Some INCREDIBLE numbers from the fastest F1 cars (circa. 2006)

Grand Prix cars and the cutting edge technology that constitute them produce an unprecedented combination of outright speed and quickness for the drivers. Every F1 car on the grid is capable of going from 0 to 100 mph and back to 0 in less than five seconds. During a demonstration at the Silverstone circuit in Britain, an F1 McLaren-Mercedes F1 car gave a pair of Mercedes-Benz street cars a head start of seventy seconds, and was able to beat the cars to the finish line from a standing start, a distance of only 3.2 miles.

As well as being fast in a straight line, F1 cars also have incredible cornering ability. Grand Prix cars can negotiate corners at significantly higher speeds than other racing cars because of the intense levels of grip and downforce. Cornering speed is so high that Formula One drivers have strength training routines just for the neck muscles . Former F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya claimed to be able to perform 300 repetitions of 50 lb with his neck.

Acceleration is not just linear forward acceleration, but three types of acceleration can be considered for an F1 car's, and all cars' in general, performance:

• Linear acceleration (speeding up):  0 to 60 mph: 1.7 seconds; 0 to 125 mph: 3.8 seconds.
  
• Linear deceleration (braking):  Martin Brundle, a former Grand Prix driver, tested the Williams Toyota FW29 Formula 1 car, and stated that under heavy braking he felt like his lungs were hitting the inside of his ribcage, forcing him to exhale involuntarily. Here the aerodynamic drag actually helps, and can contribute as much as 1.0 g of braking force, which is the equivalent of the brakes on most road sports cars. In other words, if the throttle is let go, the F1 car will slow down under drag at the same rate as most sports cars do with braking, at least at speeds above 160 mph.
  
• Lateral acceleration (turning):  At 130 mph already the lateral force is 3.0 g, as evidenced by the famous esses (turns 3 and 4) at the Suzuka circuit. Higher-speed corners such as Blanchimont (Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps) and Copse (Silverstone Circuit) are taken at above 5.0 g, and 6.0 g has been recorded at Suzuka's 130-R corner. This contrasts with 1 g for the Enzo Ferrari, a high performance road car.
  

Top Speed:  225 mph.

Some startling information - and these guys have to do it for so many laps! I know how drained I am after doing half races without the g-force etc and real world danger, so hats off!

Montoya - still one of my favourite drivers in any discipline!

Yea, you gotta love the drivers who seriously compete at the pinnacle of motorsport and then go to other  totally different things and have success. Even harder to go to NASCAR because he was used as a marketing tool by Ganassi (who is no dummy because he's a good driver too, but that's a whole other thread) and NASCAR, and when they have a natural bias against anything F1. Was not as difficult for Mansell, from that standpoint, but still impressive, because Mansell was competing against better drivers, in general. Sort of like when Kimi went to Rally car after winning the WDC in F1. Shows you just how good those rally car drivers (and Loeb) are. The only class I'd personally consider possibly more talented than F1. Top Gear was right, though -- "If you want to win, hire a Fin."