F1 drivers and coke (merged)

[Raglanparade]

It seems that F1 Drivers have been using coke for a number of years.

Not the soft drink, but cocaine.

Most of the f1 websites are reporting the aqcuisations

see. www.f1central.net for more info

Would this really help ??

[Adam43]

Hmmm. This is hardly fact city:

The use of cocaine is widespread among Formula One drivers, a former Ferrari team doctor has claimed.

A certainty then.

Although random FIA tests have never returned a positive result, Benigno Bartoletti said in Rome that 'as many as one third' of the current field take the drug as a stimulant prior to grands prix.

Never returned a positive result. The evidence for doesn't look good. And what on Earth does being 'in Rome' have to do anything with this. Are drivers more likely to take drugs if this doctor is in Rome?.

The Italian said that, for about 90 minutes, cocaine's effect boosts reaction time and a driver's feeling of invincibility. But he warned that when a grand prix goes longer, 'it could become dangerous.'

Lets get all scared about the state of F1.

This article is pure fantasy in my humble opinion. "as many as one third"! ooooo, fact fact fact fact fact fact fact fact fact fact fact fact fact fact fact fact fact.

[Dani Filth]

i don't buy it ....

[Raglanparade]

I dont buy it either.... but im sure the F1 guys can afford it.

[ASCII Man]

I knew it, just look at Coulthard's face!
Scary fellow, i tell you!

Maybe that's why Schumi has such a large chin?

[Jordi]

1. How would they manage to go unnoticed? Surely coke appears in drug tests.
2. I don't see how it can actually help. It might explain some of Schumacher's jumps on the podium, though!

[Kicking-back]

It's rubbish.

They have regular drug tests.

[L-B]

They certainly used to, James Hunt used to do all sorts of things.

[ralf fan]

90 mins eh... so the drivers should become drunk and act like children during the podium celebrations...OMG its true

No way.. cocaine is highly addictive and taking it 'regularly' would result un pleasant incidences that would make the usage of it obvious...

i think the doc just wants his 5 mins of fame..

[Adam43]

Or as it is turning out here, a couple of hours of ridicule.

[Mekola]

Perhaps this thing is rubbish, but, is it related to the thing that the FIA was excluded from the Olympic Comitee as observator due to it fail to be estrict in doping tests???

[Mekola]

I re-write my point of view to be more clear:

Perhaps the declarations of this doctor about coke and F1 are rubbish, but, is it related to the thing that the FIA isn't anymore a "recognised federation" by the International Olympic Comitee due to its refusal to sign the World Anti-Doping Code??? (The FIA explanation is that they don't recognise the TAS -a kind of international sport tribunal of judging- as an instance in an eventual doping conflicts).

[Irv the Swerve]

So let me get this straight.

Michael Schumacher devotes his life to motor racing, putting his life on the line every time he gets behind the wheel, trains to an olympic standard day after day, year after year, using very specific scientific methods in tandemn with his diet and health guru, so as to be in peak physical and mental condition for driving in a Grand Prix.


And then goes in the jacks before the race puts a hundred quid of charlie up his nose........hmmm.

[L-B]

I can say this because its elsewhere on the net but apparently Dale Whittington was coked to the eyeballs when he ploughed into the crash on the formation lap at the Indy 500 in the early 80's. Mario Andretti was apparently furious about it and threatened to blow the whistle on the Whittington brothers.

Its not unheard of - look at some of the threads on drugs on the Nostalgia forum at Atlas.

However that was the 70's and early 80's weither it is still going on now I seriously doubt. Coke would make you feel invincible which is not actually a good thing in a F1 car.

[Phoenix1]

Drivers are tested randomly and on a regular bases and if you remember a few years ago Tomas Enge was given a penalty for drugs taking and stripped of his F3000 crown. I think this doctor should:

a) be quite and let the FIA do its job and if he has evidence then he should either provide it

b) If he has evidence and has not shown the police (in UK at least not sure about other countries) charged with perverting the cause of juistice by not handing in evidence

c) charged with liable by someone (maybe the FIA?)

Do we know why the guy left Ferrari anyway? If he liked the team he would of kept this in house so this seems like a spoilt little man who wanted some money for a story which is to vague in accusation to be prosecuted by a driver or team but has enough in it for gossip. I'm sure that out of every person in the crowd and teams on a sunday someone has taken some drugs but I bet you that not one is a driver and especially not a big name driver. When a tabloid wants a story they go and take a photo of a celeb on drugs anyone seen any driver on the front of any yet? Shame on the doctor... one last thought even if all 20 where taking it as a doctor he should treat them and try to get them better, good doctors have a duty to patients confidentiality whatever the problem. If you go off his stats and the fact Ferrari have TGF, RB, LB and MG then at least one is taking them.

Okay I'll stop in a second but from what I understand (which is not alot) drugs give you a lift but then you feel down afterwards, all the drivers have post race interviews, if the drugs only lasted 90 minutes then they would be on a down and some of them probably in a very bad mood or is he also by this in essence saying it is in the drivers drinks and thus the teams doctors (such as himself) are in on it? okay rant over...

[Pondo]

F1 drivers on coke? What a load of old pony.

[Logrence]

They all imbibe enough red bull to keep a horse whizzing round the ceiling for hours whilst they're sitting on the grid, but cocaine? S'possible, I suppose, but the FIA are being very stupid if they're covering up drug test results.

As to them all having feelings of invincibility - they're just arrogant. Few minutes of fame is all this chap wants I feel. Especially vague on the details, I expect we'll find that his departure from the Scuderia was less than amicable.

[Wrex]

Time for some thread rating here.

Damn, zero is as low as I can go.

[Snrub]

Wouldn't it have negative attributes relating to accuracy and the motor skills required to drive an F1 car? I know US fighter pilots take "speed lite" to help them stay fully alert for long duration missions...

[RWC]

This is about a guy looking for attention and media stupid enough to run it

I'm not saying there is no drugs in f1- hell the fia would certainly cover anything up if it could ,going by past behaviour
But even they couldn't cover up any kind of regular drug taking going on!

Of course most of the drivers today wouldn't go near it no matter what percieved benifits it gives.They all believe the super healthy super fit thing is the way to go

[Korr]

I don't believe the drivers take it, but I have often wondered what Bernie is on...

[GTRMagic]

Mr Unser Jr and Mr Enge were isolated cases of substance use/abuse??

[Number Juan]

although this story smacks of bull----, it is something that wouldn't suprise me one bit unfortunately. of course, these guys are athletes in every sense of the word, dedicated and focused. but they're also under an immense amount of pressure from sponsors, teams, fans etc.

so let me pose this question for you...if you're under an extraordinary amount of pressure from all these people to the point of a nervous breakdown, you're not sleeping well, not relaxing and are not your normal self...if you've had a speight of dissapointing performances, and you've not got much in the tank...would you say, follow the advice of certain unscrupulous people around you and have a couple of lines to get you fired up and in the zone? if it worked one time, would you then not think "hey, if i can get away with this...why can't i use it all the time?"

this is how drugs in sports occurs. i have played sports to a national level, and i have seen it happen many, MANY times. people who get to the top suddenly go off the boil, and can't deal with the pressures of expectation that surround them. they start getting tired, they make mistakes and start falling downwards. then as a natural human reaction, they try and do everything to stop this downards spiral. most people will just deal with everything and work to the goals they've set themselves. however, there will always be some that will try and take the easy way out. its just plain dissapointing when it happens. its sad that people take the easy way out, or who are so desperate for glory that they'll try and do anything to win.

this doctor is quite right that there are probably maybe one, maybe two drivers who have taken drugs in the past or who are now. it may not be simply cocaine-because there are are better drugs out there to take that won't alter your behaviour or that are physically addictive. there are also drugs supplied by the rather dubious black pharmaceutical market that are not detectable in modern drugs tests. i very much doubt that a third of drivers are on drugs, its never that much of a problem in sport. when you look at the laws of averages, surely if a third of drivers were coked up to the hills-then surely one of them would've gotten caught out by now!!! its very sensationalist and rather exaggerated, but he makes a fair, if not misguided point about drugs in sports. in every sport there are those who are willing or desperate enough to succumb to the pressures of being at the top of their sport. that is the only fact that i can see in this story, but to disregard this fact so flippantly as many members have done, is to disregard not only reality, but to disregard the truth.

[Adam43]

However the above article serves no purpose other than the sensalisation of nothing.

I'd rather disregard a truth because of lack of evidence than campaign a lie.

I hear that "up to one third" of all 10 Tenths members are regular coke takers. Does that last comment do any good, although I bet I am quite right.

[Logrence]

Actually I do believe that up to two thirds of 10 tenths members are regular cake takers.