Nabil Jeffri becomes youngest driver to test a Formula 1 car
On Wednesday, Malaysian teenager Nabil Jeffri became the youngest driver ever to test a Formula 1 car in the history of the sport after a straight link session with team Lotus at Duxford airfield.
The 16-year-old drives in the Asian Formula BMW Pacific series as a part of team Eurasia Motorsport. He was joined by drivers Heikki Kovalainen and Fairuz Fauzy as he undertook the aerodynamic evaluations and practiced pit stops.
“I have had an incredible day, one of the best days of my life. I have to admit the first time I went out it was pretty scary. Everyone told me the acceleration would be unbelievable and the braking would be so much greater than anything I've ever experienced, and it took a while to get used to that”, said Jeffri.
“Heikki and Fairuz gave me some advice on how to settle in to it, and after a while I was more comfortable and was able to get through the day's plan. It is such an honour to have had this opportunity and it will be a long time before the excitement wears off. I'll keep working hard to one day join Heikki, Fairuz, Jarno [Trulli] and the rest of the F1 grid”, he added.
Team boss Tony Fernandes added that he is proud of how well Nabil has adjusted to the sport. The young Malaysian is a part of a driver development programme AirAsia ASEAN that is run by Tony Fernandes.
Tony said that when he first offered the 16 year old the chance to drive in his team, Nabil thought he was joking even though he was very serious about giving the young driver a chance to enter the racing world and make it big time. Fernandes is thankful to Jeffri as he repaid his faith in him as the young driver performed incredibly well giving the team boss a source of pride. He suspects that Nabil will head back to Malaysia shocked about everything that happened to him in the past couple of days as he has now driven a Formula 1 car and now the young driver will aim for nothing less than the best for the rest of his career.
F1 driver Kovalainen echoed Fernandes’ opinion about the youngster being clear about what he wants to do. "He did a great job today, he quickly picked up the correct procedures and was working well with the whole team, which is pretty awesome when you think we've got the proper race team here which could have been a bit daunting," added Kovalainen.
Heikki Kovalainen has been in Formula 1 since 2007 and has made quite an impressive debut as he finished in 7th place with 30 points in team Renault. McLaren was impressed by the Fin driver’s debut performance and offered him a spot in McLaren. Heikki was not able to perform up to the expectations of the team as he finished in 7th place in the drivers’ standings with 53 points this time.
The 28 year old stayed with the team for another year and finished in a disappointing 12th place this time, which made the team very disappointed with his performance as his teammate Lewis Hamilton was constantly outperforming him throughout the season. Heikki had to leave the team and is with Lotus this year. The driver has not been able to score a single point with the team as the team has been struggling to make it with the top running teams or even have a powerful car.
Keeping in mind that Jeffri is the youngest driver to 'test a Formula 1 car', the youngest driver to actually participate in a grand prix is the current Toro Rosso driver Jaime Alguersuari who made his debut a year ago at the age of 19 years and 125 days.
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