5 top draws of F1 who are also intensely fit and competitive athletes

Jenson Button – F1 championship winner, triathlon winner, swimmer – the list goes onFormula One is regarded by many as an ultimate sport that stands at the top pedestal among the world's most keenly followed sporting events for the unparalleled racing fest it offers to spectators from around the world. Producing, race after race, a battle of epic proportions, while F1 fuels tremendous interest and emotional participation among fans who remain dazed to see world's fastest men in their speed machines compete with each other in a contest for domination for speed, it imposes upon racing drivers a excruciating task that outlives the duration of the entire racing season.It is easy and fairly simple to remember which driver emerged on top over his adversaries and nothing less than a bitter-sweet moment to treasure the cheerful victories of some of the most popular racing teams, but it is quite indefinable to comprehend both the physical and physiological challenges that drivers have to contend with. And not just during the race whilst driving to compete but even in important periods during race preparations. That said, these challenges aren't ordinary asks they can shy away from but in fact, scathing tasks they have to literally master.We commonly forget that while drivers enjoy posing on the podiums spraying the champagne and enjoy the incomparable pleasure at receiving all the attention and adulation winning races or having bagged competitive race finishes, they subject themselves to an excruciatingly competitive and domineeringly challenging fitness to attain these grand moments that lift them up to soak in all the fun.Maneuvering cars that weigh over 650 kgs whilst competing in rigorous race weekends that consist not only the all important Sunday's but even the intensely important qualifying events where drivers sweat and hydrate at extraordinary levels, losing up to 4 kgs of body weight at the end of every race and contending with an extremely high heart-rate, one cannot not afford to be at the peak of personal fitness in order to compete in a real test of nerves and painstaking physical stamina.We take a look at some drivers who aren't just competitive race winners and driving aces but are at the peak of their athletic abilities that have accounted to their tremendous success in Formula One. In addition, we look their rigorous techniques and fitness regimens that they follow to maintain their exceptional fitness at the pinnacle of motor racing.

#1 Heikki Kovalainen

Former F1 racer Heikki Kovalainen is an avid runner

By his own admission, 34 year old Finn, Heikki Kovalainen is a fitness freak. Having competed in Formula One for 7 competitive seasons, leading promising but not particularly exciting stints for McLaren and Lotus where he last raced in 2013 season has done little to dull an extremely fit and agile Kovalainen's fitness regimen.

An exceptional athlete who barely weighs 60 kilograms and participates in fitness training and rigorous body workouts unfailingly every week, Heikki in a way is our Usain Bolt in the glamorous world of Formula One, if not for speed but for pure athleticism.

A man who can be best described as a happy go lucky soul off the track but equally focus while on it, Kovalainen has worked particularly well to sculpt an all round athletic and supremely adept physical frame. A steady pulse of 58 beats per minute can be pretty unnerving to other drivers whose pulse goes up to 80 beats per minute.

Having long competed in regular marathon and sprint racing events, the Suomussalmi-born Finn has a discerning view on the importance of maintaining all round fitness if one has to successfully compete and survive the rigors of F1 which, if not handled with composure and a certain mental elasticity can be damaging in the long run.

For Kovalainen, presently competing in Super GT in Japan, a popular grand super car racing event that began in the land of the rising sun two decades ago, has often shared that a good way to describe the life of an F1 driver is to concede that he runs marathons with racing cars for 19 strenuous contests.

The need to partake in neck training, Aerobic training, Stretching followed by mediation and jogging necessitates the true makings of an extremely fit F1 driver and being devoted to these important constituents in all body work-out program, Kovalainen also reserves a special interest and passion for Watt Biking among competing in regular sprinting events.

But while the twists and turns of the racing tracks did not do much to add to Kovalainen's s tally of F1 points, which stand only at a modest 105 upon debuting way back in 2007, his phenomenal fitness levels have paved way toward adding the necessary rhythm, balance and stamina it takes to compete in rigorous sporting events such as Race of the Champions and the Super GT, where the Finn has raced with aplomb with significant measure.

#2 Jenson Button

Button regularly competes in Ironman Triathlons

Jenson Button, who won the World Championship way back in 2009 for Brawn GP has been an exceptional athlete all his life. But to maintain a tall but lean frame that boasts of tremendous physicality that has allowed him to elongate his popular racing career hasn't been that easy.

Renowned for being a fitness freak and someone who naturally enjoys the rigorous challenges of swimming, cycling and running, it is hardly a surprise that 35-year-old Button is an accomplished triathlete.

Just a week before entering to compete at the United States Grand Prix at Wandering Creek in Austin, Texas, where Hamilton clinched his 3rd driver's title- while other drivers were amidst the usual routines of working with race engineers and other crew members toward their cars, Button was away in California upon his arrival in United States. Turns out, the handsome bloke was busy competing in an important beach triathlon event at Hermosa Beach in California.. an event he would go on to win.

Doing a 1/4 mile swim followed by cycling his way to a distance of 10 mile accompanied by the final leg of the competition that includes running, Button, upon finishing the 3 mile run easily trumped the triathlon contest which he rounded up in flat 48 minutes and 27 seconds. What's exciting and quite staggering at the same time is to note that upon the conclusion of the challenging event, Button seemed as if he had hardly broken a sweat.

Having competed in triathlon events on many earlier occasions, it helps that in his wife, Japanese model Jessica Michibata, who is herself a fitness enthusiast, Button has a companion that complements his agile 1.82 meter frame.

He’s lucked out with his teammate as well – with him and teammate Fernando Alonso both cycling enthusiasts, the pair frequently cycle together.

#3 Mark Webber

Webber drives for Porsche in the ultimate endurance test – the 24 H of Le Mans

Australians are widely recognized as one of the most competitive nations in the world of sport. While many recognize their brilliance and unquestionable talent in the world of Rugby and Cricket where their phenomenal reign has been credited to their agility and burly frames they sport as a combination of great nutrition and a strict exercise regimen, when it comes to competing in Formula One, it takes much more than just immediate physical fitness.

Known famously as Aussie Grit and truly living to the famous moniker attributed to him, Mark Webber, one of the most loved and respected characters in the world of Motorsports, has lived a great athlete's life.

Never shying away from the rigors of hard work that are a must for a racer to compete and stretch his career in the competitive grind of motor racing, Mark Webber is a renowned competitor in extreme adventure sports. From rock climbing to mountain running and mountain biking Webber has done all that and tirelessly for about a decade or so.

At 39 and far from the peak of youth, Webber who was once Red Bull's top driver alongside Sebastian Vettel is famous for competing in successive round ups of Tasmania Challenge. An exciting and extremely rigorous outdoor event organized amidst the rustic but enchanting beauty of Tasmanian wilderness in Australia, the five day spectacle imposes a stiff ask on competitors who are to mountain bike, trek and kayak over the course of 5 days to emerge on top on what appropriately is dubbed a sizeable grand victory considering its stiff and dangerous ask from those who lock horns amidst the scenic charms of Tasmanian wild.

In his first ever competition entry where a 1000 km soul crushing hike prevented the determined Aussie from furthering his participation, he came back strongly in successive rounds in the later years where he easily clocks up around 90 kilometers on a regular day whilst competing for 5 long days.

Competing often for team Swisse, 1.84m tall Webber uses his strong and lean physique he has sculpted indulging in rounds of interesting outdoorsy activities over a long course of his sporting career. Stamina which is central to competing in this stiff 350 km ask of competitors is often other's weakling while it is something where Webber excels naturally, given a god-gifted tendency of not putting on the needless piles as other competitors and even several racing driver's such as Alonso and Raikkonen have to compete with.

Preferring cycling and sprint running over the tedious and even boring gym training sessions, Webber even stresses on the importance of cardio conditioning and core body strengthening in his view of being wholly fit in the massively demanding contests that motorsports extol upon professional drivers.

#4 Fernando Alonso

One of Formula One's most iconic and supremely quick racing drivers and someone celebrated as much for his amazing skill with the car as he is chided for his often caustic and unbecoming takes and slices on competitor's and often the sport itself, Double World Champion, Fernando Alonso, currently driving for Honda- McLaren is big on cycling.

Alonso is so enthusiastic about cycling he even attempted once to buy an entire team

He is fast on the track – both inside the lean, mean racing machine and extremely adept at cycling on both sport and regular bikes. In fact, so passionate is Alonso about the grueling sport that he is often seen taking a tour of the circuit on his cycle-bike where he is to race in a Formula one car on a Sunday.

The 1.71 meter tall Alonso, not the tallest in the competitive rut of F1, the Spaniard weighs about 64 kg. Admitting that he wasn't the most ideal candidate cut for the immensely demanding ask of Formula One whence he was in his teen years, Alonso has worked hard off the circuit to prepare for the racing grind on the most nastiest of racing tracks.

Known to employ the expert services of the best physios in the world, Alonso, close friends with Fabricio Borra and Edoardo Bendinilli, two of the renowned physical trainers who work with international sports stars, often prefers to even snack on a light meal of pasta post an arduously engaging session of workout with the two.

A keen follower of Tour de France, the motorsport equivalent of cycling and easily amongst the most rigorous international sporting events, Alonso has learnt a lot of tricks about the 2 wheel competition with international star and compatriot, Carlos Sastre who won the checkered event in 2008.

A keen learner forever willing to exceed his set fitness levels, a necessity not just for survival but shining in Formula One, Fernando Alonso has for years flirted with the idea of setting up a professional cycling team from Spain, which he proudly represents in the glamorous world of F1.

He has been working ever so closely over the course of last two years with another friend Alberto Contador, a popular Spanish cyclist about 2 years junior to the McLaren driver.

While driving a car that is far from being even called "drivable", let alone being competitive, Alonso who has contended with plenty of pain as has teammate Button right from the start of 2015 season, is often seen taking to Tennis and Cycling during the layoff days where he sweats it out before switching from a race track to another. Like Webber, also his closest friend in the world of motor-racing, a place where forging lifelong rivalries comes easy to many instead of cultivating friendships, F1's " genius bad boy" too prefers open air exercises over the dull looking routines of the gym.

#5 Kimi Raikkonen

Literally the Iceman: Kimi loves snow sports

Some call him the laziest driver out there while some love his ice cool mannerisms, appropriately naming him the "Iceman". But, in the unforgiving world of Formula One where there is no scope of mediocrity and where competitiveness is the only key to survival, it shouldn't be much of a surprise that the 2007 World Champion Raikkonen finds his place in this list that otherwise boasts of aggressive and less "sedate" drivers.

Always inspiring for his near spot-on reflexes and candid but brilliant exploits that he unfurls from the cockpit of the racing car, Kimi, the oldest driver on the grid, is nearly as fit and physically aware of the rigorous demands of the intense world of F1 as his younger counterparts such as Max Verstappen, Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz Junior.

A driver who has done exceedingly well in proving his mettle, not for other's contention but for his deriving of incessant pleasure out of racing in different but uniquely competitive formats such as WRC and Nascar racing, the Iceman is a fit and extremely agile athlete who has managed an impressively long stint in Formula One, if not necessarily an extremely rewarding one when compared to the significant plusses that rivals, Hamilton, Alonso and even teammate Vettel have derived from the sport.

Kimi Matias Raikkonen, who recently turned a father at 35 whilst still being in the topsy turvy world of F1, has maintained great stamina thanks to his participation in drag racing events in Europe and during his many competitive and fruitful participations in rallying and other formats of racing such as even Snow Boarding that asks a difficult ask of body balance, endurance and a certain fluidity that not many come to manage.

But, a silent master of many masterful albeit challenging asks, Raikkonen whose racing image and mettle remained unsullied despite a poor 2014 season where he had a drab dull car to race with, possibly the worst out thus far from Maranello's magical hat even emerged unshaken despite suffering quite a few harrowing accidents during his outings at the European rallying competitions of 2010 and 2011.

Calm and collected in a funny but reassuring way, Raikkonen's unflappable nature and silent determination have furthered his stay in the top echelon in Formula One. Here the Finn, notoriously known for participating in snowboarding and skiing under several pseudonyms, where his presence is as frequent as is of snow in the Nordic delights of home Finland has often kept his 6 packs away from the glare and scrutiny of media that can't ever get enough of the Ferrari driver.