F1 Drivers consider splashing out on the Porsche GT2 RS

The eagle eyed amongst may have noticed a recent comment by Mark Webber sounding off – no, not about his team mate or parity within the team, but instead about his next potential road car purchase.

Tweeting that he’s just checked out Porsche’s latest banzai offering in the GT2 RS, Webber also commented that other drivers (whom else we wonder?  Comment beneath your suggestions) have also been talking up the Stuttgart bullet as they look for their speed fix during the imminent summer break.  The world’s motoring press recently got their first go of the GT2 RS and the early verdict is nothing but gushing approval, so with Webber’s comments too, this will have done Porsche’s press no harm at all in recent days.

Webber’s apparent preference is for black wheels, though he’s perhaps not as keen on the silver/black combination as seen on many of the initial press photographs.  It’s refreshing to see a modern F1 driver being honest about his preference, partly down to Webber’s honest nature and also because as a non-manufacturer employed driver, he has no corporate responsibility to side with a particularly marque.

Other Drivers

The cars F1 drivers use day to day is an interesting topic because how do you still get a thrill from a road car when your work car regularly takes you to well in excess of 200mph?  It reminds us of the halcyon days of Gilles Villeneuve and Didier Pironi playing their version of chicken otherwise known as “who can hold the throttle longest” along the Autostrada in their Ferrari 308s en route to testing at Fiorano – simply another time …

When at Renault, Fernando Alonso was quite happy to nip around his then home county of Oxfordshire in a Renault Mégane R26, showing that ultimately no road car was ever going to give him the same kick as his championship winning Renaults.

Contrary to this, Michael Schumacher owned an Bugatti EB110 in his early Benetton days showing even F1 drivers can be bitten by the supercar bug.  On the flipside, McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton is quite happy to cruise around Geneva in his Mercedes G-Class, with Hamilton obviously preferring gadgets and toys over performance motoring.  However, with the arrival of the McLaren 12C next year and McLaren’s ever weakening ties with Mercedes, Hamilton may soon be changing to a more purposeful bit of kit.