---
title: "New F1 Car Speeds Could Cause Drivers to Lose Consciousness"
description: "It wouldn't be the first time that G-forces affected a racing series."
date: "2017-03-03"
modified: "2017-03-03"
authors:
  - name: "Mike Guy"
    job_title: "Editor-at-Large"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/mike-guy"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/accelerator/8062/new-f1-car-speeds-could-cause-drivers-to-lose-consciousness"
categories:
  - "F1"
  - "News"
  - "Racing"
tags:
  - "Formula 1"
  - "motorsports"
  - "Pirelli"
---

# New F1 Car Speeds Could Cause Drivers to Lose Consciousness

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2017/03/formula1-e1491315882734.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

The 2017 Formula 1 car is wider and faster, with greasier aerodynamics and grippier tires. The goal in the reconfiguration was to increase lap times by [as much as five seconds on some tracks](<https://www.thedrive.com/start-finish/8000/valtteri-bottas-fastest-for-mercedes-as-times-tumble>) and, presumably, to improve the racing product.

However, better racing may not be the net effect. While drivers have spent the off-season preparing for the higher g-loads, and talking heads have been predicting that the faster new formula will mean more open-throttle corners, less overtaking, and generally more boring races, [Pirelli boss Paul Hembery voiced](<https://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/18811957/2017-cars-take-f1-drivers-close-blackout-point-pirelli>) a much more grave concern: the G-loads could cause to drivers to black out.

The gripper new tires are going to generate 5Gs in some corners, including turn 3 at the Circuit de Catalunya, where teams are testing this week. "Maybe some clever doctors will tell us that we're getting close to blackout point," Hembery said. "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 \[handle it\]."

The g-loads are huge, but they aren't the only aggravating factor for the drivers. The mid-summer races ratchet up the temperatures inside the cockpits, and long stints at high speeds, in the heat, with those g-loads and speeds, could cascade to catastrophe.

"It's one of those fun fair rides isn't it, where you arrive at 5G, make 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."

Back in 2001, the CART series visited Texas Motor Speedway, and the cars, carrying as much as 220 mph into the 24-degree banking at turn 1, were causing drivers to black out on the back stretch. Officials canceled the race.

## Author
A former editor at *Details* and *Rolling Stone* and the digital director at *Maxim*, Mike Guy is a longtime contributor to *Road & Track*, *Playboy* and *Men's Journal*. His writing on motorsports is collected in the *Best American Sportswriting* anthology.

### Author social links  
[Instagram](<https://instagram.com/mrmikeguy>)  
[Twitter](<https://twitter.com/mrmikeguy>)