Cars Not Doing All the Work in Formula One Racing; Week on the Web
ANDERSON: Setting the pace for Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix, Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel led the charge in Friday's practice runs. The 25 -- 23-year-old Red Bull driver dominated both the morning and afternoon sessions in Shanghai. Well, forget the glory and glamour of Formula One for just a moment. I'm told it's all about hard work. Just turning the steering wheel at top speeds feels like lifting seven kilos. Our Don Riddell shows us why he holds a lot of respect for this marriage of man and machine.</s>DON RIDDELL, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Motor racing is a glamorous, adrenaline-fueled experience, but that's only the bit you get to see. Formula One cars can reach speeds of over 220 miles an hour, and if you think the machine is doing all the work, think again.</s>DAN WILLIAMS, DIRECTOR, PRO PERFORMANCE: The F1 driver needs to be particularly fit, but not necessarily just the F1 driver, but also the levels below. It's a very physical, demanding sport. The requirements on the muscle groups is really intense.</s>RIDDELL (voice-over): Drivers need to be strong and fit just to keep their high-powered cars on the road, and to prevent a tired body from distracting a sluggish command.</s>LUIZ RAZIA, FI TEST DRIVER: I realize when I'm mentally not there, you are losing focus, you are missing breakings, missing the apex of the corners. And then you realize, OK, I'm not good enough, but I'm still driving, but I'm not 100 percent driving. I'm not doing the lap times that I should be doing.</s>RIDDELL (voice-over): Luiz Razia is a GP2 driver and a test driver for the F1 Team Lotus. When he's not in a car, he's working with Pro Performance, a sport science consultancy near London which specializes in helping drivers in all areas of motor sport.</s>WILLIAMS: You're going to put modern-day F1 drivers, they're very lean. So they've got high endurance, and the muscles are very lean but very strong. Weight is an important factor, OK? They can't be too -- seem to be too heavy, so their body fat percentage needs to be quite low, but with a high level of muscular endurance. So, the normal driver will be between eight and ten percent body fat.</s>RIDDELL (voice-over): Pro Performance take a scientific approach to a driver's nutrition, fitness, and well-being. And their machines are geared specifically to replicate the driving experience.</s>RAZIA: Nowadays, we cannot test much, so it's really important when you are working yourself out, is really do whatever you do in the car.</s>RIDDELL (voice-over): Braking at the end of a fast straight requires tremendous strength in the legs, and it's crucial that these muscles are strong enough to cope. Drivers also experience incredible pressure on their bodies, meaning their neck muscles have to be able to withstand forces of up to four and a half Gs.</s>RIDDELL (on camera): This looks like a really unpleasant exercise.</s>WILLIAMS: Yes.</s>RIDDELL: Is it really necessary?</s>WILLIAMS: Oh, definitely. It's a really important bit of kit. It's great for drivers for training the neck, so we can work the neck through 16 different positions.</s>RIDDELL: Does he enjoy this?</s>WILLIAMS: It can be quite a tedious task for the driver, because our boy Luiz will spend 45 minutes to an hour here at a time. So, it can become quite boring. But it's part of his job.</s>RIDDELL: It's all for a good cause, mate.</s>RAZIA: Thank you.</s>RIDDELL (voice-over): And what you and I might think of as the simple act of steering is also a serious workout. Turning the wheel at high speed is like lifting seven kilos in a way that the body wasn't designed to do.</s>RIDDELL (on camera): Even with power steering, driving a Formula One car is incredibly hard work, and on difficult tracks like Monaco, the drivers don't get any rest at all. You're pretty much doing this for two consecutive hours, and it's absolutely exhausting.</s>RIDDELL (voice-over): But it's not just about weight and fitness in a world where the difference between success and failure, safety and danger, can be measured in milliseconds, peripheral vision and reaction speeds are vitally important. They can be sharpened with equipment like this.</s>RAZIA: Training for the reaction is to become automatic, as well. So, if you have anything happens in your sides or anything happens in front of you, you're going to react quickly, automatic.</s>RIDDELL (voice-over): Take it from me. It's not easy.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go!</s>RIDDELL (on camera): It's impossible.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Time?</s>RIDDELL: Don't think I'm very good, am I?</s>RIDDELL (voice-over): I have a new-found respect for racing drivers and a new understanding of what they go through to compete at the highest level. The car has the power, but it won't perform unless the drivers are up to the task. Don Riddell, CNN, London.</s>ANDERSON: All right. Well, of course, you've seen the mugs and the tea towels. Now, a video of the world's most famous bride-and-groom-to-be is about to go viral. Are they really who we think they are? Our Phil Han is on the case as he wraps up the Week on the Web for you.</s>PHIL HAN, CNN DIGITAL PRODUCER (on camera): It's been another great week across social media, and this is the place where we want to catch you up with everything you may have missed. Now, it's two weeks to go before Prince William and Kate Middleton tie the knot during the royal wedding, but if you saw this video, you might be confused about whether you missed it.</s>HAN (voice-over): This royal wedding spoof by T-Mobile has some amazing lookalikes. Everyone from Charles and Camilla --</s>HAN (voice-over): The queen. Prince Harry.</s>HAN (voice-over): And of course, the bride and groom.</s>HAN (voice-over): That video was just released at noon on Friday, but already it looks set to take advantage of royal fever and become a viral video sensation. Now, here's the number one video this week from YouTube. Britney Spears is back with a new one called "Till the World Ends."</s>HAN (voice-over): In just a week, that music video has gotten more than 12 million hits. Her other single, "Hold It Against Me" from last month was also a huge success and has been viewed more than 36 million times. Now, this next video may look like a normal drive, but what happens next will surprise. And don't worry, everything was OK with the driver.</s>HAN (voice-over): Wendy Cobb was filming everyday traffic when, all of the sudden, a piece of wood from the side of the road gets kicked up and launched into her windshield. No one was injured in the mash-up, thankfully. Now, Charlie Sheen has been at the center of a public meltdown, but he's decided that he wants to hit back, launching his very own Twitter page and YouTube channel. Here's how he decides to spoof an ABC news interview that made him look a little less than sane.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All these radio rants have people thinking Charlie Sheen is -- has got to be on drugs.</s>CHARLIE SHEEN, ACTOR: Wow. Electric bouillabaisse, right from the jump street. So, basically, your question -- all these fladio plants clav gleeple bluing glet glime flum blugs (ph). When's the last time your radio rants led to this?</s>HAN (on camera): And finally, this young kid has become an internet sensation after recording videos of himself dancing at Apple stores around the U.S.. iTrevor, as he calls himself, usually gets away with a good dance, but sometimes it doesn't always go to plan.</s>HAN (on camera): Well, that's a wrap of all the best stories from social media over the past seven days. Be sure to tell me what your favorite bits are just be tweeting me. I'm Phil Han for CNN in London.</s>ANDERSON: And of course you can see that on the web, cnn.com. I'm Becky Anderson, that is your world connected this Friday. The world news headlines and "BackStory" will follow this short break. Don't go away.