Formula 1 put on a great show at Trafalgar Square in London. The event was attended by all teams in the championship and almost all drivers – 19 of them showed respect for the fans in the British capital, while Lewis Hamilton preferred to give himself two days of rest.
The F1 show continued for much of the day, with the car parade being held at dusk
Rene Arnoux showed the Renault RS01 – the first Formula 1 turbocharged car. Stoffel Vandoorne was behind the wheel of McLaren MP4/6 – the car with which Ayrton Senna won the title in 1991. The other cars were more up-to-date but Sebastian Vettel, Valtteri Bottas, Daniel Ricciardo and their colleagues made a magnificent show for the spectators gathered on the improvised track.
Cross town traffic ? ?? #F1LiveLondon #F1 pic.twitter.com/hS1SPSSqLk
— Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) July 12, 2017
So London, about last night… ??? #F1LiveLondon pic.twitter.com/vMg0EjygG2
— Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) July 13, 2017
Earlier in the day, during the drivers’ special briefing for the event, the organisers explicitly asked them not to do doughnuts. “I did not hear that!”, Vettel laughed at the big stage of F1 Live London. “It was controlled sliding!” Ricciardo explained almost seriously, before bursting laughing again.
The event was also attended by Jenson Button and Nico Rosberg
The Englishman drove model Naomi Campbell in a two-seater car, “succeeding” in stalling the engine in the middle of the improvised track. Nico told the audience that for five days he did not know where his trophy for the 2016 title was – it was lost in the mail!
The current Formula One drivers made an improvised parade in the streets between Whitehall and Trafalgar, gave out dozens of autographs and made even more selfies with the fans
At the end, everyone was invited on stage. Finally, the only present Mercedes driver Bottas came out with a huge bottle of champagne. The Finn began to spray both the audience and his colleagues, which made his compatriot Kimi Raikkonen literally escape at the end of the stage.
The show ended with performances by Kaiser Chiefs.
Did we put 20 drivers on the stage? Oh yes we did. #CheersRené ?#F1LiveLondon pic.twitter.com/4m7X3Ogkcg
— Renault Sport F1 (@RenaultSportF1) July 12, 2017
