Jeddah's Corniche Circuit and the Body It Takes to Race It

A circuit built for speed

Since it opened in December 2021, the Jeddah Corniche Circuit has been the quickest street track Formula 1 has ever raced on, with a record average pole-lap speed of 254.6 km/h set in 2025. Its 27 turns flow almost without pause, and Turn 13 is banked at 12 degrees — enough to press roughly 5G of lateral force through the driver's body. The same asphalt also hosts the Jeddah E-Prix and the Saudi Arabian Formula 4 Championship, making the Corniche a year-round home for motorsport in the Kingdom.

The drivers feel every metre of it. "It's completely different from any track I've raced on before," said Carlos Sainz, who compared the adrenaline to his Macau days. Lewis Hamilton simply called it "incredibly fast."

Why driving an F1 car is an endurance sport

A Formula 1 driver is not just steering. Across a race they hold up against forces most of us never feel:

• Up to 6G under braking and a sustained 4-5G through fast corners — several times body weight, pressing on the neck, chest and arms lap after lap.
• Heart rates around 160-180 beats per minute held for the best part of two hours, the range of an endurance athlete mid-effort.
• Cockpit heat that can climb past 50°C, costing a driver up to 4 kilograms of water weight in a single race.

That is why elite drivers train their necks several times a week, until they can resist loads equal to lifting around 40 kilograms with the neck muscles alone.

How to train for the same qualities

You do not need a super-licence to build a driver's engine. The pillars are simple, and every one of them is trainable in an ordinary gym.

Neck and core stability

Drivers survive those G-forces because the neck and trunk are braced. You do not need a racing rig — controlled neck work, planks, side planks and anti-rotation holds build the same bracing. Learn the positions from our exercise library, then add a little load over time.

A strong, resilient body

Under all that bracing sits ordinary strength. Squats, presses and rows give the neck and core something to anchor to, and a structured strength class covers most of it in a single session.

Cardio and heat tolerance

Holding 170 beats a minute for two hours is pure conditioning. Intervals build the ceiling while steady cardio builds the base — a mix you will find in any HIIT session. And training through a Saudi summer, you are already acclimatising to the kind of heat a driver has to beat.

If you would like this shaped around your own level, a personal trainer can build a neck-core-cardio plan without any of the guesswork.

Chase your own personal best in Jeddah

The cars will be gone by Monday, but the training that makes a driver stays useful all year: a braced core, a strong neck, and the cardio to keep moving when it is hot. Come find your nearest GymNation in Jeddah and start building the kind of engine the Corniche Circuit demands — no 250 km/h required.

Sources:
makkahnewspaper.com
formula1.com
en.wikipedia.org

The opinions shared in the GymNation blog articles are solely those of the respective authors and may not represent the perspectives of GymNation or any member of the GymNation team.