Hulkenberg ‘too heavy for McLaren’
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- 3rd October 2013, 9:55 at 9:55 am #133702Aish HeydrichParticipant
Apparently ideal weight for a Formula 1 driver is now 60-65 kgs. and our talented green monster is not getting the coveted McLaren seat because he weighs too much (74 kgs for a frame of about 5’11”).
Soon there will be an army of short Chinese/Asian men who’ll invade F1 and tall German/Scandinavian drivers will get the axe.
http://www.racingfanatic.net/2013/10/nico-hulkenberg-too-heavy-for-2014.html3rd October 2013, 11:15 at 11:15 am #242520wsrgoParticipantAish, any news of late on Total and their status w.r.t. Lotus F1?
3rd October 2013, 11:38 at 11:38 am #242521MatthijsParticipantMaybe we should call him “Bulky”, rather than “Hulky”. Having said that, I find it quite worrying that 74 kg is considered too heavy. There goes my chance of becoming an F1-driver… ;)
3rd October 2013, 11:56 at 11:56 am #242522electroliteParticipantEnter Kobayashi…
On a serious note, I do hope this isn’t a serious reason that a top team would dismiss a driver of Hulkenberg’s talent. Now, I maybe have a chance of being in F1 now, I just need a few million.
3rd October 2013, 13:49 at 1:49 pm #242523Keith CollantineKeymasterAnyone got a link to the original version of the Hulkenberg story?
3rd October 2013, 14:01 at 2:01 pm #242524wsrgoParticipant3rd October 2013, 14:53 at 2:53 pm #242525Prisoner MonkeysParticipant@matthijs – Vitaly Petrov had the same problem. He was the tallest driver on the grid, so even at the peak of his physical fitness, there was still, quite literally, more of him compared to the other drivers simply because he had longer bones. It was a real challenge for Renault to design the R31, mostly because Nick Heidfeld was the shortest driver on the grid at the time.
Anyway, thus story about Hulkenberg being too heavy smells funny. It reads like something a fan club might come up with: they see a vacancy at McLaren, and they see Hulkenberg without a contract for next year. To their minds, it’s a perfect fit, but when it doesn’t happen, they’re left trying to explain why in such a way that McLaren passing on Hulkenberg sounds as ridiculous to us as it does to them. It’s the kind of thing Petter Solberg’s fan club in the WRC used to do.
3rd October 2013, 15:07 at 3:07 pm #242526andae23ParticipantIt’s a bit like the fashion industry, isn’t it? Drivers are already lighter than they probably should be, and they still get turned down for being too heavy.
I hereby predict F1 anorexia will be the next F-duct :P
3rd October 2013, 15:54 at 3:54 pm #242527DCParticipant@keithcollantine
This is pretty close
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/110292
@prisoner-monkeys
What did Petter Solberg’s fan do?3rd October 2013, 16:03 at 4:03 pm #242528Keith CollantineKeymasterThanks guys but from looking at the link @Aish posted it seems the original was in AMuS. I had a look there but didn’t spot it. Perhaps they didn’t put it online.
3rd October 2013, 17:24 at 5:24 pm #242529Fisha695ParticipantThis begs the question, if the FIA raises the weight and it helps talented drivers get rides will the fanbase react positively even though they usually react negatively whenever talk of raising the weight (for various other reasons) comes up?
3rd October 2013, 18:03 at 6:03 pm #242530Aish HeydrichParticipantLol I totally agree with @andae23. It’s ridiculous isn’t it? I mean, they might as well control the car with a remote and it could be another robot wars like tv show. No need to put a human in it at all.
@wsrgo: Seems Total will stay as business is booming for them and Lotus really needs them now more than ever.
3rd October 2013, 18:22 at 6:22 pm #242531MuzzleFlashParticipantShouldn’t be a problem if weight’s going up next year surely?
3rd October 2013, 23:25 at 11:25 pm #242532Iestyn DaviesParticipantHmm I am only average height (175cm) for the UK and usually under 10 stone. Yet this makes me ideal for F1 – so anyone taller or heavier than average is already disadvantaged. Time for Anthony Davidson to make a comeback? :D. I do remember being quite a tight fit in the McLaren sim cockpit with all the padding that was about..
Why not make it 695/700kg for 2014, 685/690 for 2015, gradually reducing to say 675 when engines are frozen in 2016? I’m sure the cars have weighed this much in the past, I’m going off memories of Top Trumps! Early 90’s Lola perhaps? I know Keith did a piece on historical car weight..
4th October 2013, 4:09 at 4:09 am #242533Prisoner MonkeysParticipant@dujedcv – They’re just notorious for starting rumours about Solberg, which sometimes get picked up by the media and reported as fact. Strangely enough, they don’t do it for his brother, and they’re not doing it for his brother’s step-son.
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