Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsPirelli

Hembery fears drivers might be close to blackout in 2017

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Pirelli's head of motorsports Paul Hembery fears that the new 2017 cars might push drivers close to the brink of blacking out.

Hembery said that the G-forces acting on drivers as a result of the new tyre and downforce regulations could be almost unendurable.

"It is quite shocking. Even now, you are talking 5G corners," he told ESPN after the first week of pre-season testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. A normal street car would top out at a quarter of that.

Drivers were able to take turn 3 flat out at 175mph last week. That left Hembery worried about what will happen in a full distance Grand Prix run in much higher temperatures.

"Maybe some clever doctors will tell us that we're getting close to blackout point, I don't know what it is," he said.

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"But certainly when I was looking at turn 3 it was quite impressive. I'm sure a normal human being wouldn't be able to.

"It's one of those fun fair rides isn't it, where you arrive at 5G and makes you feel a bit queasy.

"It depends what circuit you are at. I would think a stint at Silverstone for 30, 40 laps is going to be pretty exhausting for a driver.

"Physically I think it's going to be a huge challenge for the drivers," he added. "Of course they are all great athletes today, they do a lot of preparation.

"You think if we go three seconds quicker than what we've seen already, which is like three years' development normally, that's amazing performance."

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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.