Below is an excerpt of the FIA Press Conference held on Thursday, July 8th. Of special note is the section about the use of Scalextric brand slot cars. Being a home slot car enthusiast I found this rather intriguing.
Q: Can I ask all four drivers about the new circuit. Have you had a look at it? What are your feelings about it?
Mark Webber: I think when they designed it they weren’t really planning probably to have a Formula One race here, so they were looking very aggressively towards making it more towards the bikes. I think then it was a bonus they got the cars back which we are all very happy about. The work the BRDC, Damon, everyone has done I must say it’s incredible how they kept their heels in the ground and kept the event here which is great for all of us. Back to the track itself they kept all the good stuff, the sections of the circuit that the drivers like I believe. It would still be nice if we had Bridge in there and some of the other corners were nice, but you can’t have everything when you have certainly a world class category in Moto GP here. They have made an adjustment and I think it is still good for both of us. I don’t think there will be any more overtaking than it was in the past. It was always a difficult track to overtake on and I think that will still be the case but that’s the same for most circuits around the world. So overall positive. A huge amount of effort has gone in and that needs to be applauded and hopefully we can have a good race this weekend.
Q: Fernando, have you had a look at it?
Fernando Alonso: I did some laps with a bicycle today. Nothing really more to add to what Mark said. We love to drive here. We love high speed circuits as this one. As Mark said I think overtaking will be difficult but no more difficult than it was in the past, so here we will enjoy this weekend a lot.
Q: I believe the McLaren duo have been practicing it on Scalextric. Is that right?
Jensen Button: Yes. It is very slippery at turn one, lot of oversteer. Apart from that the circuit was pretty good and I enjoyed it.
Lewis Hamilton: He was really quick on Scalextric, so watch out for him this weekend.
Q: He was quickest?
Lewis Hamilton: He lapped me, almost twice. I crashed quite a lot.
It's not every day that you see professional drivers commenting on their use of slot cars. Especially in the day of iRacing.com.
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