Button and Hamilton among the drivers in supreme physical shape HE MAY not be competitive on the Formula One World Championship circuit at the moment, but Honda's Jenson Button may well kick your butt in a triathlon.

In June, he swam 1.5km, cycled 42km and ran 10km in 2hr 22min 43sec to end 117th in the 1,700-strong field at the Nokia Royal Windsor Triathlon in England.

That time - with 28:06, 1:10:31 and 44:06 splits respectively for the three legs - would have placed the 28-year-old Briton third in his age group at July's Osim Singapore International Triathlon.

Button is regarded as among the fittest in a sport where athletes are required to be in as fine fettle as Olympians - despite competing seated in expensive cars.

As McLaren trainer Gerry Convy told the team's Racing Line magazine: "Drivers need the reflexes of a fighter pilot, the cardiovascular capability of a triathlete and the upper-body strength of a boxer."

Supreme fitness is imperative for drivers to race flat-out for up to two hours. They also have to survive the immense forces when manoeuvring a racing car at speeds of up to 350kmh some 50 to 70 laps around a tricky course.

Their bodies are subjected to forces of up to 4G under braking - or four times their body weight - and up to 5.5G through some high-speed corners.

The driver's head alone, which weighs about 6kg with the helmet on, has to sustain loadings of 24kg repeatedly.

To get an idea of what these drivers go through, think of the most extreme roller-coaster ride, and imagine you took that two-minute ride for 60 times straight. All these while cramped in a cockpit where temperatures can rise to 50 deg C, causing a loss of two to three litres of water in each race.

The result? A heart rate higher than any other kind of athlete.

"You have an average of 170 beats per minute (bpm) for over an hour and a half, and you never see that in another sport," said Toyota's Timo Glock.

McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen noted that even at the start, while looking at the lights and not moving a single muscle, his heart rate rises to a near-maximum 190 bpm.

Indeed, today's F1 drivers are much fitter than their predecessors.

While 1982 F1 world champion Keke Rosberg smoked, drank and had sex for his off-season training, present-day drivers, like Ferrari world champ Kimi Raikkonen, worked out for up to five hours a day, every day.

The typical F1 driver weighs between 60kg and 70kg for his 1.7m to 1.8m frame, boasts a body-fat percentage of around 7 per cent and has a resting heart rate of 40-plus beats per minute.

That is much lower than the average man, who has 15 to 20 per cent body fat and a resting heart rate of 70.

Red Bull driver Mark Webber's hobbies include running, paddling, mountain and road cycling, and he even translated this love of the outdoors in 2003 into the annual Mark Webber Pure Tasmania Challenge, a gruelling 350km adventure race in his native Australia.

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, who leads the drivers' standings ahead of next week's SingTel Singapore Grand Prix, did five to 10 intensive training sessions each week in preparation for this season.

The 1.74m, 64kg Briton did up to three hours of cardio work - running, cycling, swimming, hiking, snowshoeing and skiing - and gym workouts focused on improving neck and abdominal muscles.

The McLaren team even have a revolutionary Technogym F1 driver training machine, that replicates the G-forces experienced on the neck and arms while racing.

To train his mental strength and hand- eye coordination, Kovalainen practises on a batak reaction board, where the aim is to hit as many randomly lit lights in 60 seconds as possible. An average person would hit about 60. Kovalainen's fighter pilot friend hit 101. He hit 121.

And the Finn flies on his feet, too. He spent his off-season last year running in the November New York Marathon, completing the 42.2km run in 3:36:56, ahead of his trainer Gabriele Polcari (3:55:02).

More importantly, he met his goal of beating Toyota driver Jarno Trulli's 2000 time of 4:02:21. So, who is the fittest F1 driver?

Hamilton had claimed in July that he was the fittest man in the F1 paddock.

But, within half an hour of agreeing to challenge Button in that month's City of Bath Triathlon, Hamilton's father Anthony withdrew his son from the challenge.

Button, meanwhile, went on to finish 15th among 159 competitors in the sprint distance (750m swim, 20km cycle, 5km run) in 1:26:43.

Now, if only he can take that form from triathlons onto the racing track.

Fitness feat

Jenson Button: Completed triathlon in England in 2hr 22min 43sec.

Lewis Hamilton: Prepares for season with three hours of cardio - running, cycling, swimming, hiking, snowshoeing and skiing - and gym work (5 to 10 sessions a week).

Heikki Kovalainen: Ran 3:36:56 at New York Marathon last November to beat Jarno Trulli's 4:02:21 in 2000.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Sep 20, 2008.

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