Why ride swaps always leave F1 drivers wanting more

Give any Formula 1 driver the chance to get behind the wheel of a racing car, and they will not hesitate to do so.

But, sadly, in this modern world of clashing sponsorship commitments, manufacturer allegiances, hefty insurance premiums, liability risks, lack of free time and pride being at stake, drivers getting their hands on different machinery is often the exception rather than the rule.

Last weekend's United States Grand Prix showed us what we are missing, though, when NASCAR legend Tony Stewart joined Haas duo Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen in testing a Stewart-Haas Racing stock car.

The Haas duo were first shown the ropes by Stewart - who himself was having to learn the Austin track - before they were let loose and took each other around. The grins both wore as they got out of the car told you everything about their excitement.

"It was pretty awesome - very good fun," said Magnussen. "The sound... I have always heard these cars from the outside and it is such an iconic sound, as much as the old V8/V10 sound in F1 was iconic. Hearing that sound the inside and controlling it yourself is always a cool experience."

While the technology and out-and-out performance of the NASCAR machine was no match for the pair's normal F1 cars, its rawness had its own qualities.

"You just go there, push the button and off you go," said Grosjean. "You don't look at maps or whatever or recovery, you just drive it. I liked the gear lever. It was quite fun, and lifting and changing gear - I liked it. I thought the gearbox was going to be quite tricky but it was like a knife through butter."

While there was nothing Magnussen could take from the NASCAR test that can help him be a better F1 driver, it perhaps put in perspective the range of skills needed to jump categories

Magnussen added: "It is a completely different way of cool. You cannot compare it. It is not comparable. Two completely different disciplines, both massively awesome in two very different ways. F1 is just perfection - efficiency and high grip, big forces - and NASCAR is just more like cool, badass, fun."

What is always fascinating when these rare ride swaps do happen is observing what the drivers are able to take away from the experience. While on the outside they can seem to just be about publicity, for the people behind the wheel their driving instinct always takes over.

"When we do get together and try other cars, it is always exciting," said Magnussen. "We are very used to the F1 car and when we drive the F1 car, it is always very serious and focused, whereas when me and Romain got to have a go in the NASCAR it was just fun. It was all smiles and laughing."

Such test runs also reveal the level of adaptability that drivers would need if they were regularly swapping categories, as they often did in the 1950s and '60s.

So while there was nothing Magnussen could take away from the NASCAR test that can help him be a better driver in F1, it has perhaps put in perspective the range of skills needed to jump categories.

"It is not like you can use anything from that experience directly in F1, but what happens when you put an F1 driver into a NASCAR is that he needs to adapt completely," added Magnussen. "He has to forget everything he knows about driving from F1 and just adapt and drive the NASCAR completely different to what he is used to with the F1 car.

"So that adaptation exercise is always good. Generally I think it is always interesting and good to learn new things - whether it be other sports or science stuff, to broaden your spectrum of skill."

That was something that Stewart pointed out, too. Racing cars are, ultimately, all designed to do the same thing in going around a track as quickly as possible, so it was down to the drivers to impose their skills.

"Racecar drivers are racecar drivers," he said. "We had Kevin in our Sprint Car last year which went on the Netflix special and within four runs of the car, he ran 40 laps, he was within four tenths of what I ran in the car.

"It doesn't matter what racecar driver they are in the world, or what racecar they drive, if they oversteer or understeer or four wheel drift, every racecar does those three things. It is just a matter of how do you learn them, and good racecar drivers figure that out really quickly."

"There was a time when they had the BMW M1 Procar race and we should have some fun like this instead of a drivers parade. Let's do a small race with a good car - it would be awesome" Romain Grosjean

Sometimes fans of certain series can get quite tribal in claiming that their category is the best. I'm sure there are some NASCAR fans who look down on F1, and F1 followers who wouldn't consider ever tuning in to watch NASCAR.

But for Magnussen and Grosjean, getting to drive cars from perhaps the two most popular categories in the world was not about finding out which is best - because they can happily co-exist.

Grosjean said: "All cars are different. It is like a new girlfriend: it is exciting in the beginning. Maybe you get used to it - although I shouldn't say that after being married for seven years!"

"It is a different sport - you cannot really compare," added Magnussen. "It is not that I think we should do it like that. This is F1, it is different, but I think it is great to have NASCAR that does things that way, and it is a more simple way of going racing. The car has never changed really, it is almost the same car as the first NASCAR, so it is great. It is iconic sport, [an] iconic car, I really like it."

The interest around the test prompted talk about how sad it is that these things don't happen more often.

But Grosjean actually turned that view around and said it should be used as a catalyst to more swaps. He reckoned getting all the F1 drivers out in a race in different cars on a grand prix weekend would be something that they - as well as the fans - would absolutely love.

"There was a time when they had the BMW M1 [Procar] race and we should have some fun like this instead of a drivers parade," he said. "Let's do a small race with a good car - it would be awesome. It would be amazing.

"There are many things you can think of doing, but the schedules are tight with all the meetings we have. But if we had more things out there there would be less meetings, which is maybe not a bad thing! In MotoGP they ride those mini bikes some times, and Kevin and I were both having a smile when we jumped out of the car because what we love is driving. Sometimes we just wish there was more of it."

That is something all of us agree can agree on.