Auto-racing history rewritten by Jeffri, the Youngest F1 Driver
The auto-racing history has been redefined yesterday, as Nabil Jeffri becomes the youngest Formula One driver ever. The Malaysian is the first sixteen-year-old driver to have stepped in the cockpit of a Formula One car. Lotus Racing made the young racer test a straight-line at Duxford airfield.
The lad currently holds fifth place in the 2010 Formula BMW Pacific Series and now with this expedition; he has further bagged the experience of aero testing and pit stop during his brief yet impressive racing career. The two other Lotus drivers, Heikki Kovalainen and Fairuz Fauzy, stayed alongside the young racer to assist and guide him for his maiden drive with Lotus.
Like any other young racer, it had been the biggest dream come true for Jeffri. As the day ended, the happy teenager talked to the press expressing his views about the day, "I have had an incredible day, one of the best of my life. I have to admit that the first time I went out it was pretty scary - everyone told me the acceleration would be unbelievable.”
However, he was grateful to Heikki and Fairuz, who gave him some useful advice which greatly helped him on the track and finally, he was able to get used to that great speed, as he exclaimed, “after a while I was more comfortable and was able to get through the day's plan.” The youngster, who couldn’t hold back his smile, was very true in his words as he said, "It's such an honor to have had this opportunity and it will be a long time before the excitement wears off. I'll keep working hard in order to one day join Heikki, Fairuz, Jarno Trulli and the rest of F1 grid."
While telling media about the new racer, Lotus team boss Tony Fernandes said, "When I first offered Nabil the chance to drive, he couldn't tell if I was joking or not, but I was very serious about giving a young Malaysian the chance to step up to the big time.” At day’s end, Fernandes seemed happy and satisfied with his decision as he said, "Nabil has repaid my faith in him and has performed incredibly well; that's a source of real pride for me. I suspect that he will head back to Malaysia with head spinning from everything that's happened to him today. But now he can say he's driven an F1 car, and that will set his sights at the very top."
Analysts believe that the day has probably changed the young driver’s life completely, and for forever, as this experience has opened new doors and visions for him. Jeffri, so far, has been able to imprint quite an impressive ascending graph for his brief racing career. He started off with karting like many of the other Formula One stars. After winning the Asian karting Championship, he bagged victory at Malaysian Rotax Max Junior in 2009. The start of 2010 took him to Formula BMW Pacific where he raced for Eurasia Motorsport.
Being part of the Air Asia ASEAN Driver Development Program, he got this chance of carrying the aerodynamic test for the Lotus Racing team. Lotus T127 is the first and only Formula One car driven by this young man, writing his name in the auto-racing history for being the youngest one behind the Formula One wheels.
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