Vettel drives Williams FW14B championship

On Sunday, fans gathered in the grandstands of the Silverstone circuit will see an unusual spectacle: Sebastian Vettel will conduct a demonstration run in the Williams FW14B, in which Nigel Mansell won the championship title nearly 30 years ago.

The special feature of the promotion is that the historic car is filled with modern synthetic fuel, which is considered CO2 neutral. Sebastian bought this Williams FW14B three years ago at a Bonhams auction during the traditional Goodwood Festival of Speed. He paid £2.7 million for a car with chassis number 08 and the famous 3.5 liter Renault V10 engine.

“I expect to have a lot of fun and I hope the public will share it with me because this is an incredible car with its own history. Plus, it sounds great, and I’m already looking forward to this race, – said the four-time world champion. – As for fuel, it took some effort to get such gasoline, but when we got it everything else was easier – one test run was enough.

This car is practically in the same condition as it was 30 years ago, it sounds exactly the same, it drives exactly the same, and on these two laps I won’t try to squeeze absolutely everything out of it, but I’ll try to have fun. This means I will go fast enough, but in such a way that I feel comfortable driving it, remembering that this is still my car.

I think it will be fun! It’s great to show it to the public. Motorsport is our passion, we have had it since childhood. The machines I dreamed of then may not be the machines others dreamed of, but now it is important to learn a responsible attitude towards history and maintain this technique.

I think in this way we preserve this heritage and at the same time think about the future, because Formula 1 is moving in the same direction and will switch to synthetic fuel in 2026.

It was this car that Nigel Mansell drove last weekend at Goodwood in a special ceremony celebrating the 30th anniversary of his championship title.

“It was my idea, I bought this car a few years ago because it has number “5” on it, and to me it’s not just a car that is already 30 years old,” Sebastian emphasized. – I drive in Formula 1 under the same number, I won my first championship in a car that showed off the red number “5”, I drove under this number in karting, so there is a certain connection … Plus, this car won the British Grand Prix 30 years ago, so it’s a great idea.

But I also felt that we had to do this in a special way, so on Sunday I will be using CO2-neutral fuels to show that the heritage and culture of motorsport can be preserved in a responsible way.”