Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Casto
I find this discussion about drivers body shapes and sizes and "physicality" funny. Given the duration of the races and the G-loads, I expect they are all quite fit. I think I have read the phrase "wanting the cars to be more physical to drive". What exactly does that mean? Do you want it to be physically harder to turn the wheel or push the pedal or what?
My definition is that it should be harder to turn a fast lap. However I expect that to be a mostly mental exercise and less physical. However it might require more "motion" of the body to do so (more steering corrections than if you are on a rail and holding a smooth line).
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Formula One is more than just qualifying, in which it is indeed about doing one lap as fast as possible. Doing qualifying laps was probably only physically exhausting during the eighties, when cars qualifying components, true qualifying set-ups and engine power twice as much as their weight.
However, the race used to exhaust drivers severely. It is said this is no longer the case. The drivers' fitness seems to better than actually necessary. And that is exactly why some complain: they consider Formula One drivers as athletes and there want to see faster cars, exhausting drivers to the extreme.
Do not get me wrong: I think making Formula One continuously faster is a dead end. Sooner or later the cars simply become too fast for the human body to bear the forces. Safety and health mandate a limit to be set. And as soon as such a limit is set, it will become easier for other - feeder - series to get by. That is the very reason why GP2 is no longer that much slower than Formula One.