Formula 1 doesn't get many visitors from the NASCAR world, at least not the drivers.
There are few weekends off in the course of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and the stars relish the few free weekends, to get away from it all. But the F1 finale in Abu Dhabi was attended by two of the sport's biggest stars: seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson and four-time title winner Jeff Gordon. Gordon has visited a few F1 races in recent years, doing work for sponsors, but for Johnson it was a new experience.
Johnson was a fascinated spectator at the Yas Island circuit, watching the F1 action with a number of his Hendrick Motorsports crew, who have come over with him to take part in the NASCAR-F1 car swap in Bahrain on Monday. It's only a short flight from Abu Dhabi to Bahrain, around 250 miles, and Johnson and Fernando Alonso will go across after the Grand Prix on Sunday so they will be ready for the action at the Bahrain International Circuit on Monday morning.
On Monday, Alonso will drive one of Johnson's Chevrolet SS NASCAR Cup cars and Jimmie will try his hand in a McLaren-Renault MCL33.
Johnson passed through Europe on his way to the Middle East and had a run in the McLaren simulator at the team's headquarters near London, England.
"I am definitely excited," Johnson said in Abu Dhabi. "Wednesday in the simulator was a great experience, and then I spent a few days in Dubai with my family and now I am here, taking it all in. We have simulators (in NASCAR), but it is harder for us because we don't take data off the cars. So our simulation is usually a few steps behind, but we are working very hard on that. We get a lot of track time now but they are starting to limit all of that so the more we can do with simulation the better we will be. I know our simulator is close, but it is not the real thing, so until I get in the F1 car and feel it on Monday, I'll still have question marks."
Johnson came away from the simulator work with an idea of what he was in for on Monday.
"The vehicles are very different on the straights," Johnson said. "The Formula 1 brakes and the speed in high-speed corners are amazing, but the NASCARs have huge engines and very little traction, so getting off the corners with our cars is a lot of fun."
Johnson said that it's been a long time since he sat in anything even vaguely resembling a single-seater race car.
"It has probably been 20-25 years since I was in a single seater," he said. "It was a buggy in the desert, it wasn't even on the black top, so it's been a long time."
Has he ever driven a conventional open-wheeler?
"I drove a Skip Barber Formula Ford once," Johnson said. "I was probably 15 when I did that. So, yeah, I have very limited single seater experience, but I follow Formula 1 very closely. I love it all from MotoGP to F1, to rally and my off-road stuff that I grew up in. I just love racing."
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