Even World Rally Championship (WRC) drivers want to be Formula One drivers. And proving it, four-time WRC champion Sebastien Ogier has scored his dream drive in a V8-powered Red Bull Racing F1 car.
Getting to drive Sebastian Vettel’s old 2011 championship-winning Red Bull Racing RB7 Formula 1 car around Austria’s 4.3-kilometre Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, the French WRC driver got to make a childhood dream come true.
That’s right, despite winning four consecutive WRC world titles (2013-2016) with Volkswagen Motorsport, Ogier – now driving an M Sport World Rally Team Ford Fiesta WRC car – once dreamed of following in the footsteps of F1 idols, namely Ayrton Senna.
“One dream came true for me today,” Ogier said after getting to rack up 100km behind the wheel, with guidance and moral support from former Formula 1 grand prix driver David Coulthard.
“As a kid I was watching Senna, he was my idol, and of course I was dreaming one day to try this kind of car,” Ogier said.
“For a racing driver, to have fun you need to be fast, and a Formula 1 car is the fastest car you can drive, so of course every racing driver wants to feel that one day.
“It was awesome and of course a big discovery – so different to what I have ever driven before. It was so much fun and actually this car is super-quick but also you feel quickly very comfortable in it.”
And yes, just in case you’re wondering, even the vastly talented Sebastien Ogier had a small off in his first time at the controls of an F1 car.
“The only thing I played with a little was the traction control,” Ogier said.
“I turned it down gradually, then removed it completely to finish without any. It was interesting to feel how nervous the car felt without any traction control and how smooth and gentle you have to be with the throttle. It was good fun.”
We can only imagine…
Ogier’s next challenge is back in his WRC car, with Rally Finland kicking off on July 27.
If all of this sounds a touch familiar, you might recall the time nine-time WRC Champion (only five-time at the time) Sebastien Loeb got to drive a Red Bull Racing F1 car around the UK’s Silverstone Grand Prix circuit in 2008, or when Scottish rally icon Colin McRae once famously drove – and spun – Martin Brundle’s Jordan F1 car back in 1996.
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