Monday February 21st, 2000

The Benetton Formula One team has today opened the Human Performance Centre on site at the Enstone base.

The 360 m², £4 million facility was opened to media and guests by Rocco Benetton, Giancarlo Fisichella and Alexander Wurz along with representatives of Cybex and Forza who are partners in the centre.

The Human Performance Centre is a state-of ­the-art training facility designed for Benetton Formula One's two drivers and for use by the whole team. It was conceived with the purpose of providing a personalised, scientific and comprehensive approach to driver and team training and to optimise performance, and has now grown into a massive facility in its own right.

The HPC is managed by ex-international triathlete and British cross country ski champion, Bernie Shrosbree and he is assisted by a team of physiotherapists and sports scientists. Facilities at the HPC include testing laboratory and performance studio, physiotherapy clinic and briefing room.

"The fitness of a driver is of paramount importance to his performance and his needs are unique," said Chief Executive, Rocco Benetton. "I believe in investing as much in human as technical resources to find that competitive edge, and the HPC is not solely for the drivers but for the whole team to ensure the highest level of performance from all of us."

"During a race the driver undergoes great physiological stresses with extreme forces to the neck region and g-forces up to 5g," explains HPC Manager, Bernie Shrosbree. "So we have worked closely with Cybex to develop equipment that covers the driver's specific needs of cardiovascular fitness, upper body strength, mental agility and reaction response."