Hulkenberg with a lot on his mind

Renault's Nico Hulkenberg trainign in the gym. © Twitter.com/ HulkHulkenberg

Nico Hulkenberg is busy training for the rigours of the Malaysian Grand Prix. And for such a hi-tech sport, some of the ways of preparing for a race are surprisingly basic.

Here's Renault's Nico Hulkenberg in the gym, doing his best to strengthen his neck muscles in time for 56 laps (310.408km) of the Sepang International Circuit next week.

One of the biggest physical demands of Formula 1 is on the neck, thanks to high cornering speeds resulting in centrifugal forces. Even the fittest drivers can find is hard to accept the punishing treatment of such a long race.

Hulkenberg's answer is to hang a heavy weight from straps tied around his head. Even though it doesn't look particularly glamorous, the 30-year-old German is happy to share his training efforts on social media.

"Looks weird, but it's a great exercise to strengthen and stabilize your head," he wrote on Twitter.

Next Sunday's race will be Hulkenberg's 130th start in Formula 1. And he's keen to finish in the top three this time around so that he doesn't extend the unwelcome record for most starts without a podium finish, which he took over from Adrian Sutil last week after being forced to retire in Singapore with an oil leak.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.