F1

Drug/Dope Testing in F1

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 25 total)
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  • #128610
    Guy
    Participant

    Can anybody tell me what procedures are in place for the testing of use of banned substances by F1 drivers?

    Do they get tested? What for? When?

    I’m interested because Webber claims to have had pain killing injections for his fractured shoulder without letting his team principle know.

    I wonder if other, less scrupulous, drivers ever indulge in performance enhancing drugs. After all the premier international cycling competition seems to be infested with them.

    #155350
    Ciaran
    Participant

    I read in F1 Racing that drivers apparently do go through dope testing.Rubens Barrichello and Mimmo Schiattarella both failed it in 1995 but it wasn’t serious as I think it was cold remedies.Tomas Enge though lost his F3000 championship in 2002 because I think he had cannabis or something in his system.

    #155351
    Red Andy
    Participant

    The FIA randomly tests drivers for drugs in many of the sports it sanctions, including F1. It’s generally thought that drugs that enhance performance in other sports would be of little utility in F1, which is why there haven’t been any cases of F1 drivers failing drugs tests.

    Here is a GrandPrix.com story from 2007 about a GT driver who received a suspension on his licence after testing positive for a substance found in cocaine.

    And don’t forget that Tomas Enge was stripped of his Formula 3000 title after he failed a drugs test and was found to have taken cannabis.

    #155352
    Victor.
    Participant

    Smoking weed hardly makes you perform better as a driver, so why all the fuss?

    #155353
    Red Andy
    Participant

    Just that it was a banned substance on whatever list the FIA uses (which may be equivalent to the IOC list, I’m not sure). Also as an illegal drug in most jurisdictions maybe the FIA wants their champions to set a certain example. Who knows?

    #155354

    I thought of any F1 drivers using ‘recreational’ drugs at any time is worrying, purely from a safety point of view.

    #155355
    George
    Participant

    @Geoff

    Like champagne?

    #155356
    Victor.
    Participant

    I fail to see how soft drugs like cannabis have a bigger influence on the sport’s safety than alcohol does.

    #155357
    rampante
    Participant

    James Hunt was often in a car after all night parties where much drink and drugs were taken. He also claimed to have driven at brands hatch after taking LSD( Murray Walker also talks of it in one of his books). Hardly a performance enhancing drug but possibly not the best thing to take before climbing into a race car.

    #155358
    Prisoner Monkeys
    Participant

    The problem with drug testing is that there are no performance-enhancing drugs. There’s nothing out there that sharpens your reflexes or makes you more alert; at leasy, nothing that doesn’t have very visible side-effects. There’s no real need to test for drugs because the drivers are such fitness fanatics that they won’t even touch a cigarette.

    #155359
    Red Andy
    Participant

    That’s not so much a “problem,” PM, as a reason why F1 drivers don’t get caught using drugs. The FIA does test for them but, as you say, there is no drug that could conceivably enhance an F1 driver’s performance to a degree that made it worth taking. So they don’t.

    #155360
    AndrewTanner
    Participant

    I can’t see how they would benefit from performance enhancing drugs to be honest. However, I’m sure the FIA regularly test the drivers.

    #155361
    fats
    Participant

    I could see them benefiting from stimulants to enhance reflexes etc. I would suggest that the majority of drivers would drive with caffeine in their system. Amphetamines could potentially help performance for the drivers.

    #155362

    Some drug tests were due to happen today:

    #155363

    Looks like Alonso was one of them:

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