Riding, Testing and Driving at the Red Bull Ring: Michelle Khare Takes On Formula 1
Michelle Khare
In this episode of Challenge Accepted, Michelle Khare tries to find out how Formula 1 drivers are actually trained, and how a former competitive athlete measures up against them. After six months of emails, Red Bull invited Khare to the Red Bull Ring in Austria. The program had four parts: a ride in a real Formula 1 car, the physical tests Red Bull's drivers go through at the team's Athlete Performance Center, eight laps of the track in a Formula 4 car that Khare would drive, and ten minutes with Max Verstappen at the end to show him the results.
Why Formula 1, and Why Personally
Khare frames the sport with a few figures: 24 races in 21 countries on five continents, total attendance above 6 million, and top speeds over 200 mph, which also make it one of the most dangerous sports. Khare calls Formula 1 "basically the Olympics for engineers," with the cars raced by the most skilled drivers in the world. With only 10 teams competing, Khare describes it as the most exclusive sport of our time.
The episode opens at the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Austin, Texas. Khare says more than 400,000 people attended that weekend, in heavy heat, to watch races decided by hundredths of a second.
The challenge also has a personal side. Before Challenge Accepted, Khare was briefly a professional cyclist and competitive athlete. They stopped after a serious crash, and soon afterward all their racing bikes were stolen. Being surrounded by fans excited about racing reminded Khare why they had loved it, and they hoped the project would reignite some of that passion. Khare also expected cycling to carry over in places, since both sports involve cornering and drafting, and wanted to see how they would compare with real F1 drivers.
The Legal Loophole: Riding in a Two-Seater F1 Car
Khare explains that civilians generally aren't allowed to drive Formula 1 cars, which can cost up to $15 million. They can, however, ride in one. That runs into another problem: F1 cars are custom built around a single driver. The exception Khare used is a former Formula 1 car modified to seat two. As long as a former F1 driver is at the wheel, a passenger can legally experience the car.
That driver was Patrick Friesacher, who raced in Formula 1 in 2005. He took Khare around the Red Bull Ring, the circuit that hosts the actual Austrian Grand Prix. Khare was openly nervous. The last time they experienced around 4 g was in a fighter jet, and they threw up about three times afterward. Friesacher pointed out that the closed helmet would at least keep any mess contained. Before getting in, Khare put on fireproof underwear, which they hadn't known existed, and compared being strapped in to being strapped to a rocket.
During the ride, the video explains that a modern F1 car can exceed 230 mph and that drivers can experience up to 5 g, especially in corners, much like a fighter jet. The video also says no existing drone could keep up with an F1 car, so Red Bull engineered its own custom drone to film the footage. According to the video, it is now the fastest FPV camera drone in the world.
After two laps Khare could already feel the strain in their neck and felt the muscles giving out. They pushed for a third lap anyway. Afterward Khare said they had seen their life flash before their eyes and touched the ground with their hands for a moment. That neck strain set up the testing that followed.
The video briefly notes that drivers have endured this kind of force since the 1950 British Grand Prix, and that F1 is as much a competition for engineers, pit crews and strategists as for drivers. It deliberately leaves the engineering out, pointing viewers to a video by Cleo Abram, and focuses on the toll these speeds take on the body. The goal ahead was a fast lap in a Formula 4 car with Khare driving. First, though, they had to pass physical tests showing they could handle the stress.
The Athlete Performance Center
The Red Bull Athlete Performance Center is a training and testing facility reserved for Red Bull athletes. Khare had heard they were the only non–Red Bull athletes ever allowed to take the test, and the staff member confirmed that, as far as he remembered, Khare was the first to do the Formula 1–specific version. The facility has Max Verstappen's data and Formula 1 benchmarks that include him. The staff said Khare would not be told which dot on the charts was Verstappen's.
Steering endurance
The first test simulates turning an F1 steering wheel against heavy resistance from g-forces in a corner. Khare had to crank as hard as possible through a simulated final turn at Bahrain, with a trainer shouting encouragement throughout. Some races last up to two hours, so the test measures whether a driver can keep producing force for a long time, not just peak strength. Khare described it as "a very slow bicep curl but during cardio at the max weight possible."
The chart plotted Red Bull F1 drivers in red, F2 and F3 drivers in green, F4 drivers in blue, and Khare in purple. On strength, Khare scored lowest of all the athletes, as they expected. On fatigue, where lower is better, Khare surprised themselves by scoring better than nearly every recorded F1 driver.
Neck strength
Next was the neck, measured with a force transducer over a 20-second effort, the same length Verstappen does. The ride in the two-seater had shown Khare how much force the neck absorbs, and they were initially glad for the chance to train it. That enthusiasm faded once the test began. Khare stopped short of the full 20 seconds, and the tester suggested muscle soreness from the earlier ride might have played a part. Khare again scored lowest of everyone, Red Bull drivers included.
VO2 max
The last test measured peak performance and VO2 max with a graded treadmill ramp. The speed was set to 14 km/h, and the incline rose by 1.5% every minute for as long as Khare could keep going. The tester explained that VO2 max reflects how well the heart and lungs deliver oxygen to the muscles and is a general indicator of fitness. Khare was hoping to do well on at least this one. The tester said the longest Formula 1 result was a little over eight minutes.
A mask measured the oxygen and CO2 content of Khare's breath to estimate how much oxygen their body was using. The tester said a more aerobically built body has more mitochondria, a bigger heart and more blood, and the mask captures all of that. During the run he called out the progress: heart rate 173 at two minutes, the incline climbing through 3% and 4.5%, and a note that Khare was reaching the point of burning almost only carbohydrates. When Khare stopped, they immediately felt they should have gone further. The tester gave a figure of around 50 and said Formula 1 drivers are typically around 60 to 65. Khare still describes their maximal oxygen intake as quite high, but wasn't sure it would impress Verstappen.
Asked whether Khare had a sufficient baseline to drive a Formula 4 car, the tester said that on body, strength and basic endurance, they should definitely be capable. Since Khare still didn't know which dots were Verstappen's, they decided the only direct comparison would be a reaction test against Verstappen in person.
Briefing: No ABS, No Traction Control, Manual Gears
For the final challenge, Khare had eight laps of the Red Bull Ring in a Formula 4 car. According to Khare, professional F4 drivers lap the track in about 1 minute 30 seconds, so Khare set a goal of at least one lap under 2 minutes.
Friesacher's briefing was blunt. Everything in the car should be done gently and smoothly, because it has no ABS, no traction control, no power steering and no brake assist. It also isn't automatic, so Khare would have to change gears, which they had never done. Friesacher pointed out marks on the track where other drivers had lost the car and spun off, and explained that the rear can break away and the car is gone. Khare took from this that the smallest mistake could have devastating consequences.
The video adds context on reaction time: an average F1 driver reacts in about 200 milliseconds, while an average person like Khare takes 500 to 600. It also notes that a typical F1 career starts in karting in childhood, as Verstappen's did, and climbs through Formula 4, Formula 3 and Formula 2, with each level building skill and nerve.
The F4 car has three pedals: throttle on the right, then brake and clutch. Upshifts use the right paddle on the steering wheel and downshifts the left. Friesacher would lead in a separate car, where Khare could hear him better over the radio, and Khare would follow. Khare points out they had learned to drive the car five minutes earlier, after nearly blacking out as a passenger the same day.
Eight Laps
Just getting moving was hard. Khare had to release the clutch slowly with the right timing, and the first attempt was too quick. On the first lap Friesacher talked Khare through it over the radio: when to shift up from first to second, how to feel the brake pedal ("really hot and stiff," as he described it), when to brake and downshift, where to accelerate on the straights, and how to take a clean line and exit through the final two corners. Khare says this first lap helped them get comfortable with controlling the car, downshifting and braking.
As Khare tried to go faster, problems appeared. They braked too late into a corner, then drifted off Friesacher's line, and he called out over the radio asking where Khare was going. Khare says that the faster they went, the more control they lost, and Friesacher got firmer because one small mistake could cause a crash. His coaching moved toward speed: brake later, carry more corner speed, get on the throttle a bit earlier, but still brake hard before the corner. He also told Khare to show more confidence.
For the final five laps Khare tried to step on the gas. Friesacher urged them to concentrate, focus, build up more smoothly and put together a good lap. The sixth lap was Khare's best. Pushing harder on the next laps created new problems. Khare says they kept underestimating how much braking a corner needed at higher speed, and that poor braking cost time on lap seven. That left one final lap to try for sub-2:00.
Meeting Max Verstappen
Khare had ten minutes with Verstappen, whose day is scheduled minute by minute, and wanted neither to waste the time nor embarrass themselves. Khare showed him the Athlete Performance Center charts. Before seeing anything, Verstappen said he probably wouldn't be the highest dot.
On steering-wheel fatigue, Verstappen called Khare's result "very good." He explained that the F2, F3 and F4 drivers in the comparison are also quite strong. On the VO2 max treadmill test, he said Khare did better than most and attributed it to running.
Then came the lap time. Khare noted that Verstappen's best on that track is about 1 minute 3 seconds, which he confirmed as more or less right. Khare's best F4 lap was 2:17 (stated in the transcript as "217"), so the sub-2:00 goal was missed. Verstappen pointed out that an F4 car goes considerably slower and asked whether Khare enjoyed it. Khare said it was so cool and unlike anything they had experienced, while admitting their driving still needed work. Verstappen's response was that what matters most is having a great time and enjoying the driving, and if you really get passionate about it, you can go further from there.
Khare had planned the reaction test as a surprise. In the one-handed test, Khare's result was about "3 in," which Verstappen called very good. Verstappen then did it and got about "2 in." Khare responded that this is why he's the best driver in the world.
What Khare Took Away
Khare's closing reflection is that Verstappen didn't really seem to care how well they had performed. What he wanted to know was whether they had fun. Khare connects that to the rest of the weekend: the passion of the fans and the camaraderie between drivers, even across teams. Khare says the experience helped them rediscover the spirit of racing and why they loved it in the first place, years after their own crash and the theft of their bikes. Khare ends on the view that the spirit of racing isn't really about data points and lap times but about the thrill of the ride.
Ready for some action, Michelle? Do you have any advice for me? Yes, let's get the party started. Oh my God!
This week on Challenge Accepted, buckle up because we are doing Formula 1. Over the last few years, Formula 1 has become one of the most popular sports in the world: 24 races, 21 countries, five continents, and attendance of more than 6 million people. But it's also one of the most dangerous. With top speeds of over 200 mph, Formula 1 is basically the Olympics for engineers, with their cars being raced by the most skilled drivers in the world. But how are F1 drivers actually trained?
They responded! They responded! Someone responded to one of my crazy emails. Hello, Michelle. I know we have been going back and forth for six months now, but we'd like to formally invite you to the Red Bull Ring in Austria to ride in an actual Formula 1 car, train at the exclusive Red Bull Athlete Performance Center—come on, keep going, push, push, push—and finally, you'll get behind the wheel and drive the Red Bull Ring in an actual F4 car. Let's go! What? And at the end of this experience, we're excited to share that you will have 10 minutes with Max Verstappen.
We are here at the F1 Grand Prix in Austin, Texas. It's very hot, but that has not kept anybody from coming outside today. Over 400,000 people are coming here this weekend to see the best drivers in the world for hundredths of a second. This circuit is one of 24 races this season, and with only 10 teams competing, Formula 1 has become the most exclusive sport of our time.
Before I did Challenge Accepted, I was very briefly a professional cyclist and a competitive athlete. And the reason that I stopped was because I was involved in a pretty crazy crash, and shortly thereafter, all of my racing bikes got stolen. Being here in this environment, with all of these people so excited about racing, reminds me why I loved it so much too, and I'm hoping to reignite a little bit of that passion.
I'm even more excited because at the end of this weekend, I'm going to get to meet Max Verstappen. Max Verstappen now winning his fourth F1 World Championship. And because cycling actually has a lot of similarities to Formula 1 in terms of things like cornering or drafting, I am really excited to see how I stack up against actual F1 drivers. And at the end of this week, I am going to show my results to Max himself. But before I meet Max, I have to begin my training, and that starts with the one team actually crazy enough to let me go full speed in a Formula 1 car.
Hi, it's so nice to meet you. Big pleasure. Today you're going to experience the F1 two-seater experience at the Red Bull Ring. Not many people have the chance to get into one of those cars. And this is where the actual Formula 1 Grand Prix in Austria takes place? Yeah, absolutely. I raced in Formula 1 in 2005, and I will take you around.
Generally speaking, civilians are not allowed to drive Formula 1 cars because they can cost up to $15 million. However, there is a loophole. So legally, I can't drive an F1 car, but I can technically ride in one. The only problem: F1 cars are custom-built to fit a single driver, except for this one. This is a former Formula 1 car that was modified to fit two people. And so, as long as Patrick, a former Formula 1 driver, is behind the wheel, I can legally experience what it really feels like to be in Formula 1.
Nervous? I'm very nervous because the last time I encountered G-force was in a fighter pilot jet, and I threw up, I think, three times after that. Yeah, but don't worry about that. Anyway, you have your closed helmet, so it stays with you. Great, awesome. It won't get on you. That's the good news.
So first things first, I am now wearing fireproof underwear, which I didn't know was a thing. Really, I'm so excited. It looks so official. Like I'm getting strapped to a rocket right now. Testing, hello, Patrick, can you hear me? Good. This is crazy. Are you comfortable? Oh my God. Oh my God.
Ready for some action? Oh my God. Holy shit, it's happening. Michelle, do you have any advice for me? Yes, let's get the party started. Oh, oh my God!
A modern Formula 1 car can now reach speeds in excess of 230 miles an hour, so a Formula 1 driver can experience up to five Gs on his body. Oh my! Tremendous G-forces, particularly around the corners, similar to a jet fighter. Yeah.
Formula 1 cars move so fast that no drone on the planet was actually fast enough to keep up with it. So Red Bull had to engineer their very own custom drone, which is now the fastest FPV camera drone in the world, in order to capture the very footage you are watching right now.
That's cool, no? Oh my God! How is it? Oh no! After two laps, it's enough. I'm already feeling the strain in the neck. And even though I could feel my neck muscles giving out, I wanted to power through one more lap. Oh my God!
You're crazy. Oh my God! Michelle, you've done it. I told you, life is fun on the racetrack. I swear to God, I just saw my life flash before my eyes. Feel the ground with my hands for a second.
Feeling the sheer power of an F1 car is something drivers have been enduring for the last 70 years, going all the way back to the British Grand Prix in 1950. But since then, technology has come a long way. F1 is just as much of a competition for the engineers as it is for the drivers. They even have a separate championship just for the pit crew, engineers, and strategists. Now, we're not going to get into the cutting-edge engineering of F1 because Cleo Abram already covered that in her incredible video. Be sure to check it out. But it is clear just how much of a toll these speeds can take on a driver's body.
By the end of this challenge, I'm going to attempt a high-speed lap in a Formula 4 car myself, with me driving the car. But before I'm allowed behind the wheel for my final challenge, I need to first pass a series of tests to prove that I can handle the physical stress. And that brings us to the APC.
Hi, Tom, so nice to meet you. The Red Bull Athlete Performance Center is a state-of-the-art training and testing facility exclusive to Red Bull athletes. And I heard a rumor that we're the only non-Red Bull athletes that have ever been allowed to take this test. Yeah, this Formula 1-specific test, as I remember, you're the first. So you have Max Verstappen's data on this computer? Yep. You will not get a look at it, but we have it, and we have Formula 1 benchmarks where Max is part of it. But we won't tell you which dot is Max. I love secrets.
So as an F1 driver, steering endurance is absolutely crucial. This test simulates the high resistance of an F1 steering wheel when it's subjected to G-forces during turns. And this is crank as hard as you can? This is the final turn on Bahrain. Yeah. Three, two, one, and come on! Go, go, go, go, go! Come on, push, push, push! Looks good. Come on, push, push, push, push, push! And go, go, go, go, go! Nice, nice, nice. Come on, keep going, keep going, keep going.
And some races can last up to two hours, so drivers need consistent strength to maintain control for an entire race. And done. Oh my God! It feels like you're doing a very slow bicep curl, but during cardio, at the max weight possible. This is what I imagine it feels like to be in Fast and Furious. What are the results?
On this chart, the red dots represent the Red Bull F1 drivers, the green are F2 and F3 drivers, the blue are F4 drivers, and the purple is me. And as you might expect, I was the lowest-scoring athlete. However, in terms of fatigue, where the lower the better, I surprised myself and scored higher than nearly every recorded F1 driver. But I wasn't so confident about the next test.
What's next? Next, neck. And what we do now is we add a force transducer. A force transducer? So this measures force, so we get all those ideas on how strong you are, which you want to know, is it? Yes, in relation to Max. We're doing 20 seconds? 20 seconds, because Max, he does 20 seconds. Michelle, are you ready? I feel like my head might explode doing this. I'm just going to pop like a grape. Three seconds, two, one, and come on! Twenty seconds to go. Come on, push, push, push! Good, good, good.
So when I was riding in the F1 two-seater, the first thing I noticed was how much force was being applied to my neck. So I was actually excited about the opportunity to train my muscles, until the test actually started. Come on, push, push, push! Good, good, good, good. Come on, the final five. Come on, go, go, go, go, go! Keep going. Two, one, and relax. You stopped before the finish line. It might be that you have some muscle soreness today. Yeah, right now.
And no surprise to anyone, I once again scored the absolute lowest of all the Red Bull drivers. So I really wanted to redeem myself for the very last test.
So here is just peak performance and VO2 max. So we will do a graded ramp test. We go up to 14 kilometers per hour, zero percent, and then every minute, 1.5, as high as you can go. VO2 max represents how effectively the heart and lungs deliver oxygen to the muscles. A high VO2 max indicates a general high level of fitness. And I thought if I could score well on any of these tests, I was hoping it would be this one.
So what is the record for this activity for Formula 1? Longest was a little bit over eight minutes. You please hold it on your face. Okay, all right, let's do it. We should have done—woo!
So what does this mask do? It measures oxygen content and CO2 content. You can estimate how much oxygen your body is using. The more aerobically built your body is, the more mitochondria you have, the bigger heart, the more blood. All of these you get with this mask.
Good. Ready for the 14? Then we go up. Good, that's the speed, and every minute, 1.5 percent steeper. Up to 1.5. Okay, going up now. Good. Next minute. Okay, I go up again, three percent. Getting steep. A little bit more to the front, please. Two minutes done, 173 heart rate. Thirty seconds done. Whoops, getting to the point where you exclusively use carbohydrates. Going up to 4.5 now. Come on, keep going, push, push, push! Three minutes done. Come on, keep going. Come on, it looks all good. Ten seconds to the next stage. Come on, come on!
Okay. Oh God, I should have gone further. How was that? It was around 50. Formula 1, we say, so 60 to 65. And although I scored quite high for maximal oxygen intake, I'm not 100 percent certain it will be enough to impress Max.
Based on what you've seen today, do I have enough of a baseline to drive a Formula 4 car? Just from body, from strength, basic endurance, you for sure should be capable to drive it. Okay, thank you. You're welcome. It was a pleasure.
Now here's the thing about these graphs: we actually have no idea which one is exactly Max's data. So the only way I can truly compare myself is to challenge him in a reaction test. F1 drivers are also great at multitasking, so today I'm going to attempt to multitask where every F1 driver gets their start: karting, while I tell you about today's sponsor, Odoo. Let's go!
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For my final challenge, I will be racing the Red Bull Ring in an actual Formula 4 car, and I will have eight laps to try and get the best possible time. Professional F4 drivers can lap this track in around one minute and 30 seconds. So in order to impress Max, my goal is to get at least one lap under two minutes.
So, Michelle, we have a few things out there that are very important on the racetrack. Okay. Everything that you do in the car, try to do it gently. Smooth driving, okay? Because in that car we have no ABS, no traction control, no power steering, no brake assist, so really nothing at all. You have to change the gears. Oh my God, I've never done that. It's not an automatic car? Oh my God. You have to change gears. You see all those marks? They lost the car there, and they were spinning into there. Oh, the rear is coming, and then the car is gone. Oh no. So you have to be careful. Okay.
It was made clear that the tiniest mistake can have devastating consequences. The average reaction time for an F1 driver is around 200 milliseconds, but the average person, like me, is around 500 to 600 milliseconds, and that can make all the difference. We start slowly, and then we build up. Perfect. Okay, thank you.
It's wild to think that a typical F1 career begins as a kid. Like Max, most racers begin in karting, working their way up through the ranks: karting, Formula 4, Formula 3, Formula 2, each level building the skills and nerve it takes to be the best.
So that's now the Formula 4 car. Just step into the middle. Wow. And there are three pedals? You have three pedals. So the throttle on the right, the brake, and the clutch. Steering wheel. So you do the upshifting with the right paddle, the downshifting with the left paddle. I go out first in the Porsche because then you can hear me much better over the radio. Sounds good. Okay, let's do it.
This is so nerve-wracking. I mean, I learned how to drive this five minutes ago. I almost blacked out just riding in the two-seater. Are you ready? Yes. Oh my God. So, Michelle, can you hear me? Yes, I can. Okay, so we're good to go. I'm going to jump into the Porsche, and you will follow me. Okay, have fun and enjoy it.
To just get the car to move, I have to slowly release the clutch with the right timing, and this was already a challenge within itself. Oh no, I want a clutch, I want a clutch. What am I doing? Okay, that was too quick. Okay, I'm going very, very slow. Oh my God! Woo!
Should I shift up or down now? You have to shift up because you're in first gear. Shift to second gear. Cool, I'm in second gear. Okay, just follow, come on. And now, as well, get the feeling for the brake. Brake pedal is really hard and stiff. Oh my God. And again, upshifting. And over here, braking and downshifting again. Woo! Now you can accelerate on the straight here.
The first lap with Patrick really helped me get comfortable controlling the car. Downshifting and braking. Yeah, don't forget to brake. Those last two corners, you stay fourth gear. Look for a nice clean line through those two corners and clean exit. Okay. And now we're coming to the main straight, start and finish. Let's go! Oh, holy—oh my God!
Now it's time to try going a little faster to try and earn a better lap time. Oh, that was too quick. Harder braking before the corner. Okay, okay, sorry. Okay, now try to accelerate. This is crazy. Oh my God! So we stay on the outside. No, no, where are you going? Follow me. Where are you going? Why are you going? Trying to follow. Follow me, Michelle. But the faster I go, the more I am losing control of the car, and Patrick started to get firm because one small mistake can result in a crash.
Try to go quicker. Okay. Later braking, more corner speed, a little bit earlier on the throttle, and hard braking before the corner. You having fun? Woohoo! Yeah! Come on, a little bit more confidence. Oh my God, this is the craziest feeling.
Now that I have a little more confidence, it's time to step on the gas for my final five laps. Come on now, concentrate, focus. Try to do a good lap. Woo! Okay, let's go. Come on, confidence in here. I'm confident. Okay, let's go, let's go. For the next corner, try to build up. That's a lot smoother.
With the sixth lap being my best, I have two more laps to try and hit sub-two minutes. But trying to go even faster is creating more challenges. Brake, brake, brake for the corner, come on! The faster I go, the more I underestimate how much I need to brake to safely make the corner. And because of my failed braking, my time suffered in lap seven, giving me one final go to try and get under two minutes. Come on, try to focus. Do a good lap.
Woo! And with all of my lap times reported, I was finally ready to show off my results to the one and only Max Verstappen. I will only have 10 minutes to talk with Max, and this is a guy who has every single minute of his day scheduled, so I want to make sure I don't waste his time or embarrass myself.
Yo, is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's Max Verstappen. Sup? Yo! What? What's up, Max? Nice to meet you.
You can just Verstappen right here. Look at the camera over— You are not going to say that. Hi, I'm Max. Nice to meet you, Max. Nice hands. I can't see.
And finally, it was time to see if all of my training would finally pay off.
Max, thank you so much for doing this. My name is Michelle. I'm so excited to meet you. So I host a show called Challenge Accepted, which is about me trying the world's toughest professions, lifestyles, and sports. Obviously, we had to do an episode on F1. Before I met you here today, I went to the Athlete Performance Center, and they actually let me do all of the same testing that you do every season, I believe. I think it would be really cool to know from you if you think I did a good job.
All these dots, each of these is a different driver. One of those dots is you, and then here is me over here. But we have— I probably won't be the highest one, that's for sure. I don't believe that. I don't believe that. But I did want to show you something cool here. On steering wheel fatigue, the lower the better. I'm not too far off.
That's very good. Wait, you think it's very good? Yeah, that's a good one because you have F2, F3, F4. These guys are also quite strong, so yeah, that's very good.
Okay, cool. I want to show you a couple other things too. The VO2 max, the treadmill test. This is where I am here. You did better than most. Thank you. What did you do? You did the running, or— I did the running. You run a lot? Yes, yes, yes. That's really good.
Well, I also want to talk to you about my lap time results in the F4 car. So this was at the Red Bull Ring in Austria, where your best time, I believe, is a minute and three seconds or so on that track. More or less. My time was 2:17. What's your reaction? Good or bad?
F4 car, so the car, of course, goes quite a bit slower. Impossible. Did you enjoy it? That's the most— I really did. It was so cool. I've never personally experienced that before, so I still have improvement to do on the driving, but at the end of the—
Listen, at the end of the day, I think what is most important is that you had a great time, right? You enjoy the driving, and then you go from there. If you really get passionate about it, you can do more.
And before I surprised Max with the reaction test, I do think it was cool that, at the end of the day, Max didn't even really care about how well I did. What Max actually wanted to know was if I had fun.
One hand. Okay, so I'm down here. Very good. Hey, three in. That's very good. Pretty good.
And that's what I'm realizing this whole sport is about, from the infectious passion of all the die-hard fans to the love and camaraderie shared between drivers, even on different teams.
Your turn. Ready? Yeah. Two in. And that's why you're the best driver in the world.
This week, I'm grateful I got to rediscover the spirit of racing and why I loved it so much in the first place. And who better to lead this sport than a driver who reminds us that the spirit of racing isn't really about data points and lap times, but instead the thrill of the ride.
If you want to see more episodes like this, please consider subscribing because we have some insane episodes on the way. Thank you so much to Red Bull for inviting us all the way to Austria and giving us this once-in-a-lifetime experience. See you guys in the next one.
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