By Mark Sutton (17/11/2004)
December 1 2004

ITV F1 columnist Mark Sutton was given a ride in a two-seater F1 car at Silverstone last Wednesday. The run in the 'BAR' (actually a re-painted Minardi) was his prize for winning the team's Lucky Strike pitstop challenge earlier this season.

Here, Mark talks us through an unforgettable day...

The whole experience was amazing. When you got there, they had two fully liveried cars plus all the support team and corporate hospitality.

They had laid on a full English breakfast, something I'm very partial to. But those of us going out in the car were warned not to have too much because the G forces are so great that you might see it again later!


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After signing our lives away by filling in the disclaimer forms, we had a medical during which they took your blood pressure.

Anyone over 40 also had to have a full ECG to check their heart rate. I got out of this but not by much because I'm 39!

We were kitted out in all the stuff that drivers have to wear – Nomex fireproof overall and the rest before finally heading to the garage.

Anthony Davidson was our driver for the day and first of all he carried out a few installation laps – this was, after all, the first time that he had driven a two-seater F1 car.


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Then it was our turn. Unfortunately, the Silverstone weather lived up to its reputation giving us a wet track.

But the circuit dried out during every run so that, by the time the ninth and last of us went out, the lap time was nine seconds quicker than it had been for the first person.

I was the fifth out so the conditions for my run were somewhere in the middle.

I've been out on the track in a Mercedes CLK and a DTM car, so I wasn't expecting to be blown away – but this was completely different.

For one thing, it is so cramped. You can barely move because of the five-point harness – and that's before they put the headrest and driver's seat in!

Your legs go down either side of the driver so when he tries to turn the steering wheel, his elbows keep banging into you. At times, Anthony was almost driving one-handed!

And then there was the performance. More than anything, it was how late he braked that amazed me – but of course it is simply second nature to a driver.


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It would have been better if it had been in the dry with more grip but it was still unbelievable. And just to say that I've been in a Formula 1 car is good enough for me.

Anthony was flat out leaving the pits and really pushed hard throughout the laps. He told me that we reached 160mph down the straights – and it didn't feel like we were going much slower when we got to Copse!

And the noise! It reminded me of standing in the tunnel at Monaco it was so loud. Every time he changed gear I was cringing.

I was surprised how much you could see during the run. Despite being strapped firmly in, I was able to lean out of the sides a bit to see what was going on.

Anthony told me that we were putting in the sort of lap times that a Formula 3 car would do in the dry.


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I asked him what he thought of the car and he said "It's a dog" because of the weight distribution.

He said the acceleration and the braking were similar to that of a normal F1 car but the balance was very different.

And he said he could feel how the different weight of each person affected the performance.

But if he's reading, I'd like to point out that they refuelled the car immediately before my run so that made it a bit heavier. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it, anyway…

All in all, it was a great experience and one that I don't think I will get to repeat.

This article and all associated images were kindly provided by Sutton Images and are used with permission.