G-force in F1: how many g do drivers experience?

What is g-force?

G-force is measured in g: how many times the force pressing on the driver is greater than their weight. At 5 g, as Mercedes explained in 2024, a driver feels a force five times their own body weight: for a person weighing 70 kg, that is about 350 kg.

In the car, g-forces come in corners, under braking and under acceleration. In a corner the g-force is lateral and pushes the driver towards the side of the car; under braking, it pushes them forwards.

How many g in corners?

In the fastest corners, lateral g-force reaches 5 g and more. Below are the figures from Formula 1 and Mercedes; we haven’t found any other official measurements for individual corners.

Formula 1 put the jump in 2017 down to wider tyres and better aerodynamics: in almost every corner and braking zone at Albert Park, Hamilton’s g-forces were noticeably higher than in 2016. For comparison, Formula 1 turned to roller coasters: 6.5 g is 0.2 g more than on the most extreme ride in the world.

Figures from different years can’t be compared directly: they come from different cars, and for 2024 Mercedes gives only “over 5 g”, without an exact number.

According to Mercedes figures for 2024, cars take Turn 1 at Suzuka at more than 260 km/h.

How many g under braking?

More than 5 g: according to Formula 1 in 2021, that is how hard an F1 car can decelerate. At that moment the driver’s body is thrown forward with a force five times its weight.

The car can brake this hard thanks to downforce. At the start of braking, at high speed, the air presses the car onto the track, and it stops in a very short distance. Rob Smedley, Formula 1’s Director of Data Systems in 2021, called braking from over 300 km/h an extremely violent manoeuvre.

In 2021 a new braking graphic appeared in TV broadcasts: it shows where each driver starts braking and their peak g-forces. How this data is collected is explained in the telemetry article.

What g-forces do the 2026 cars pull?

We haven’t found official g-force figures for the 2026 cars from the FIA, Formula 1 or the teams. There is an FIA estimate: in December 2025 it wrote that under the new rules the cars would have up to 30% less downforce, and would be slower in corners but quicker out of them.

What this means for g-forces follows from physics, not from measurements. Lateral g-force in a corner grows with the square of speed: take the same corner 10% slower, and it falls by about 19%. How much slower the corners have actually become can’t be said without measurements. There is more about the 2026 car in a separate article.

G-forces in crashes

In an impact, the g-force can be many times higher than in a corner. At the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix, after touching another car, Romain Grosjean’s car hit the barrier at 192 km/h at an angle of 29 degrees. According to the FIA investigation published in March 2021, the peak g-force in that impact was 67 g.

In the investigation, the FIA examined data from the car’s accident data recorder and the driver’s in-ear accelerometers, video footage, the car itself and the accounts of those involved.

How is g-force measured?

G-forces in corners and under braking are recorded by the car’s telemetry: for its 2020 TV graphics, Formula 1 took lateral acceleration from it, together with speed.

For crashes, the FIA has its own instruments. Under the 2026 regulations, at every event and at every test attended by more than one team, each car must carry:

• an FIA accident data recorder;
• an external 500 g accelerometer bolted to the monocoque;
• a high-speed camera.

The driver wears in-ear accelerometers, and the FIA can add biometric devices to make it easier for rescue crews to help. The car has a warning light connected to the accident data recorder: it shows rescue crews straight away how severe the impact was.

After a crash, the team must give the FIA access to the recorder. Conclusions about the cause of a crash, and data about it, may only be published in a report agreed between the team and the FIA.

Why do F1 drivers train their neck?

The neck takes the biggest load from g-forces — Mercedes wrote that in 2024, and said neck strength is a key part of a driver’s training between races. The same arithmetic as with body weight shows how much that is: at 5 g in a corner, the head and helmet are pulled sideways with a force five times their weight. That is a calculation from the definition of g-force — Mercedes gives no measurements for the neck.

Mercedes also described the exercises. Drivers often strap a 30 kg weight to their head, hang their head over the edge of a table and hold it there. In the gym they sometimes train in a weighted helmet, to recreate the load of a corner taken at around 265 km/h.

Safety equipment helps hold the head and body too: the belts and the HANS device keep the driver in place in the cockpit. When g-forces went up in 2017, according to Formula 1, drivers had to adapt their training over the winter.