Tony Stewart / Lewis Hamilton "Seat-Swap"

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. -- NASCAR Cup star Tony Stewart and Formula One standout Lewis Hamilton have finished their car swap at Watkins Glen International.
After both drivers took warmup laps in their own cars Tuesday, Hamilton hopped in Stewart's familiar No. 14, spun the tires as he left pit road, and turned six laps over the 3.4-mile long course on rain tires. The track was slowly drying after a morning rain. When he was finished, Hamilton did an impressive burnout as the fans roared their approval.
Stewart then got into the McLaren Mercedes MP4-23 that Hamilton drove to the 2009 F1 title, and after slowly leaving the pits began an impressive four-lap spin.
Stewart turned a fast lap of 1 minute, 42 seconds on rain tires in Hamilton's car.
Hamilton, who had never been to the track, was first to go out and drove only two laps in his car, making it around in 1:50 in a drizzle on a wet surface.
The track record for the long course is 1:28.597 at 136.935 m.p.h., set by IndyCar's Ryan Briscoe in 2009.

[@evansteinberg711]

bring f1 back to the glen

[@iiredeye]

Super cool video, maximum respect to Tony for jumping straight in the F1 and making it look so easy. Lewis is one of the best drivers ever to walk the earth, he could make driving anything look easy.

[@iqwan9850]

2016

[@iqwan9850]

2017

[@OtakuLogan2017]

Imagine him in NASCAR though, would be some contest!

[@martinnagy5788]

im here because of the Verstappen vs. Larson drama🎉

[@chris323i]

Such a cool promotion. If you love racing, you'll love driving either one of these cars no matter what your racing preference is.

[@iqwan9850]

2014

[@iqwan9850]

2015

[@rydervicter1105]

i knew if they put a F1 driver in a nascar sprint cup car & a nascar driver in a F1 car & put it up on youtube a bunch of people would watch the video & debate which one is better, both are great. just enjoy the video & chill.

[@Tox1cAshes]

Well they have now.

[@iqwan9850]

Le. Mans 24th hours

[@JonsTunes]

Still being watched 11 years later 🙂👍

[@KanzaiDoriftoz]

Ironic how this aged poorly with Larson's dumb comments

[@lt.spears1889]

I miss the sound of those 90’s F1 cars, perfect.

[@alanluscombe8a553]

This is a late 2000s car

[@itwontcomeout5678]

This was a V8 I think, those V10s were like screaming angels tho

[@lt.spears1889]

@@alanluscombe8a553 ok, thanks, but you got my point

[@alanluscombe8a553]

@@lt.spears1889 yep and I agree the sound is awesome

[@g.m3399]

amazing video. nascar and f1 are both challenging and requires a great amount of concentration and tremendous skill, I would like to see these guys do the lemans.

[@willjackson6522]

Chances are, if you’re going 150mph, you’re working pretty hard 😂

[@toupikh]

Great vid, thanks for uploading. Stewart looked really amazed after getting out of the mclaren, wich I think the motor revs were limited. and Hamilton setting best laps straight out of nowhere doesn't surprise me either, hehe.

[@nomoremr.niceguy4778]

Ten +years after and it’s so sad nothing more came of this. Us old timers still dream of F1 coming back to the Glen but it never will. Today demands first class accommodations and Quaint Watkins just doesn’t have the hotels to handle the modern F1 circus. They’d have to build a massive hotel at the track, upgrade the food service and the facilities to compete with even Austin, much less Europe. Not to mention update the runoff areas to get a class one certification. The tracks a FIA class 2 now. I’m a local and I love the place. They managed to keep it open over the years and my hats off for that. Every time FIA comes to update the certification the local news guys ask the question and the answer is the same: The track is beautiful but in the middle of nowhere. Meaning the area doesn’t have the outside facilities to support a modern F1 race. So it stays stuck in Class 2 certification.

[@Jashue]

Thanks for the succinct explanation! I'm local(ish) too, and I hear a lot of crying about no F1. You told it how it is.

[@aaronkristofer18]

I need Valencia back

[@Mohagnito94]

Same was said about Bahrain in 2004. You just have to be willing to spend money.

[@pim21764]

F1 teams and drivers arent allowed to test except for official testdays. Demo runs like this have to be done with cars cars 3years or older. If they would do it with a recent car , then demotires have to be used with hardly any grip

[@jspesh]

I never knew this had happened! Awesome.

[@darkgael0]

Mario Andretti won the Daytona 500 in 1967 and the F1 World Championship in 1978.

[@irzafans]

Is there any more seat swaps recently?

[@johnjmacc6977]

One thing I love about F1 is if your flat out driving hard nothing is gonna work

[@flintey360]

Amazing vid

[@pacmancucumber1783]

Just like Gordon and Montoya(then in F1) did back in 2003.

[@thehuggingsimmy1765]

Imagine if f1 raced at walkins glen. That would be epic!

[@alanluscombe8a553]

They used to

[@itwontcomeout5678]

They did! Or are you being sarcastic lol😂

[@odinson810]

f1 drivers are road course experts and cup guys are good at driving around ovals, both take a tremendous amount of talent but they are two completley different skill sets. we have seen an f1 guy go to cup and make it (montoya) it would be interesting to see a cup guy go to f1 and try to keep pace.

[@connorbingel7134]

No cup guy would ever go to F1 for a lot of reasons, chief of witch bring they have job security in cup and not in F1. In F1 they would be seen as American hicks and would likely never get a good ride. It would be a way better move to go to indycar

Tony probably ran the Boot at Watkins Glen at some point in an Indy Car though.

[@wvchild]

Can we stop arguing on which is better? both are fucking awesome. F1 is lightening fast cars driving at dangerous speeds. NASCAR is tightly packed, fast paced action that includes lots of rubbing and close finishes. Both are great!

[@taktikal24]

You guys are all freaking out about them beating each other's laptimes... They ran their own cars on a pretty damp track before they did the swap. In Lewis' case, he only ran a lap or two. Not a big deal, laptimes came up significantly as the track began to dry.

[@Jashue]

"Cast iron rotors" in the cup car? Really??? Not steel?

[@toprymin]

Here because of NASCAR at COTA

[@jspesh]

@Suprahampton Such a great idea. I'll have to search for videos of that one too!

[@015081986]

@Suprahampton agreed! I just saw bits of the Jenson swap maybe ill check it out if you say its worth it..

[@aidinb6721]

Here in 2021 after Hamilton wins his eighth world title and retires to race in Nascar for Tony.

[@scottw2157]

That would be awesome.

[@Suprahampton]

@jspesh Mclaren did a seat swap at the begining of the F1 season, at Bathurst, Craige Lowndes took the MP4-23 around the Mount Panorama track & Jenson got behind the wheel of his V8 Supercar

[@Taylor25210]

Can we get F1 drivers to drive in NASCAR during the F1 summer break?

[@FastFerrari82]

I miss the V8s of F1.

[@bullmilk]

Try driving in Formula 1 in wet weather. Both have inherent dangers and risks.

[@AlonsoRules]

they don't drive in the wet much anymore, safety paranoia is out of control

[@Bgartz29]

That Brazil GP was so much fun when they let them race though.

[@retromario96]

Looks like you've never driven on an oval. Oval racing is considered one of the most difficult things to do in all of motorsports, actually watch a NASCAR race and take note of how the drivers keep moving the wheel back and forth in the turns trying to keep the car straight without turning too much and spinning. When the tires start to wear down they'll start doing that quite often on the straightaways as well and even moreso in the turns.

[@darkgael0]

Dang! Hit the wrong button....the NASCAR/F1 thing has been done.

[@DialgaRules24]

i would love to see F1 at the Glen.

[@amm0998]

you sir are a boss

[@icegogi]

Absolut agree. Both fast and dangerous. Must have skills to drive the thing. Otherwise, racecardrivers would grow on trees. Oh, except for Finland!

[@sidefx996]

That would be awesome but geez where'e the runoff? Would they ever be allowed?

[@DGF2099]

Who are the announcers?

[@AoDIronMask]

This is what passed for HD these days? Looks terrible. And it's badly interlaced. Was this captured with a potato?

[@mustang6172]

Yeah, it says that would violate F1's testing ban.

[@seikenflyer]

I dont think he pushed and the car was set to the circuit because the record of the indy car is 1,28.6 so the F1 car should do that time or better even in rain condition.

[@darkgael0]

About the expressed desire - a year or so sgo - to see a driver from NASCAR go to the F1 circuit and keep pace.

[@015081986]

@nascarstopmotionguy Yeaaah its currently against F1 regulation to drive the current cars unless they are in an F1 race weekend...but non the less that 08 car is CRAZY fast and in my opinion even more valuable than the 2011 car...

[@kennethkilleen8758]

Wasn't the McLaren that season quite ugly F1 went through strange period before 2009

[@davidchamberlain6225]

It is saying something that Mclaren only let Tony Stewart drive a 3 year old Mclaren instead of the mp4-26

[@retromario96]

Try driving in NASCAR with 42 other guys surrounding you only inches apart.

[@dn157523]

Those f1 cars have traction control so you can punch the throttle off the corners. In nascar you have to have a good touch.

[@neos7307]

Craig Neal 6 years late, but it’s been banned since 1993.

[@Josmersuero]

@@neos7307 well no, traction control was used all the way until 2008

[@retromario96]

Why? Because it's cheaper to use one of their old cars rather than a new car? If NASCAR updated the cars every few seasons then Tony likely would have brought one of the old car models for Lewis to drive. Why? Because it saves money.

[@MarcFromOOO]

Bustop chicane in america.. compare that to bustop chicane in belgium xD

[@edbadhorn3359]

Bring back F1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@Etswe]

Nascar= Fred Flintstones car

[@odinson810]

f1 does not have traction control any more it was outllawed 2 years ago

[@Suprahampton]

@015081986 Alot more valuable as it's the chassis that won the 2008 Championship (iirc)... I liked that Mclaren also did a seat swap earlier in the year with Jenson & Craig Lowndes at Bathurst

[@eX0dusmods]

I'd sell my children to drive F1

[@thejanusproject32]

When F1 actually sounded beautiful. Now...not so loud

[@winningfreak1]

Sorry i'm a fan of both sports and you are wrong. F1 while demanding is nothing like running in a pack 3 wide on a narrow track, or having to rely on other people for your speed ( Daytona/ Dega ) The amount of concentration required to do some of the nascar circuits with 43 cars on it are much greater.

[@Nesto885]

So sorry to disappoint you but like i said F1 is harder than just making left turns

[@adam1984-p9j]

stewart the killer driver

[@retromario96]

Make it? Juan has 2 wins in 6 going on 7 years.

[@darylmckechnie4802]

0P

[@ralphM1114]

Hamilton must have been soooo bored.