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THROWBACK: When Jimmie Johnson Took Over the Formula 1 Car of Fernando Alonso

Published 05/10/2020, 10:54 AM EDT

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Jimmie Johnson will bid goodbye to NASCAR soon to look for other avenues in racing. And Johnson has been sampling different classes of racing for some time now.

In 2018, Jimmie got an opportunity to swap cars with F1 champion Fernando Alonso at Bahrain. The driver blew everyone with his skills and managed to put a surprising result.

 

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Double F1 titleholder Alonso inspected Johnson’s NASCAR Chevrolet, as the seven-time Cup champion drove a 2013 McLaren MP4-28 with a Mercedes V8 motor.

Alonso drove the F1 vehicle for a couple of laps to set a benchmark time of 1:40.204s. Jimmie figured out everything quickly and posted a 1:40.462s during his F1 run. A little more than two tenths short of the double world champion.

Johnson, who had never driven a single-seater on a race track, conceded the impression of speed was stunning.

Johnson speaks about the F1 swap

After the swap day Johnson talked about his experience in an interview. He said, “To be honest, I was supposed to only drive the NASCAR, but it made sense if I was doing the installation lap just to make sure the car was feeling OK,”

Additionally, “Literally on the first outing, my helmet was trying to leave my head, and I was staring at the microphone in my helmet it was so high!”.

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Johnson underlined that he was making a decent attempt as conceivable despite the fact that it was apparently a carefree day, and figures the experience was preferable for him over for Alonso.

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He said, “I honestly think I got a better swap experience than he did.”

Jimmie Johnson Could Be Driving An Mclaren in Indy Soon

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Mclaren boss, Zak Brown has conceded that Jimmie Johnson is keen on racing a third Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet. For the coming season, the Spaniard has secured a seat for the Indy500.

Former F1 Champion Challenges Fernando Alonso for Mclaren Indycar Drive

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Written by:

Mrinal Kuniyal

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Mrinal Kuniyal has been a contributor to EssentiallSports since early 2020 and has focused on Formula 1, NASCAR, and IndyCar. He's a management graduate and his areas of interest include motorsports, marketing, and music.
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