F1 drivers are getting enough of the ride offered by existing cars. According to Finnish physiotherapist Sanna Feberg-Lindh, concerns about the health risk of steaming are not unfounded.
Lewis Hamilton held his back at the Baku depot on Sunday. Zumawire / MVPHotos
Lewis Hamilton was in pain with his eyes after Sunday ‘s GP in Azerbaijan.
The superstar of the species holding his back gave a concrete example of the great topic of speech of this formula period.
Bouncing new ground effect cars poses a serious health threat to drivers.
Mercedes seems to be suffering porpoisingmost of all. Hamilton and his teammate George Russell were the loudest drivers who criticized the burglary of Baku, but gravel sounds were also heard from other camps.
Fifth in the race was driven by AlphaTaurin Pierre Gasly described Sunday’s race as the most brutal of his life.
– This is no longer healthy. I need physiotherapy after every driving session because my back and diaphragm take big shocks, Gasly told Autosport.
Gasly says both he and the team are currently having to compromise on adjustments and thus performance to make driving possible at all.
Gasly agrees with Russell. The F1 series needs to do something about it before something irreversible happens.
– I do not think that the F1 series should put drivers in a situation where competitiveness and their own health are at odds. We need to find a solution so we don’t all need walking sticks in our thirties.
Stress fracture as a threat
Physiotherapist Sanna Feberg-Lindhin according to drivers have raised a fuss about a very important issue. This is a genuine health risk.
– When the car bounces, a hard blow is applied directly to the driver’s lower back. F1 boaters suffer from a similar flutter when driving over the waves, and they describe the feeling of someone hitting their back on the board, Feberg-Lindh says.
Prolonged hard shocks to the body can cause severe back injuries.
– Not only do hard ones have spacers, but even a stress fracture can occur in the back. When the spine is subjected to repetitive, long-lasting strokes long enough, it is sometimes broken, Feberg-Lindh, who knows the secrets of top sports in his profession.
In addition to the back, the neck is also hard.
– When the helmet is on, the bounces and the vibration of the car are equally violent on the neck and back.
An ordinary person would hurt
Driving an F1 car requires drivers to exercise hard. The ferocious G-forces poke the body hard in bends, accelerations and braking. To do this, drivers train themselves to peak fitness.
According to Feberg-Lindh, a ride in an F1 car this season would be far more dangerous for an “ordinary bunny” than a well-trained F1 star.
– The muscular condition of the driver must be good throughout. As they have, Feberg-Lindh recalls.
Driving an F1 car is a tough one anyway. Even the hardest ones get tired when there are shots for almost two hours in a race.
– You sit in the car like in a sauna. When the body gets tired and becomes dehydrated, then the muscle cell no longer receives the bumps as well and they come to the driver under harder pressure, Feberg-Lindh says.
Feberg-Lindh sees the violent bouncing of F1 cars as a worrying phenomenon.
– This is something that the driver cannot prevent. The car and the bench must be changed so that the driver is not struck.
Red Bull: “Acting”
Red Bull downplays Mersu’s problem. EPA / AOP
Solutions to the problem have also been proposed in the F1 depot.
Mersu’s option would be to raise the minimum ground clearance for cars so that the ground effect would no longer be as effective.
The other stables did not agree. The loudest opponent of the idea is Red Bull, which has managed to build a better and safer car for Mersu. It does not want to give up.
Stable boss Christian Horner suspect the Silver Arrow drivers are even exaggerating their ailments.
“I, too, would tell my drivers to cry and complain as much as possible if we had a similar problem,” Horner shouted at Sky Sports after Baku.