Jorge Lorenzo, current MotoGP™ World Champion, spent the day at the wheel of the MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS F1 W05 Hybrid at Silverstone (International Circuit) invited by Monster Energy and the MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS Formula One™ Team
Jorge Lorenzo
First of all I want to say thank you to Monster Energy for giving me this opportunity. It has been a great experience, like a dream come true.
The past few days for me have been very special. I had the opportunity to work alongside some of the best engineers in this sport, drove the F2 car, had simulator test sessions and finally, I got to drive the real deal.
Today I experienced driving a Formula One car. It’s been an amazing day. I’m very satisfied with the lap time in the last run. From what the engineers were saying, my times were really competitive. The car is so smooth, I expected a more twitchy and difficult car but in the end everything was so good: the steering wheel, the engine, everything.
It was quite easy to drive and the car in the corners is really, really fast and the grip of the car it’s unreal. In the first lap you feel the power but when you get used to it, it’s similar to a MotoGP bike but in the corners, you are in a different world, about 40kms faster in the middle of the corners. Also it surprised me how late you can brake and the amount of grip the car can support in full throttle in the fast corners is insane.
Richard Lane
Today’s engineering plan was coordinated by MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS Track Engineer Richard Lane:
It’s been great working with Jorge today. From the moment he arrived he’s been full of enthusiasm and keen to get stuck in. Between each run he’s been poring over the data, and looking to find areas for improvement. You can see why he’s a multiple World Champion on two wheels. His interest in the detail of his performance has been impressive. He’s taken feedback on board and improved with every run. It’s been a great experience for us to work with Jorge and we wish him all the very best for the rest of the MotoGP season
