Anybody think Jeff Gordon could do ok in Formula One?
Jeff Gordon Impresses Williams - 19 June 2003
Sir Frank Williams has fended off speculation that NASCAR star Jeff Gordon's future lies in a BMW-powered F1 cockpit.
The American, Gordon, swapped cars with Juan Pablo Montoya at the Indianapolis road circuit last week and impressed with his poise and pace.
While Montoya lapped seven times in Jeff's tin-topped Chevy, Gordon got within a second per lap of the Colombian's lap time with a similar number of laps.
Williams said: 'It wasn't at all a proper F1 test, just a day for the fans and for the guys.
'So he didn't get many laps and didn't spend much time seriously preparing for it.'
Nonetheless, Juan Pablo Montoya concluded that the Californian 'did really, really well' in the 2002-specification grand prix machine.
'I did some laps in it in the morning,' Montoya said, 'and I think he ended up just over a second slower.
'That's pretty good for your first time in a grand prix car.'
Gordon, a three-time winner of the Brickyard 500, was clearly impressed with the 900-bhp monster and praised it's 'amazing' carbon brakes and traction control.
Sir Frank noted that Jeff was 'totally unafraid' in the car and that Williams engineers were 'truly very, very impressed.'
He spoke to Dr Mario Theissen, BMW director, after the event who recollected his own enthusiasm for the 31-year-old American.
'Mario told me that Juan Pablo was braking for the first corner at 75 metres and Jeff eventually got it down to about 85 or 90 metres.
'That's extremely impressive seeing as the NASCAR has to start the braking programme about 250 metres before that corner,' said Williams.
'He's clearly a very good driver.'
Any plans of pulling Jeff Gordon out of NASCAR and into Formula One, however, will be scotched because Sir Frank simply can't afford him.
'He is a winning NASCAR driver and I am told his earnings are out of sight,' he said. 'But we'd all love to have a world class US driver in a Grand Prix.'