F1 Drivers weight - scary thin!

[StevieBee]

I've not really considered the visual impact of the driver weight restrictions but this pic landed in my Facebook page today - Max Chilton on the treadmill. There's thin and there's F1 thin!!

[Pints]

Well there go my chances of being an F1 driver for a ball of st.

(It obviously has nothing to do with my lack of talent or ability to fund a racing team.)

[HTP99]

Look at Webber; one of the taller F1 drivers, his cheeks were all hollow and he looked like he was well on the way to being a famine victim, from what I read he really struggled to keep his weight down and didn't Sutil pass out earlier on in the year at some do somewhere because he wasn't eating properly to keep his weight down.

I seem to remember there have been recent calls to up the minimum wight for car and driver due to the very reason of drivers struggling to keep their weight down.

Edited by HTP99 on Wednesday 10th September 09:13

[scrwright]

see he has the heat lamps on the go too!
I agree there should be a weight allowance for the drivers but how would you fairly make up the difference between the short arses & the lanky ones? You would have to have a fixed point you have to put the ballast I suppose so it was not an advantage

[Bradgate]

Button looks skinny and gaunt these days, too.

It does seem unfair that the current rules are so tough on the so-called ‘taller’ drivers. My understanding is that Hulkenburg’s size is one of the main reasons he has so far missed out on a seat with a top team. In real terms, of course, the likes of Button, Webber, Hulk and Sutil are not big guys. They are all around the 6’0 mark, which is not exactly tall by today’s standards, and skinny with it.

The minimum weight should be set at a level at which these guys are not disadvantaged. After all, we want to watch the best drivers in the world in F1, not just ‘the best driver who happens to be under 5’9 and 70kg’

[VolvoT5]

Crazily thin. If he were an average guy on the street people might assume he has an eating disorder of some kind.

They really need to do something to increase the margin for the drivers - They will always try to be as light as possible due to the pace penalty of carrying unnecessary weight, but perhaps they should set a minimum BMI figure or say the minimum driver weight is 75kg and anyone under that has to carry ballast?

Edited by VolvoT5 on Wednesday 10th September 11:51

[djgritt]

I think the weight limits are being upped a little for next year.

LH has mentioned it on his Twitter/FB Feeds - I think he said he is aiming to add 6kg?

[williamp]

Dont know how to show the image, but this shows height/weight.




http://jackleslief1.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/f1-driv...

[LordGrover]

^^

[BluePurpleRed]

Vettel was 10kgs! lighter than hamilton? He must be super skinny.

[djgritt]

Weight limit to increase by 10kg - from LH a couple of weeks back

https://twitter.com/LewisHamilton/status/505003955...

[JonRB]

VolvoT5 said:

Crazily thin. If he were an average guy on the street people might assume he has an eating disorder of some kind.

They really need to do something to increase the margin for the drivers - They will always try to be as light as possible due to the pace penalty of carrying unnecessary weight, but perhaps they should set a minimum BMI figure or say the minimum driver weight is 75kg and anyone under that has to carry ballast?

It's all down to this year's regulations. In the past it has always been easy to meet the minimum weight of car + driver, to the extent that the cars carried extra ballast that could be redistributed as needed.

However, there was somewhat of a miscalculation in the 2014 regulations - mainly it was down to the projected weight of the new "power units", which turned out to be heavier than expected, which meant that suddenly teams were struggling to get the car + driver down to the required weight. Suddenly the weight of the driver was important and drivers have been put under immense pressure to lose weight.

What really needs to happen is for the minimum weight to be raised to compensate.

Just before the 2014 season started there was a move to raise the limit but it would have required unanimous support from all teams. Naturally that didn't happen as the teams with small, light drivers had no interest in losing that advantage.

Edited by JonRB on Wednesday 10th September 13:18

[Mr_Thyroid]

VolvoT5 said:

Crazily thin. If he were an average guy on the street people might assume he has an eating disorder of some kind.

They really need to do something to increase the margin for the drivers.

Edited by VolvoT5 on Wednesday 10th September 11:51

Don't worry - they're all fine.

I assume those weights are including race gear. In my race gear I'm 70-71kg and I'm 6-ft (about the same as Jenson). My BMI is 19 - NHS say 18.5 is the healthy minimum.

Don't forget they are all fit young men who eat and drink well. It's all you fat bds who are getting it wrong.

(those are last year's weights - Hamilton for one has noticeably lost weight since then)

Edited by Mr_Thyroid on Wednesday 10th September 17:25

[Pixelpeep7r]

Max chilton looks thin because he uses his families pounds when racing.

[Jasandjules]

They do seem fairly thin but then some of these triathlon/huge distance runners look equally thin. I suspect the drivers are thin as they train hard to get fit enough.

[IanHg]

djgritt said:

Weight limit to increase by 10kg - from LH a couple of weeks back

https://twitter.com/LewisHamilton/status/505003955...

Damn there's some nice looking ladies asking him to follow them!

[kambites]

VolvoT5 said:

Crazily thin. If he were an average guy on the street people might assume he has an eating disorder of some kind.

If that's true, it's a sad inditement of what our society considers to be "normal" weight. They're all within (albeit near the bottom of) the band which the NHS considers to be a healthy weight for their height.

[Olivera]

Those F1 driver weights seem comparable with those of pro cyclists. Contador 62kg, Froome 71kg.

[JonRB]

Did anyone actually read the post I made at 1.15pm?

[Mr_Thyroid]

JonRB said:

Did anyone actually read the post I made at 1.15pm?

I skimmed it.

My point is that they're not under weight. Sure it's probably better to raise the limit a bit to make it fairer on taller drivers.

Nico Hulkenberg is probably the heaviest guy this year - why: not motivated enough. Cut down on the protein, lose a bit of muscle. What's more important, going faster or looking good on the beach. If a girl, or a little boy like Gutierrez can drive one of these cars you don't need all the muscle - get to your minimum weight and get ahead of Perez. It's just for one year the rules will probably change next year, celebrate with a big steak.