BothMagnussenand Grosjean throughly enjoyed their NASCARexperience,
and being shown the ropesby three-time NASCAR champTony StewartF1 RACING DECEMBER 2019 57
After the recce, it’s time for Stewart to get
behind thewhee l of the real thing and he takes
each Haas driver for a lap. On the door frame,
stickers have been appliedwith the national flags
of each driver and, simply, ‘Smoke’ – in honour
of the champ. In the limited time allowed, there
follows an interesting twistwhere Magnussen
takes Grosjean for a spin – then they swap.
“The last thing Romain asked me, traumatised
me,” says Stewart. “He asked how to do a donut
and I thought ‘oh my God’ – I didn’t want F1 or
the FIA getting mad at me. All I said was, ‘first
gear, wide open and crank it.’”
Sure enough, at theend of his run, Grosjean
nails the throttle approachingthe finish and spins
the Mustang into a series of loops,with smoke
billowing from the screaming Goodyears. Bothdrivers leap out with huge grins on their faces.
“That was so much fun,” smiles Grosjean. “To
have Tony Stewart drive you around and teach
you aboutone of the best NASCAR cars out there
was awesome. It was a greatexper ience and very
different in one way to F1 and similar in another.
For example, turning into Turn 1 youget a bit of
oversteer, then understeer. But the experience
was brand new, that’s what was soexciting, a
little bit like a new girlfriend... maybe I shouldn’t
say that as I’ve been married for seven years...”
Grosjean explains that both he and Magnussen
tackled the first sector of the lap as they would
in an F1 car. But then they realised Stewart was
piloting the Mustang differently.
“In the esses, Tony was preparing the car for
the exits, while we both drove straight tothe apexand saw whether we could make it turn. We both
soon realised that wasn’tefficient – we carried
more speed in but it wasn’t the fastest way.”
Despite the Cup car’s deliberate simplicity
(limited electronics, basic tech) Grosjean loved
the gearchange. “I thought it would be really
tricky, but itwas like a knife through butter.”
Magnussen is equally effusive and relishes the
chance to one day race a NASCAR Cup car – not
just on the road courses, but on the perilous
banked Superspeedways such as Daytona.
“It was such a cool experience to get in one of
those iconic cars,” he says. “I don’t think it would
be easy to jump in and beon it straight away, but
I’d love thechallenge. F1 isgrea t. It’s perfection,
efficiency, high grip and big forces. But NASCAR
is more... cool. Badass. Fun.”BothMagnussenand Grosjean throughly enjoyed their NASCARexperience,
and being shown the ropesby three-time NASCAR champTony StewartF1 RACING DECEMBER 2019 57
After the recce, it’s time for Stewart to get
behind thewhee l of the real thing and he takes
each Haas driver for a lap. On the door frame,
stickers have been appliedwith the national flags
of each driver and, simply, ‘Smoke’ – in honour
of the champ. In the limited time allowed, there
follows an interesting twistwhere Magnussen
takes Grosjean for a spin – then they swap.
“The last thing Romain asked me, traumatised
me,” says Stewart. “He asked how to do a donut
and I thought ‘oh my God’ – I didn’t want F1 or
the FIA getting mad at me. All I said was, ‘first
gear, wide open and crank it.’”
Sure enough, at theend of his run, Grosjean
nails the throttle approachingthe finish and spins
the Mustang into a series of loops,with smoke
billowing from the screaming Goodyears. Both
drivers leap out with huge grins on their faces.
“That was so much fun,” smiles Grosjean. “To
have Tony Stewart drive you around and teach
you aboutone of the best NASCAR cars out there
was awesome. It was a greatexper ience and very
different in one way to F1 and similar in another.
For example, turning into Turn 1 youget a bit of
oversteer, then understeer. But the experience
was brand new, that’s what was soexciting, a
little bit like a new girlfriend... maybe I shouldn’t
say that as I’ve been married for seven years...”
Grosjean explains that both he and Magnussen
tackled the first sector of the lap as they would
in an F1 car. But then they realised Stewart was
piloting the Mustang differently.
“In the esses, Tony was preparing the car for
the exits, while we both drove straight tothe apexand saw whether we could make it turn. We both
soon realised that wasn’tefficient – we carried
more speed in but it wasn’t the fastest way.”
Despite the Cup car’s deliberate simplicity
(limited electronics, basic tech) Grosjean loved
the gearchange. “I thought it would be really
tricky, but itwas like a knife through butter.”
Magnussen is equally effusive and relishes the
chance to one day race a NASCAR Cup car – not
just on the road courses, but on the perilous
banked Superspeedways such as Daytona.
“It was such a cool experience to get in one of
those iconic cars,” he says. “I don’t think it would
be easy to jump in and beon it straight away, but
I’d love thechallenge. F1 isgrea t. It’s perfection,
efficiency, high grip and big forces. But NASCAR
is more... cool. Badass. Fun.”