In recent years, both the organization of competitions in our country and in 2021 a legendary title fight attendance, as well as formula 1In order to appeal to a wider audience, the number of followers of this sport has also increased. With the increase in the number of followers, the number of questions to be answered also increased.

One of the controversies associated with so many people who are just starting to take an interest is: “Are Formula 1 drivers athletes?” there was a discussion. After all, when we left? drive a car Such a sport did not exist. So why are drivers called athletes? Why do those who don’t accept pilots as athletes?

Let’s run down some prejudices first:

“However, straight road, straight road everyone rides” Do not argue with those who say: leave; not worth your effort. “Cars do the most important work, man!” Don’t take those who say that too seriously. When you built the best car in the world best pilot in the world you want to use. Under Vettel, under Alonso slower look what they did to the cars, I don’t know who made the best climb of the season with the tractor Alfa Romeo gave me last year. to Raikkonen Look, the effect of talent and experience is more clearly understood.

In fact, the main criticism of the racers is again through another race, horse race it’s coming. In horse racing, the main competitor is the horse, Horse of the Year It is said that a similar situation applies to Formula 1 and that the vehicle is the most important. So this is true? Come on, let’s see.

With a simple Google search Jockey of the year We see that there is such a thing. For example the Jockey of the Year award in 2021 Gokhan Kocakaya had received. Of course Horse of the Year is also selected and the team that has already built the best car in Formula 1 wins the Constructors’ Championship.

Indeed, these critiques not organic eitherIt was an idea at the time to criticize the fact that a pilot was awarded the Athlete of the Year award at the time. In fact, it was not an idea that many supporters in the sports community found, but at first glance “Yes, why should driving be a sport?” he could say.

So what does athlete mean?

Although we say athlete, the word for athlete in many languages ​​is actually is an athlete. in ancient Greece athletics comes from the word and its meaning “One who competes for a prize”is From this perspective, pilots are athletes, but MasterChef in Turkey And people compete for prizes, are they food athletes too?

Athlete If we look at the meaning of the word from TDK “a person who participates in sports” we get the answer. Since this explanation is useless to us, let’s look at the word “sport”. “All movements performed according to certain rules, individually or collectively, with the aim of improving the body or mind.“Riders also need to be prepared physically and mentally, races have rules. From this point of view, they are considered athletes. Also, athlete Let’s look at the word. “Everyone involved in athletics,” he says. We still can’t make it. So what is athletics? Here also “Running, jumping, lifting weights, throwing, etc., which are used to develop body strength, agility and skills. general name of individual sports that are practiced alone. has an expression. Finally something useful came up. So the pilots:

• body strength
• Maneuverability
• talent development

to do and to do standalone competition obliged. We count how many people are in the car: 1. Only the competition part is complete. Let’s take a look at the other three titles together. Even if I compare it with myself to see the difference between Formula 1 athletes and a normal person, it will be very useful to know my own scores in some evaluations that we can use for comparison.

Body Strength:

First of all, one of the most fundamental points in this area; ability to bear weightis inner strength and power that can be applied. As cars accelerate, there is a feeling of inertia on the runway, like a plane speeding up. This feeling is not difficult to sustain. What if the plane suddenly stops? When the plane has to stop so we don’t get thrown and break a place We wear that belt. 5G during braking in Formula 1 vehicles you have strength. If you hit the wall, 15-16G of force will be on you.

To fully understand this, let’s do it this way, multiply the weight of things on you by the number of G-forces acting on them. 8 kilograms your helmet feels like 40 kilograms when braking. Max Verstappen like 51G If you hit the wall with force, that helmet 408 pounds applies force. You and I probably broke our necks, the guy was on TV at night.

Another point is to actually use those tools. how hard is it Not knowing. It takes a lot of force to hold the steering wheel, even pressing the accelerator and brake. Go to a gym and increase the leg press to 100 kilograms. set. Let’s say we chose an easy job and do a set of 15 in this leg press. Full 90 sets. IN EXACTLY ONE HOUR AND ONE HOUR. Why did I ask for this, since I don’t mean your life? In Formula 1 cars you have to apply 100 kilograms of force to make the brakes work. Pilots brake 15-20 times per minute. Is it necessary to give examples to the rest of the body one by one? I don’t think so, but let me tell you, muscles in our body that we don’t know exist even they have to run.

In fairness I say I did it myself. in Istanbul Park I will be doing a qualifying lap but you have to pick me up from the wall in the pit entrance lap. While AlphaTauris It is much easier for me to exert 100 kilograms of force, because the combined weight of the two pilots does not match my weight.

Sustainability If we include the concept of business, the situation becomes even more serious. Because in the cockpit 55-60 degrees and the pilots’ breaths per minute reach 40 at the highest speeds. Their heart rate during the race between 170-180 is happening. There can only be one reason why I, representative of the standard person, stayed in that heat for so long, I cook for a large group of meat on the barbecue.

Maneuverability:

There are two ways to measure this. One of them, anyone can try starting challenge. This challenge, where we try to stop the counter by pressing the screen as soon as the five red lights go out, is to measure the speed of the fingers.

Pilots do this appearance. in the 0.3 they can. I also entered this period when I downloaded and tried applications from the Internet, but since I write 3-4 thousand words a day and have a game controller in my hand since childhood, it is not surprising that I press the keys quickly. Here’s our main game Swamp (not in the coffee shop).

Measure hand-eye coordination In this game you have to press the flashing keys on the screen as fast and in time as possible. The more buttons you press in a minute, the better. F1 drivers in this area 70-80 points while the average person does 50. If we multiply my score of 30 seconds by 2, my score is 84. His reputation is goalkeeper Mignolet, a goalkeeper with good reflexes. Imagine there are pilots with faster reflexes than him. Heikki Kovalainen If you have superhuman reflexes, like 121, you can do it.

Ability to develop:

Watch Formula 1 drivers in the simulator and strive to prepare for races. From a very narrow space they have to control the track as well as their mirrors and react to what they see. This ability can only be perfected over time and allows champions to appear by passing a certain level.

Drivers are committed to their racing career from an early age. Every workout they do become a better pilot to enable them to develop their skills.

In other words, if we look at what makes an athlete an athlete, at least Formula 1 drivers are soccer playersathletes as well as tennis players and other athletes. There’s only one area where the average person like me is better than anyone else in Formula 1: it eats into my life. Faster than the Ferrari team change tires.