Blood Pressure & F1 Racing

Some time ago, a Ferrari F1 driver made reference to the stress experienced while driving, and the importance of being in top notch shape. He alluded to blood pressure rising to around 200 over 160 (vs. 120 over 80, being normal). If a patient walked into a clinic with blood pressure that high, docs would rush them to a hospital. And when F1 drivers train on Ferrari's simulator, the conditions are apparently so real and stressful, that two doctors are on hand to assure drivers are up to the "punishment". And so, my question is: has any research been done, or are there rules of thumb, about the effects of F1 driving, in particular, or competitive track type driving more generally, on blood pressure? If really extreme, the issue isn't so much 'heart attack' as it is having a stroke.

 

Found a distillation of research related to the kinds of forces experienced by F1 drivers.

- The Lateral G-forces exerted on a driver can be as much as 4.5 G, which means about 25 kg on the neck
- The Longitudinal G-forces exerted on a driver can be as much as 4.5
- Acceleration: to 1G, braking up to 4.5G, cornering up to 3G
- For instance, a F1 car can brake from 185kph to stand still in 3.5seconds and 80 metres (rate of deceleration 4G)
- The heart rate can reach 170 - 190 BPM for example on the starting grid
- During a Grand Prix, the pulse rate of a Formula 1 driver hovers around 160 beats per minute, and has peaks of over 200. The pulse rate of a healthy young man is typically in the region of 60 beats per minute.
- Blood pressure can increase up to 50% whilst racing

Apparently, F1 drivers spend most of their time in the gym when not driving to get into and keep in shape.

Regarding blood pressure, if the drivers are young and fit, severe spikes in pulse and blood pressure can be handled by the body, assuming heart is strong and acknowledging that veins are likely to be quite elastic (vs. progressively inelastic as one ages). The inelastic veins are one of the prime causes of 'burst veins' and stroke when blood pressure rises rapidly (even for short bursts) or is abnormally high for long perioods of time

While I'm no spring chicken, I do work out and am pretty healthy, but I do experience blood pressure spikes when I go to the track. I'm pretty sure its the sense of excitement, anxiety, and my inner competitiveness that's responsible for blood pressure jumps from an ok level pre-track of about 135/85 to up to 170/105. And the 170/105 takes several hours to come down.