Former MotoGP star Casey Stoner has opened up about his love for Formulation 1 and his admiration for racing drivers, whom he described as “freaking phenomenally gifted”.
Stoner made a reputation for himself in motorbike racing, profitable MotoGP titles for each Ducati and Honda earlier than retiring on the age of simply 26.
He’s considered one of many all-time greats in MotoGP, significantly for delivering Ducati a world title at a time when it was not counted in the identical leagues as its Japanese rivals Honda and Yamaha.
However whereas Stoner’s past love has at all times been motorbike racing, he additionally enjoys four-wheel racing and attends F1 races on a semi-regular foundation.
Whereas revealing that it was laborious for him to observe F1 in his early years in Australia, a visit to the Monaco GP in 2006 modified his notion of the sequence.
“I went to my first F1 race in ‘06 in Monaco – I used to be invited there,” Stoner revealed in an interview with F1’s official website.
“Lewis Hamilton was racing in GP2, gained the race that day and I bought to satisfy a couple of of the F1 guys and actually see what F1 was.
“I lastly bought to see how superb the vehicles had been, and that is once I began being much more serious about it and growing much more data about what goes on quite than simply what you see on TV – it type of modified my perspective on the entire thing.”
Casey Stoner and Mark Webber
© XPB Pictures
Stoner mentioned numerous F1 stars caught his consideration within the final 20 years, together with Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.
“In fact, all of us noticed Michael do what he did,” he mentioned. “I adopted Lewis very carefully from round ‘06 onwards, you have bought expertise like Kimi Raikkonen within the automobile – you have bought all these freaking phenomenally gifted drivers.
“Lewis coming via, doing what he did, was phenomenal. Fernando Alonso again within the day and right through has been unbelievable, and now we have Max Verstappen stepping up and being the subsequent standout.
“I believe there’s a gaggle of 4 or 5 drivers, together with guys like Seb Vettel, that every one confirmed phenomenal and excellent abilities – however it will be solely attainable to essentially outline them in the event that they had been in the identical automobile on the identical time, identical second, so it’s totally tough for me to say one individual.”
Stoner added he loved the sound of V10 engines, which had been final utilized in F1 in 2005.
The sequence’ stakeholders are at present discussing the prospect of bringing again V10 engines, operating on sustainable fuels, within the mid-to-long time period future.
“As for my favorite F1 automobile, I’d say undoubtedly a V10,” he mentioned. “Simply listening to these issues was at all times a pleasure and even when, for no matter cause, the racing wasn’t superb, simply listening to it will make your day.”
Referring to the chrome-liveried McLaren vehicles from the late 2000s and early 2010s, he added: “I’d say the automobile that blew me away was at that first F1 race I went to – the McLaren with the Vodafone livery, chrome end. It was simply ridiculous.
“You simply by no means anticipated a automobile to be painted so superbly and it was simply an absolute mirror the entire time. That was fairly unbelievable to see up shut. You can see it on TV, however by no means, ever did it do it justice till you noticed it within the flesh and realised how unbelievable it was.”
