Lewis Hamilton drives in NASCAR
We could make a spurious commentary relating Lewis Hamilton's Canadian GP crash-fest with NASCAR's propensity to turn left, and into one another. But we won't, because Lewis is a world champion, and we actually rather like NASCAR. We've even got our own one.
So when the fighty little Lewis got behind the wheel of double NASCAR Sprint Cup champ Tony Stewart's Chevy Impala yesterday, we got excited. Especially as Tony jumped behind the wheel of Lewis's MP4-23, and both did a few laps of the 3.4-mile, 11-turn Watkins Glen International circuit in New York. Nice.
"They don't make tracks like this anymore," said our Lewis. "I was a little bit nervous before I started. I thought I was in the wrong gear, but fixed it with some power.
"The way this thing pulls through the rpm is fantastic. It's not the same as F1, but I could see myself having a lot of fun with this car."
He also laughed off his recent form by admitting that with the problems he's had recently, "changing motorsports might not be a bad idea".
Still, it did remind Lewis of a simpler time. "I just felt like a kid today," he said. "It reminded me of when I used to do go-karting. F1 is so serious sometimes, even this morning I was still feeling the pressure from the weekend, but once I got into the car I felt so relaxed."
And despite what the headlines read, he's very much a McLaren man. "I'm very fortunate to be at McLaren," said Lewis. "It's a team with great history and I don't see why you'd move when you have such a competitive car. As long as the car can do the job, there's no reason to leave."
Tony had a right old blast behind the wheel of Lewis' MP4-23 too. "Such a lot happened in such a short space of time, I'm going to wear out Lewis' email asking him questions about his car."
