This is the Renault R25. As the car that won Fernando Alonso
a world championship... it's one of the all-time F1 greats. The R25 is also the last of the breed
from the monstrous V10 era, when the cars were chucking out
close to 1,000 horsepower. Now, there's going to be
no Top Gear nonsense today. I'm not going to race it against a cheetah
or a bat on a superbike. My mission is simply
to get that round a track. Specifically, two laps around
Stowe Circuit at Silverstone. More specifically, two laps without stuffing a priceless
World Championship-winning F1 car. Now, to put all this into context, the fastest road car
I've ever driven is the Bugatti Veyron, which has a power to weight ratio
of 530 horsepower per ton. But the power to weight ratio of this is 1,500 horsepower per tonne. But it's not just the numbers. Nothing can prepare your mind,
your senses, your body, your reaction times
for the assault of a Formula 1 car. So, before the assault,
it was back to school. My teacher would be race team boss
Jonathan Lewis and my first lesson would be in
one of his little formula Renault cars. -It's very simple, really.
-It looks like a Formula 1 car to me, only a bit smaller
and not quite as fiddly. Okay. Well, it is a baby formula car. As a Veyron veteran, I was keen
to show him what I could do! Still, the Formula Renault only has
a piddly two-litre engine from a Clio, so mastering it should be easy. Right, I'm about going to try
and gas it a bit down the straight. I've never let a complete novice
go out in one of our cars before. The Formula Renault has only
one fifth the power of an F1 car and I now realised the size
of the mountain I had to climb. I've experienced what proper brakes are!
It's like hitting a wall! And just as I was getting used to
this car, I was shoved into its bigger brother, a World Series car, with twice
the power of the Formula Renault. He's gone quiet. And no wonder! The straight-line speed
I could cope with, but in the corners, I just couldn't
think fast enough to react.= I'm quick!
I don't know how much to trust it! It's just so.... There's so much to learn. I can't drive fast enough to get the heat
in the brakes and then there's no brakes. I've just grappled with
500 brake horsepower in a 500 kilo car
and I'm only halfway there. I was summoned to look at the readouts
from my on-board telemetry. You're riding the brake
and you're riding the accelerator. It's 'cause I'm doing left-foot braking. And the other thing is, you've been
quite severe on one of the downshifts and you've put eight-and-a-half
on the motor. If I'd done what I did on that lap in a Formula 1 car,
what would have happened? You'd have probably spun it
and wrecked the engine. How much is an engine rebuild
on a Formula 1 car? Probably about 150,000, 200,000 or more. I needed lots more time
in the World Series car, but that wasn't going to happen... because my muscles were struggling
to cope with the cornering forces. My head is going to come off
and I'm not joking. His neck will go soon,
so, he needs to drive the Formula 1. Before I moved on,
Yoda gave me a pep talk. Everything you experience
in the World Series car is probably going to be
more than three times as much, maybe more, in the Formula 1. My thinking time, that was my problem
and I had a bit of an off. It's because I thought
I'd left it too late to brake. Then I realised I hadn't,
but because I was thinking that, the car was already round the corner
and I was in the wrong gear and I span. I can't think fast enough,
more than anything else. You're going to have to concentrate,
especially with that thing. If you think that's hard,
that's going to be another level. That's snug. If you are ten, I'm doing this on
your behalf. You're in here with me. Now I've got control of the throttle. That's me. Dear God, that's me
revving a Formula 1 engine. The eyes of the whole F1 team
were upon me. This was it. Rev. It had taken me a minute to do 40 feet. Are we going all the way back in?
Is it all off? Here's the problem with the stalling. I know it's very funny, but the car has
a system. If you stall, it's a disaster. So, as you're setting off, if it thinks
you haven't got enough power, it just cuts the clutch in again
and you just look an idiot. -Eight.
-Eight anti-stalls? That's a record, isn't it? After the team had laughed at me
and warmed the tyres to make them more grippy,
they sent me on my way. Oh, God! It feels totally different
to the other car. Totally different. Turning left... my God,
I'm in a Formula 1 car! I'm going to try the throttle
and see what... Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Holy mother! There's no temperature in the brakes. In the half a lap I'd managed,
the car had made a big impression. It's absolutely the most glorious
machine... in the world. I'm going as fast as I feel I can. It's not fast enough to heat the tyres,
which means I've no grip or down force. If I go a bit faster than that, there'll still be no heat in the tyres
and no down force and I will crash. The only way from where I am now
is a lot faster. Then I'll have heat in the tyres
and grip and I won't crash. And to make things worse, the man with
my telemetry was hardly a bag of laughs. There's a big gap between
where you're lifting off and braking. You should come straight off
the accelerator onto the brakes. -Right.
-There's no need for that big gap. How big a gap is it? Half a second between you lifting off... -Not massive, is it?
-It should be straightaway. He was right, though. If I was going to do two laps
in this thing, I had to dig deep. I've got to think
about everything I've learned. Oh, God! Oh, God! Oh, God! That's unbelievable. There's no temperature in the brakes. They feel like they're not working. I'd done a lap! Just one more. Turning in. Oh, it's beautiful. I suspect the chief mechanic
had seen better. But as far as I was concerned,
driving god. It's the most scary thing
in the whole world. The last corner is coming up. I'm braking.
I'm in second. I'm going to aim it for the line. I've done it! I've done it! I've done it! Holy crap! To mark the occasion, the technicians
let the engine play its party piece.
Also this car was driven around the Stowe circuit, which is basically a karting track for an F1.
I think quite a lot of this film was exaggerated, but driving an F1 car is still very difficult.
Steve Sutcliffe and Chris Harris drove around Silverstone for Autocar during winter in a Jag and Honda and did far better. This was just over dramatic TG pandering to those with no idea themselves.
Even Tom Cruise was putting respectable laps together in a RBR minus traction control.
ITT: People who have never driven an F1 car, telling people who have never driven an F1 car, how easy it is to drive an F1 car.
The one time Hammond put on an act for an entertainment show.
Seriously, people drive F1 cars all the time. Its not as hard as he pretends.
https://www.lrs-formula.com/en/
https://www.agsformule1.com/en/driving-courses/formula1/
http://www.rajamakiracing.com/en/
https://www.puresport.net/us/f1-driving-experience
https://racing-school.co.uk/product-category/cars/formula-1-car/
Edit - did I say "one time?" I meant, like every time they get before the cameras.
I think it was embellished for television sake, but also keep in mind someone driving road cars for a tv show doesn't mean they know the faintest about actual car control and how to drive a race car.
Putin > Hammond
I think his problem was he was going too slow so he had no brake temp to slow down , so to counter that he drove slower and had no temps in anything.
Where my /r/thinkpad brothers at? https://i.imgur.com/fA4ePQe.jpg
I love his reaction when he gives it full throttle right out of the pits. He was completely awestruck.