Lewis Hamilton couldn’t stop grinning. Neither could Tony Stewart.
After trading cars at Watkins Glen International on a damp, cold Tuesday afternoon – Hamilton drove the No. 14 Chevy from NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series and Stewart drove Hamilton’s championship-winning McLaren Mercedes from 2008 – both drivers were elated.
Giddy, even.
Hamilton had his mobile phone out for most of the day, snapping pictures of Stewart, the cars, the drivers together, the track, the fans and even the media.
“I just feel like a kid today,” said Hamilton, the über-celeb who dates the lead singer of The Pussycat Dolls. “It’s good to be a kid again.”
Stewart, meanwhile, said sitting in a Formula One car was “truly the experience of a lifetime” and said he enjoyed the ride so much that if he knew what it felt like to drive an F1 car 20 years ago instead of discovering it on Tuesday, he might have never done NASCAR.
Hamilton’s impression of a stock car?
“I was a little bit nervous,” Hamilton said. “I was really, really surprised – I didn’t know how stiff it was going to be, but it handles really well.”
And Stewart?
“Once we got rolling, it was unbelievable,” Stewart said. “...Amazing of what the capabilities of the cars are. It’s probably going to make my crew chief a little more stressed during the weekends right now because I’m going to want it to handle like that all the time. I don’t think we’ll ever get it there.” SB Nation
Stewart commented: “I’ve always been intrigued by the open wheel cars in Formula One racing. Feeling the power behind the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes MP4-23 was amazing and being able to take it for a ride around the course in front of a crowd of avid race fans at a track like The Glen made it even more special. An experience that I’ll never forget.”
Hamilton said: “NASCAR is a different world. Driving the No. 14 Mobil 1/Office Depot Chevrolet was a massive change from what I’m used to, but Tony was an excellent teacher and I quickly found a good rhythm - those cars are raw and powerful! They’re fantastic fun to drive. It was a great day at Watkins Glen - this is a circuit with a great deal of Formula One history behind it: Emerson Fittipaldi won McLaren their first drivers’ and constructors’ titles here back in 1974 and it’s been fantastic to come here and take in some of that history.” Formula 1
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