedes S Class. Asked why, Alain Prost, was at the time was the benchmark for F1 driving, offered a typically direct and succinct answer.

"Why drive a Mercedes? Because a Mercedes is everything an F1 is not. It’s cool and quiet and comfortable and safe. Very safe."


As is well known, Prost had a near fetish for safety since that whole Pironi deal, but he also has a point. If you’ve ever spent any time in a race car, even a brief period of time, a bunch of things, in addition to the performance, are readily apparent. I’ve spent a fair amount of time in and around a fairly wide variety of racers, but they all have a lot of things in common aside from being elite athletes.

First off, they’re not very comfortable. A lot of the formula cars I’ve dealt with didn’t even have seats, just sheets of metal where your back and ass and the back of your legs would rest. Your shoulders are most usually crammed in between two frame tubes or bulkheads. Even modern open wheelers that are constructed of carbon fiber, the "seat" is bare material that is from fitted to the contours of your body.

Race cars are also hot. And in the case of closed top cars, hotter than you’d first imagine. I’ve seen guys get their legs burned in formula cars from the radiator pipes running too close to their calves. In a tin top, I’ve seen people pass out, I’ve seen rain fall on the inside due to condensation. The great Carlos Sainz was known to sweat so profusely during the Acropolis Rally that the team built drains in the seats & floorboards.

Noisy? Did you just ask me how noisy a race car is? Sorry, a little hard of hearing these days … anyway, damn straight they’re noisy. That’s why rally crews use intercoms, and F1 and Indy car drivers have been known to use TWO sets of foam earplugs stuffed into their ear canals. Veteran race car drivers are like veteran artillerymen: good lip readers.

Safety? Yeah, well, everyone knows that a Merc is as safe as a bankvault. Heavy sheet steel, Teutonic attention to detail, crash tested more times than, oh, let’s say Amy Winehouse has been around the block. And I’m not saying that modern race cars aren’t safe. I’ve seen drivers get in literal Earth-shaking accidents, and walk away, but let’s face facts, racing is a deadly game. As Steve McQueen stated, perhaps a little over-dramatically, in the 1970 classic Le Mans, "This isn’t just a thousand to one shot. This is a professional bloodsport. And it can happen to you. And then it can happen to you again." Yeah, I know,
that was nearly 40 years ago, but I can categorically state that it’s pretty much the same today.

I wish I could call up some friends and ask them what their plans for the upcoming season are, but I can’t. This is the sport they, and I, choose. And the environment they are asked to work in is, by and large, hellish.

I remember reading an interview with one-time doctor and F1 driver Jonathan Palmer, who said he once handed a race driver’s medical telemetry to a physician and, without explaining where it came from or who the patient was, asked him to diagnose the patient’s condition.

The doctor replied, "Near death."

[SennaMan]

fantastic find Dare - thanks for an insightful article and that last para is a classic - "near death" reveals much.