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The Imperial War Museum runway at Duxford played
host to the youngest ever test driver in Formula
One™ history today, with 16 year old Nabil
Jeffri seeing his F1™ dream come true as he
conducted a day of aero testing for Lotus Racing
on the museum’s Cambridgeshire runway. Fairuz
Fauzy and Heikki Kovalainen were both on hand to
lend their advice to the young Malaysian and
Nabil, a key member of the AirAsia ASEAN Driver
Development programme, completed the day’s
testing, and gave the team valuable pitstop
practice throughout a busy day on track for the
Anglo – Malaysian squad.
Stepping out of the car at the end of the day,
Nabil was understandably excited about his day
behind the wheel of the T127, saying “I have had
an incredible day, one of the best days of my
life, and I want to thank Lotus Racing, Tony
Fernandes and Mike Gascoyne for giving me the
chance to drive their car. I have to admit that
the first time I went out it was pretty scary –
everyone told me the acceleration would be
unbelievable, and the braking would be so much
greater than anything I’ve ever experienced, and
it took a while to get used to that, but Heikki
and Fairuz gave me some advice on how to settle
in to it, and after a while I was more
comfortable, and was able to get through the
day’s plan. It’s such an honour to have had this
opportunity, and it’ll be a long time before the
excitement wears off, but I’ll keep on working
hard to one day join Heikki, Fairuz, Jarno and
the rest of the F1™ grid, and with the support
of people like Tony and Lotus Racing, I’ve got a
great chance of doing so.”
Also at the test was Lotus Racing driver Heikki
Kovalainen, who joined the test to give Nabil
some invaluable advice: “It’s a great experience
for Nabil and it’s really good to see how well
he did. He’s obviously very young, and he’ll
remember this experience for the rest of his
life. When you feel the power of a Formula One™
car for the first time it’s an incredible
feeling and I told him to enjoy it, and not get
stressed about trying to impress everyone too
much. He did a great job today - he quickly
picked up the correct procedures, and was
working well with the whole team, which is
pretty awesome when you think we’ve got the
proper race team here today which could have
been a bit daunting. It’s also great to see
Lotus Racing investing in young talent, and
we’re showing that the ladder to success in F1™
is there for anyone, wherever they are in the
world, which is pretty cool, however you look at
it.”
On hand to oversee the test was Chief Technical
Officer Mike Gascoyne, who said “I’m delighted
that Nabil has done such a good job and I’d like
to thank him for the work he put in today. Aero
testing is an important part of the ongoing
development of the car, and it’s great that we
can give an opportunity to someone as young as
Nabil to help us take another step forward. He
completed the planned programme, gave clear and
precise feedback, and we couldn’t ask any more
of him than that. I’m sure this experience will
help him take another step forward in his career,
and we’ll be keeping a close eye on him to see
if what he’s learnt today can help him take that
next step up, in performance terms, in the Asian
Formula BMW Championship.”
Team Principal Tony Fernandes was keeping a
close eye on the day’s proceedings from his
office in Malaysia, and said “When I first
offered Nabil the chance to drive our car he
couldn’t tell if I was joking or not, but I was
very serious about giving a young Malaysian the
chance to step up to the big time. He’s repaid
my faith in him and has performed incredibly
well, and that’s a source of real pride for me
as he proves what I’ve always believed – keep
dreaming, work hard to achieve what other people
tell you is impossible, and your dreams will
come true. I suspect Nabil will head back to
Malaysia with his head spinning from everything
that’s happened to him today, but now he can say
he’s driven an F1™ car, and that will set his
sights at the very top for the rest of his life.
Congratulations Nabil – you’re a superstar!”
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