Since the advent of colossal downforce through fat tires and wind-tunneled wings, racing drivers are faced with the unique problem of keeping their heads attached to their bodies. With g-forces in modern Formula 1 cars reaching 8 times the gravity of the Earth on certain tracks, this is not a trivial issue. The human head is a large, heavy spheroid attached to the rest of the body through the much lighter and thinner neck. As you’ll remember from our very educational How To Become a Formula One Driver in One Day video, even 3 g’s is a force to be reckoned with when applied laterally.
The solution? Develop neck muscles a Marine would be proud of.
When not using them to keep his head straight in Eau Rouge,
Renault’s Ferrari’s two-time world champion driver Fernando Alonso can use his neck muscles to snap a walnut clear in two with barely a flex, as demonstrated here for his fellow Spaniards:
Photo Credit: Mark Thompson/Getty Images (Alonso’s Renault), lapstrake/Flickr (nutcracker)