So by our calculations, Verstappen experienced this outrageous g-force in a hyper-compressed time period of just 0.099 seconds. If v (final velocity) is zero, and u (initial velocity) is 180 km/h (or 50 m/s), then the total time taken would be 50 m/s divided by his deceleration rate of 500.31 m/s. Taking a line from your high-school physics textbook (and from Top Gear’s analysis of when Carlos Sainz crashed at Sochi back in 2015), we can use the equation v = u + at to work out how long it took the tyre barrier to stop him, as well as how many times his normal bodyweight crushed him into the wall. Let’s say that Verstappen’s speed into the barrier was a modest 180 km/h (likely more, possibly less, although that information has yet to be confirmed). When Verstappen hit the wall at Turn 9, his peak rate of deceleration was reportedly 51 times greater than gravity in a lateral direction, which is a deceleration rate of 500.31 m/s. After two seconds, it’ll be falling at 19.62 m/s, and so on, until it hits terminal velocity. That means after one second it’ll fall at an average speed of 9.81 m/s. If you were to throw an apple out of a window, the effects of Earth’s gravity would have it falling at a rate of 9.81 m/s 2. Ready for a quick physics lesson? Stay with us. RELATED: A Man’s Fighting Ability Is Written On His Face (According To Science) Hurtle towards a barrier in an F1 car, with the entire body exposed to this same share of force, however, and you’ve got a recipe for disaster.įactors that influence the effects of deceleration are the initial rate of speed, the distance covered – and time consumed – in deceleration, the direction of forces, as well as the area of distribution. A 2019 study by the American Academy of Neurology concluded that the average g-force experienced in a rugby tackle was 21 g. A sneeze results in about 2 g of acceleration. Even a solid right hook to the chin may register a 100 g locally without imposing any lasting damage. Incredibly, the human body can tolerate localised g-forces in the hundreds for a split second. when coming to a screeching halt into a concrete wall? But what happens when this deceleration rate is pushed exponentially right up to catastrophic – i.e. And they’ll do so in only a couple of seconds. In a normal F1 race, drivers experience up to 4 or 5 lateral g routinely under braking and cornering, or anywhere the car speeds up or slows down between zero and 330+ km/h. No blood in the brain means no lights are on when you need them most, leading to unconsciousness and, at the controls of a warplane, either life or death. What you definitely want to avoid is vertical g-force (the likes of which fighter pilots experience), which compresses the spine from the top down and rushes blood towards and away from the brain. The pick of the bunch is horizontal g-force – also known as lateral g – as the body gets squished under its own weight perpendicular to the spine. Gravitational forces can be pushed onto the body both vertically and horizontally, as well as forward and backward. Astronauts in space experience zero- g, because up there, beyond the pull of Earth’s gravity, that force doesn’t exist. Any time that an object (or person) changes its velocity faster than gravity can change it, the forces will be greater than one g. This is the amount of force that Earth’s gravitational field exerts on the body at sea level. The constant g-force that mere mortals experience while going about their daily business is 1 g. After hammering down the straight at speeds in excess of 300 km/h, the world champion’s front-left wing caught the Dutchman’s rear tyre as they made the turn, careering the latter into the barriers for an impact that Red Bull’s data analysts clocked at 51 g.īut what does 51 g really mean? How does it stack up on a scale of neck-snapping impacts and g-forces commonly experienced in Formula 1? On the opening lap at Silverstone, Verstappen was defending his pole position from Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton as they went wheel-to-wheel into one of the fastest corners on the circuit, Copse. And while acceleration and deceleration might seem like basic high-school science, the physics behind gravitational force (known as g-force) in the world of Formula 1 is a threat worth unpacking to truly appreciate the likes of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen walking away from his colossal crash at the British Grand Prix back in 2021. Stop dead in your tracks from any of these speeds, and you’ll be just that: dead.įormula 1’s g-forces are immense, there’s no doubt about that, but it’s inertia that’s the true killer.
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