Formula One news
Patrese enjoys return to F1
09 September 2008Riccardo Patrese returned to Formula One today for the first time in 15 years as he joined the Honda team in Jerez to drive the team's RA107 race car.
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Patrese, who won six races during his 17 year Formula One career from 1977 to 1993, had joined the team at the Spanish circuit on Monday afternoon for a seat fit and engineering briefing. He also conducted reconnaissance laps of the 4.428km Jerez circuit in a Honda Civic Type-R with one of the team's engineers to familiarise himself with the track .
On Tuesday, on a bright and sunny morning, Patrese pulled out of the garage to take to the track in the Honda RA107. He completed five runs and set a fastest lap time of 1:30.210 on the Bridgestone demonstration tyres used for his guest drive.
Talking about the experience, Riccardo Patrese said, "After 15 years out of Formula One, it was a dream come true and unbelievable to rediscover the speed of a Formula One car again today. I was able to get accustomed pretty quickly and found that my driving style did not need to change too much to adapt to a modern car. The speed was a bit of a surprise on the first couple of laps but at the end I felt very comfortable,
although I'm sure my neck will ache a little bit tonight after the G forces. The whole experience has been an absolute pleasure and I would like to thank the Honda Racing F1 Team for giving me this feeling back and allowing me the opportunity to drive a really fast car again! It's good to know that at my age, I can still drive quickly and push the limits. I just wish that I could have had more time in the car to improve my lap time. Hopefully they'll give me another chance sometime!"
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| More Honda news, Photos | |
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