F1’s tallest drivers struggle to maintain their ideal weight

Even if you are the best race car driver in the world, you will never be able to compete in Formula One if you are not the correct height and weight.

If you are too tall or too large, you will not fit in the cockpits. When a car’s load is very heavy, its speed is reduced. Too light, and the team must add weight to the cockpit to meet the minimum, and you may not be able to handle the arduous nature of 90 minutes in a car that is hot and experiencing tremendous G-forces.

Insider spoke with Williams F1 driver Alex Albon and his trainer about the difficulties drivers have in maintaining the optimal weight for speed, particularly taller drivers.

To clarify, when referring to “taller” in Formula One, we do not mean the 6-foot-6 or 6-foot-8 athletes found in other sports. Albon’s height of 6 feet and 2 inches is regarded to be above average.

“In our sport, height is a disadvantage,” Albon told Insider. “These cars are designed to be as compact as possible. The cars are not designed for 6-foot-2 athletes, but rather for drivers who are 5-foot-7 or 5-foot-8. [These drivers] fit much better in the car at the moment. [Taller drivers are] kind of hunched over. Your knees are touching the top of the car. Your hands are in the way of your feet.

“Therefore, everything is tough. You are placed in a position that is, to be honest, really awkward.”

Alex Albon.

Lars Baron – Formula 1/Formula 1 images provided by Getty Images

The greater difficulty is weight

According to Albon, he is accustomed to squeezing his lengthy frame into the cramped cockpit; he has been doing so since he began his open-wheel racing career in Formula 4 in 2012 at the age of 16. However, the greater issue is handling the weight that comes with being taller.

F1 has revised the minimum weight for drivers to 80 kilograms (176 pounds), which includes what they wear. The gear and equipment used by the driver during a race weigh around seven kilograms (15 pounds), so the actual minimum weight for drivers is 73 kilograms (159 pounds) (161 pounds).

Teams want their drivers to be as light as possible since carrying extra weight slows down the car, therefore drivers are pressured to weigh in at or below the 161-pound requirement (if they go under, ballasts are added to the cockpit to reach the minimum).

Two steps are required for taller drivers to reach exactly 73 kg.

First phase – the off-season, when they have the greatest time to prepare for the season.

According to Daniel Ricciardo, driver for McLaren Racing, there is ongoing training during the off-season, when most spectators may believe the drivers are on holiday.

“In the preseason, when you’re really trying to build yourself up, we’ll train six days a week,” Ricciardo told Insider. “It’ll be a combination of cardio training and strength training. I would suggest that all-around fitness is required. Essentially, this is the greatest way to sum up the life of an F1 driver. You don’t need to be a bodybuilder or triathlon, but you do need decent overall strength and conditioning.”

Daniel Ricciardo.

Dan Istitene – Formula 1/Formula 1 images courtesy of Getty Images

However, muscle adds weight, therefore the requirement prior to the season is to keep a weight of 73 kilograms.

The weights that seven-time winner Lewis Hamilton lifts are designed to keep his center of mass as low as possible, according to Hamilton.

In 2019, Hamilton told Graham Norton, “You must have exceptional core stability. If my shoulders were extremely muscular, my weight would be too high [vertically]. Therefore, I perform many squats for my butt.”

During the season, there is less time for training, and greater focus is placed on healing and maintaining strength.

After a race, on Mondays Ricciardo will rest and recover, on Tuesday he may do some light cycling, on Wednesday he will work on his core and neck strength, and on Thursday he will return to the track.

During races, drivers can burn up to 1,000 calories per hour. Albon’s trainer, Patrick Harding, says that the focus moves from decreasing weight to maintaining weight, even for a taller driver like Albon.

“Our biggest problem [during the season], surprisingly, is keeping Alex’s weight on,” Harding told Insider. “We’ll strive to put at least two or three kilograms of muscular mass on Alex before this season.” By the first race, he will likely be at his heaviest weight of the year. This weight gradually decreases over the course of a racing weekend due to the physiological and physical demands of being in the car.”

Lewis Hamilton tries to exit his car following the Grand Prix of Azerbaijan.

Formula 1/Formula 1 by Bryn Lennon via Getty Images

Drivers lose a significant amount of weight during a race week. According to Hamilton, he can drop up to 10 pounds (4.5 kg) during a race.

Albon’s in-season weight, according to Harding, fluctuates between 72.5 and 73.5 kg (160 and 162 pounds) depending mostly on his hydration.

“When his weight falls below 72.5, I know we’re losing muscle mass,” Harding said. “He’s losing glycogen in his muscles.” He is likely malnourished and possibly dehydrated.

Even drivers under six feet tall encounter problems

Former F1 and current IndyCar driver Romain Grosjean, who is only 5 feet 11 inches tall, experienced similar difficulties as Albon. According to Grosjean, he learnt to like cooking in order to make his strict weight loss diet more appealing.

Grosjean stated in his autobiography “Facing Death”: “Since I had become a high-level sports professional, I had learned to taste my meals differently by following the advise of a nutritionist. I had to counterbalance my height by being as light as possible.”

Former teammate Kevin Magnussen and Haas team owner Gene Haas are pictured with Romain Grosjean (right).

Eric Alonso / MB Media / Getty

A single kilogram can make a significant impact in races where teams strive to shave off tenths of a second.

“Ten kilograms of gasoline in the car costs three-tenths of a second per lap,” Hamilton told Norton. “Therefore, if I’m one kilogram overweight, I can lose up to two seconds throughout the course of the race.” Therefore, my weight is crucial.”

In recent years, the playing field has become a bit more level.

Being taller or heavier is not as disadvantageous as it once was.

Prior to 2019, F1 had a minimum weight that includes the car and driver together. Teams with cars under the minimum — more manageable with a smaller driver — added ballasts to the car and may add them in a spot that improved the car’s performance.

For the 2014 season, the weight of the vehicles increased more than the minimum driver weight, causing larger drivers to reduce even more weight to compensate. That year, Red Bull required Ricciardo to remove two kilograms from his racing weight (4.5 pounds).

Ricciardo was 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighed 143 pounds at the time (65 kilos).

Max Verstappen of Red Bull is weighed in the garage prior to practice.

Photograph by Mark Thompson/Getty Images

In the same year, the 6-foot-tall, 165-pound (75 kg) Niko Hulkenberg was apparently not considered for the available seat at McLaren because to his size.

The then-CEO of McLaren, Martin Whitmarsh, told Sky Sports in 2013 that heavier drivers would be less desirable. We have increased the minimum weight requirement, but the new powertrains are heavier than anticipated, creating a situation in which bigger drivers may be at a disadvantage.”

David Coulthard, a former McLaren and Red Bull driver, detailed in his 2007 autobiography what he endured as a youngster in order to join F1, including what appeared to be bulimia.

“It was crucial for an overweight kid to make weight in karting,” Coulthard wrote. “I would have supper, weigh myself, and if I was too heavy, I would go swimming, exercise, and try to regulate my weight by being ill.”

Former Formula One drivers David Coulthard and Sir Jackie Stewart.

Steve Etherington/EMPICS courtesy of Getty Images

In 2019, if a driver is under the required height, teams must add ballasts to the same location within the cockpit, removing the advantage of being able to change ballasts to optimize the car.

Valtteri Bottas, who is not a towering figure at 5 feet 8 inches, saw that his immune system improved as a result of the alterations because he was not losing as much weight.

Bottas stated, “I think the regulation is helpful, especially for the taller drivers. It makes life a bit simpler.” Many drivers were required to be underweight, and it is quite easy to become unwell or sick. This is the first winter in many years in which I did not have the flu or any other illness.