Picture Credit: Twitter
Indian driver Jehan Daruvala has made a successful Formula 1 test debut this week with eight-time constructor championship winner McLaren. The 23-year-old drove the Woking-based team's 2021 race-winner challenger, MCL35M on Tuesday and Wednesday at Silverstone as a part of the British team’s Testing Previous Car (TPC) program.
Jehan Daruvala has now become eligible for a Formula One super license. The Indian prodigy who is aiming to become the third racer from India to race in Formula 1 after Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok, had his maiden experience with F1 machinery as he chalked up over 130 laps combined over the two days, and twice the distance F1 drivers will cover during the next weekend's British Grand Prix.
Delighted with his maiden experience, Jehan Daruvala took to social media and penned down his experience of driving an F1 car for the first time. He wrote, "What a couple of days its been! An unreal experience driving an F1 car for the first time around Silverstone. A big thank you again to everyone that made this happen, I had lots of fun and learned so much in just two days."
Jehan Daruvala also posted a video of himself driving around the track as the recording shows him zooming past the camera set up focused on a sharp turn as the Indian appeared comfortable handling the powerful machine.
Jehan Daruvala, who ran trouble-free on both the days, currently races with Italian team Prema in the Formula 2 championship. The feeders series sits one step below Formula 1 and is third in the overall standings. In a media release, Jehan was quoted saying that he got an understanding of how teams operate on F1 weekend. "As a result, we were able to execute our plan well and complete everything that we had chalked out," he said.
Jehan Daruvala further informed that he was extremely pleased to drive the car and would love to drive one of those cars once again. Notably, Jehan remains a part of the Red Bull Junior Team and he is a three-time F2 winner as he has scored 12 podiums in the category, including five top-three finishes from six rounds this season alone. Jehan has earlier confessed that he aspires to become the first Indian to win the F2 title this season.