This weekend Carlos Sainz, two-time World Rally Champion, took the reins of Renault’s F1 car at Circuit de Catalunya in Spain during Renault’s World Series. The event attracted nearly 80,000 visitors across three days.

Sainz took out the R25 which was running in the maximum downforce configuration of Monaco. After a few circuits, he commented ”the acceleration, the braking, the grip, everything is amazing in this car. I have just been testing in Tunisia for the Dakar rally, so going from desert driving to a Formula 1 car is a pretty big change! They are totally different, light years apart. In Formula 1, you need to be a top athlete because the whole body is under duress. It is a unique experience, almost impossible to describe, and unlike anything I have felt before. I have been in a fighter plane, I have ridden a 500cc GP bike, but this is something else again. Renault has given me one of the best experiences of my life.”

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