Lewis Hamilton column: A day with the Red Arrows before British GP

 

In his latest column for BBC Sport, Lewis Hamilton talks about spending the day with the RAF Red Arrows, his love for the British Grand Prix and his close relationship with Nelson Mandela.

I'm sure a lot of people reading this will think that driving a Formula 1 car is a fun job - and it is. But as F1 drivers we also have things we would really love to try out. In the run-up to the British Grand Prix, I had the chance to fulfil a lifetime's ambition.

I spent a day with the RAF Red Arrows  making a film that you can see in the build-up to the British Grand Prix on BBC One on Sunday.
It was such an incredible day: a day that anyone would dream of doing. Looking back on it, I still can't believe I've been in a fighter jet.
When we first got there we had a briefing about what was about to happen, then we went out in the jet for about half an hour.
We did turns, loops, flips and I even got to fly the plane, which was pretty cool.
I've never done anything like that before and I flipped and rolled it. It was fantastic - just to feel the G-force was spectacular.
I got out of the plane and felt really bad, like seasick. It's very different from an F1 car. We are used to big G-forces but they are all horizontal. In the jet, the blood runs to your legs.
After that we did a demonstration on the runway with the jet and our F1 demo car, trying to sync us so we were travelling along at the same time.
Then we went up again and did the first half of a Red Arrows formation display. I didn't want to be a part of the bit where they fly towards each other. That would have been too much!
The best bit was right at the end when you come apart from the formation really aggressively and you pull a lot of G-force. It felt like I nearly passed out at the last run.
It hasn't made me want to fly my own plane - but I do enjoy flying model aeroplanes. Although I tend to crash them quite a lot.

The Red Arrows - with Lewis Hamilton in tow - soar into the sky