“It isn’t Lewis Hamilton or Michael Schumacher”- Who holds the record for the highest speed driven in an F1 car?

Lewis Hamilton or Michael Schumacher don’t hold the record for the highest speed driven in an F1 car, but who actually holds it? 

F1 is the fastest brand of motorsport in the world. We see some of the most skilled drivers in the world navigate around circuits, exceeding speeds of more than 300 km/h on a weekly basis.

An F1 car however, is not designed to be fast everywhere. The car is set up in a way, that it goes around a particular circuit in as little time as possible. This is why speed varies from track to track.

Back in 2005, McLaren’s Juan Pablo Montoya recorded a top-speed of 372.6 kmph (231.5 mph). This was officially recognized as the fastest speed ever achieved on an F1 car, even though it was done during a testing session, and not a Grand Prix weekend.

In 2016, Valtteri Bottas, who was then driving for Williams reached a speed of 378 kmph (234.8 mph) while during practice in Baku. This is the top speed achieved by a driver/team at a race track, during a race weekend.

However, the fastest speed ever recorded in an F1 car, belongs to a different person altogether.

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McLaren’s unique project and how they almost broke the 400 km/h mark with an F1 car

The fastest ever speed in an F1 car wasn’t recorded with an F1 driver behind the wheel. Back in 2005, McLaren were trying to become the first team to break the 400 km/h barrier using an F1 car.

They designed a specially constructed car for this and chose Alan van der Merwe as their driver. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because we still see him every weekend in F1, as the FIA medical car driver.

The location for this test was decided to be Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, USA. Van der Merwe came agonizingly close to breaking that record, as his average speed came out to be 397.6 kmph (247 mph). Even though they didn’t break the mark, the South African driver said he was proud, as they came closer than expected.

“We shouldn’t have gotten that close,” he said. “I think we would have needed a completely different tool for the job to do 400 km/h. But we had a lot of fun, getting really really close. And we also have the record!”

Alan van der Merwe and McLaren’s record of 397.6 kmph (247 mph) remains the fastest ever speed recorded by an F1 car.

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