How I “practised” for my F1 drive

Before I got behind the wheel of the dumbed-down F1 racecar, I (barely) earned my racing stripes in a 2-litre Formula Renault (FR). Essentially a scaled-down F1 car, the FR had a lusty 185bhp Clio RenaultSport engine, rapid 6-speed sequential gearbox, stiff carbon chassis and a low weight of just 450kg. It was fast and furious, but slower and less angry than the actual thing. My FR drive was split into two sessions, with a telemetry debrief in between to help me drive better/harder on my second set of four laps. I tried to interpret the telemetry charts, I took notes, and I talked shop with the team engineers. I also remembered the most important technique: left foot to brake, right foot to accelerate.

It worked. My lap times improved considerably after I applied what they taught me: More throttle more of the time, heavier on the brakes, smoother on the steering. So far, so fast, so good.