“I think we have to swap jobs”: Remember when Tony Stewart drove for McLaren in Formula 1 and Lewis Hamilton joined NASCAR?

Janmeyjay Shukla | 11/01/2022
"I think we have to swap jobs": Remember when Tony Stewart drove for McLaren in Formula 1 and Lewis Hamilton joined NASCAR?

Back in 2011, F1 star Lewis Hamilton and NASCAR driver Tony Stewart decided to swap rides for its fun, and what next happened was amazing.

The two drivers competed in a Mobil 1 event at the Watkins Glen International track. Hamilton was behind the wheel of the #14 Chevrolet. At the same time, Stewart was at the wheel of Hamilton’s championship-winning McLaren MP4-23. This was Hamilton’s first time racing in a stock vehicle and Stewart’s first time in an F1 car.

A rainy evening that did not ruin the experience. Everyone came prepared with sets of rain tires at the storied road course. Hamilton was the first to take to the track in his car, flaunting his skills in front of the cheering crowd. He returned to the pits after two laps as the track began to dry.

Also Read: McLaren CEO Zak Brown compares ‘toxic’ season-long battle between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton to Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna

Stewart knew the track better than anyone else and won five Cup races here. However, he required plenty of laps to adjust to the tracks and drove on the 2.4-mile short circuit when his turn came in.

Two great champions swap their winning machinery

The now seven-time world champion confessed that he never thought to drive a NASCAR machine. Even Tony Stewart felt a little out of his depth, though for more reasons. As it turns out, Stewart has raced just once in wet conditions, and his simulator did not have a rain program.

After leaving pit road, the Briton entertained the crowd with burnout and racked up six laps. He also admitted that it was one of the coolest things he dabbled in outside Formula One. Stewart couldn’t help but smile when he saw Hamilton because he knew that the British driver was having fun.

In the F1 car, Stewart had little trouble adjusting to the F1 car, as he won an IndyCar Series title in 1999. Despite a bit of a struggle to exit the pit lane, he did four laps and clocked in the best time of 1:42 in the tricky conditions. What made it even more impressive was that he was eight seconds faster than Hamilton.

Wish they could switch sports for a lifetime

Tony Stewart and Hamilton were thrilled to swipe rides and had a fantastic experience learning and driving each other’s winning cars.

Also Read: Guenther Steiner believes new technical rules will give Haas fair opportunity to compete

“It sounds cool on TV. I was smiling the whole time”, were the comments made by the seven-time world champion. It was awesome. You know right there when I’m taking off I was you wouldn’t have found him somebody that was more nervous it was, but it was a lot of fun.”

Smoke talks about his experience while driving an F1 car. “It was a lot of fun!” Smoke was having the time of his life,” he further continued appreciating Lewis and Mclaren.

“Lewis, there’s a class act. He was so much help getting me acclimated to the car ,and we are the McLaren guys, they did an awesome job bringing cars to us that you know. I’ve never sat in before till the night before and you know to go out and run four laps as we did it was really really cool as an opportunity of a lifetime,” concluded the three times Nascar cup series champion.

Post Edited By: Tanish Chachra
F1 Lewis Hamilton nascar Tony Stewart

About the author

Janmeyjay Shukla

Janmeyjay Shukla is an artist who contributes his expressions through words as an F1 writer and editor at The SportsRush. He is an F1 historian who has been watching the sport since he was a baby. Passed on from generation to generation, he has seen the prime of Michael Schumacher to the rise of Max Verstappen. A Mercedes fan from the days of the Brawn GP era, the sport runs in his blood. Besides Formula One, Janmeyjay is a Marketing Head and a musician who loves to sing and play Rock & Pop songs on guitar. His love for sports will never die as he is a loyal Liverpool Football Club fan as well!

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