Coulthard reveals one-lap gap to Max Verstappen as F1 physical demands laid bare

David Coulthard has recalled lapping five seconds slower than Red Bull driver Max Verstappen in a one-lap shootout at Imola two years ago.

Coulthard, a winner of 13 grands prix, used that to highlight the physical demands which come with competing in Formula 1 and how quickly the sport moves on for a retired athlete.

David Coulthard was ‘reasonably happy’ with gap to Max Verstappen

Driving a Formula 1 car from an operational point of view is challenging enough, but drivers also go through intensive training just to be able to cope physically.

Beefing up the neck muscles is a big area of focus, so that drivers can cope with the incredible G-force created by the F1 cars at speed.

Coulthard, who retired after the 2008 season, found out just what it means to be at the peak of your powers in Formula 1 when he and Verstappen both had a lap in the Red Bull RB7 at Imola.

Coulthard claimed victory at Imola in 1998, winning the San Marino Grand Prix with McLaren. He made the podium a further three times at the venue. Verstappen, meanwhile, has won at Imola on four separate occasions.

Asked on the Indo Sport podcast if the average person could last 10 laps physically in an F1 car, Coulthard replied: “And that’s being incredibly kind.

“And when I say the average person, that includes me nowadays!

“Two years ago, I did a filming for a little feature where we were at Imola and I went around the track in the RB7, which would have been the Sebastian Vettel V8 World Championship car.

“I did one timed lap, on a track that I’ve won the grand prix in ’98, and then Max jumped in the car and he did one flying lap. I was five seconds slower.

“Now I was actually reasonably happy with that, because I hadn’t been around Imola for more than a decade or more.

“And I don’t drive. I haven’t driven grand prix cars at that time for probably… I’d done demonstrations and donuts, but not pushing on a racetrack, for well over a decade.

“So that just puts in perspective, getting what it is to be at the peak of your game.

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“I’ve lost more than two inches in neck girth – and that’s including the fact that I’ve got neck fat as a 54-year-old.

“So that’s just muscle. You look at the drivers, the necks come from their jaws, and mine used to, and I’ve got quite a wide jaw.

“Because you’re supporting all that G and weight on your head. So it’s an extreme environment. It’s uncomfortable. It’s fantastically uncomfortable.

“It’s addictively uncomfortable when you’re in the space of trying to win grands prix.

“But when you retire, and you know that your time is done – and I was lucky enough to retire on my own terms, rather than being kicked out of the sport – I didn’t do any exercise for a year.

“And it was such a joy not to have neck pain, back pain, arm pain, head hurting because of the vibrations, your ears ringing because of the noise.

“It’s such a hostile environment. But all of those things that I had become allergic to at the end of my career, they were addictive at the time, because I was like: ‘I can take more of this pain than my competitor. That pain is going to make him stop. I’m not stopping.'”

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