Big physical difference between F1 and Champ Car

This weekend, the Champ Car World Series comes to Europe and Belgium in particular. The Belgian Champ Car Grand Prix will be held at the Circuit of Zolder and of course all the European drivers have the feeling of coming home.

During an interview with BBC's F1 commentator, David Croft, Katherine Legge and Justin Wilson explained the big difference between the physical challenges of driving in the Champ Car World Series and driving in Formula One.

Katherine Legge, the only female driver in the Champ Car series said: "I did a test for Paul Stoddart in Formula One after a year of doing Atlantics and thought ‘this isn’t too hard’. When I first did eight laps in a Champ Car I thought wow – this is tough. Bumpy tracks, no power steering, I quickly realized I had to work really hard on my fitness.”

Former F1 driver, Justin Wilson, is also well placed to judge the physical differences between the two series: “Apart from the physical G-forces on your neck in F1, Champ Cars are definitely tougher to drive. The arm strength required is a lot more. After a race in Champ Car, your arms, chest, back, legs, everything aches – especially on a bumpy street course."