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Q&A: Luciano Bacheta on his Williams F1 drive

Brit talks to formulatwo.com about his debut F1 outing at Silverstone

2012 FIA Formula Two Champion Luciano Bacheta made his Formula One debut last week, driving a Williams F1 car at Silverstone. Using the circuit's 2.98km International circuit, the Briton completed five runs in the 2011 FW33 challenger - gaining vital experience as he impressed the Oxfordshire-based team. Afterwards, the 22-year-old spoke to Formulatwo.com about his day…

Congratulations on your performance today - how was your first taste of Formula 1 machinery?
Yeah it was really good! We started out in the wet which was probably the most nerve wracking part of the day. You never really want to drive a new car in the wet, let alone an F1 car! As soon as I got out there though I felt in control and the car was really nice to drive. It dried out in the afternoon and from then I got to push.

Did you have any preconceptions going into the day as to how it would feel and how the car would handle?
I'd been on the Williams simulator last week so that's all I had as a reference point. I basically just went out and did the same thing as I did on the sim and everything correlated together. Obviously the sensations are a lot different but the technique was all the same and I just progressed from there. 

How was your interaction with the Williams F1 team? Did they give you a lot of help and guidance?
Given the limited amount of running we had they were very helpful in bringing me up to speed so I'm very grateful to them. The whole day was very open and nothing or any information was held back which I was happy about so in that respect the team were awesome!

Given you've been working towards F1 since you started racing - today must have felt like a dream come true?
Yeah! I've always been working towards Formula One otherwise I wouldn't be a racer. But when it becomes tangible you switch from telling yourself about it to actually believing you will drive the car. It's a massive box ticked off and it didn't disappointment one bit! I'd love to have some more time in the car and I hope there will be more opportunities to come.

Click here to watch the video of Luciano Bacheta's Williams F1 drive at Silverstone…