Nico Rosberg admits taking F1 race PILL with astonishing result

Nico Rosberg has opened up on the details of a pill he swallowed ahead of a Formula 1 drive during his career.

The 2006 champion was speaking at a warm Spanish Grand Prix weekend, with temperatures set for the high 20s throughout the event, and told Sky Sports viewers that they underestimate how hot F1 cars get.

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The former Mercedes star revealed that he once swallowed a pill before a race which measured his internal temperature, which spiked to dangerously unhealthy levels. It is generally accepted that the internal temperature of the human body should be around the mid-to-high 36 degree mark.

Rosberg hailed the cooling vests that drivers are now given, a big step forward in controlling temperatures inside the cockpit as racers are borderline boiled alive in their cars.

Rosberg: F1 drivers face extreme heat

Speaking on Sky Sports this weekend, the German ex-racer said: “We always underestimate how difficult it is for the drivers in those cars, the asphalt is almost 50 (degrees Celsius) and you are sitting on the asphalt.

“I once swallowed a pill to measure the temperature and it registered 41 degrees Celsius. That is extremely high fever where you almost go to hospital.

“That's what the pill measures. It's extreme heat in there and it's so incredibly tough. Now the drivers have these cooling vests and that helps massively.”

A rule was introduced for this season whereby F1 can declare a 'heat hazard' if temperatures are above 31 degrees, which obliges teams to fit a driver cooling system to their cars.

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