It's easy to forget how stressful a Formula One race is for the driver's body. We too drive, and we tend to think that racing is pretty much the same thing, only faster.
In reality, the drivers lose several kilograms during each completed race, most of it down to dehydration. But that's not all: all those hard accelerations and braking, as well as high-speed cornering, put a tremendous stress on each muscle in the body. However, the most strained have got to be those in the neck, as they struggle to keep the head (with the added weight of the helmet) from bobbling around.
And yet ask any Formula One driver, and they'll tell you that the worst part is the psychological intensity of the competition. Knowing each second that one false move can spell the end of the race - not to mention a serious crash with possibly grave consequences - is not something everyone can live with. Not to mention actually deliver some kind of performance as well.
Out of all the circuits in the series right now, the one in Monaco has got to be the most challenging. Winning there was almost more important than taking the world title. Almost. As a man who's won there four times, former Formula One driver and current Renault eDams Team Principal, Alain Prost, knows what he's talking about.
This clip of him going down memory lane while also driving the superb Renault ZOE e-Sport Concept on the famous streets of the Mediterranean city as well as the equally famous mountain roads around it is a wonderful mix of old and new.
Prost remembers the Formula One cars he drove, the ones that had over 1,000 horsepower and a mechanical gearbox. Hearing him talk about that golden age of the competition is enough to make you long for the beautiful engines those cars had, which immediately contradicts the images you see on the screen.
The Renault ZOE e-Sport Concept is an electrical sports car built by Renault to showcase the expertise it got from its Formula E involvement. It has a 0-100 km/h (62 mph) acceleration time of just 3.2 seconds (yes, we know, a Tesla somewhere chuckles at the use of "just") and it can reach its top speed of 210 km/h (130 mph) in ten seconds flat.
So, if you feel like watching a short video Narrated by Alain Prost that will take you from the late '80s and early '90s Formula One racing to the modern Formula E competition with a little help from the gorgeous-looking Renault ZOE e-Sport Concept, click play below.
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