I woke up in the morning and went to see the 2017 Formula 1 Chinese GP free practice results. I was surprised to see my own face at Renault Sport F1 Team official Facebook page.

So this is how it feels. It’s usually me behind the scenes working on the project about racing drivers and the sport but this time I got caught by the cameras myself.

Three days with Renault Sport Formula 1 Team at their special Bootcamp event – that’s my prize for being enough insistent online during the inscriptions. Six lucky men of 30000 competitors – we were warmly welcomed at the Renault facility in Enstone.

The format of the event was explained simple – it was a reality show with one goal and one ultimate prize – a Formula 1 car test drive at Silverstone on the final day of the competition. Only one of us was supposed to win that one by scoring most points in all the disciplines the Team prepared for us. The physical training and the pit stop challenge took place on the first day. After all, they have to make sure we don’t pass out behind the wheel of the racing cars prepared for us. 🙂

It felt magical to be treated like a member of the Renault team when we’ve got our excursion to the base and met Jolyon Palmer who kindly encouraged us for what came next…

And the next came the gym. The first part was simple – just 1 km on a treadmill as fast as possible – Dave Thompson clearly didn’t want us to die during the warmup, and I thank him for that. But when it came to the super-sets, I realized how far from the professional drivers my physical form is. Hell, I can’t even remember how I got to the bathroom after the exercises were finished. But I do remember that I couldn’t get up from the floor for about 10-15 minutes and it was fun. I didn’t even think about how I will look on the video even though I knew for sure that the picture of half-dead people in the gym is good for the show. 🙂

My consciousness came back right before the pit stop challenge had begun. Under the direction of Paul Seaby we’ve been introduced to the pit stop gun and the weight of the tyres. Again the Team was very kind to let us work with the front tyre, not the rear one. 🙂

As a true leader and a responsible guy I chose to stick with the gun. The heavier guys – famous blogger Matty G from England and Joao from Portugal stood by my side to detach and attach the wheel. Our goal was to do it faster than the other team featuring Vasilis from Greece, Raphael from France and Igor from Russia (can’t miss the ironic note here – my compatriot lives much farther away from my hometown than any of the guys there).

3.9 seconds – that was the best result by my team in 3 tries and the very same result was shown by the other team. But I f*cked up my slowest try with the gun a little bit faster than Vasilis did, so my team has been declared the winner of the pit stop challenge. 🙂

Despite the fact of the competition, it felt like all 6 of us became a great team, not the rivals ready to gnaw someone’s throat to win the surreal F1 test. 🙂

In just 1 day we became friends with each other and that’s why these 3 days of Bootcamp became one of the best in my life. And the cameras were there to record it.

Renault Sport Bootcamp: Teaser

Renault Sport Bootcamp: Day 1

Renault Sport Bootcamp: Day 2

Renault Sport Bootcamp: Day 3