Fionn McLaughlin: My Ultimate Driver

Hitech’s Fionn McLaughlin takes on the task of building the ultimate racing driver and comes up with quite the dream team.

From balancing aggression and smooth styles to overtaking prowess and qualifying speed, here’s what he came up with…

WET WEATHER ABILITY

“Lewis or Max. I don't know, it's hard to say. Every one of them is probably good, but you know, I think Lewis is probably one of the most successful drivers in the rain, so I'd say Lewis.”

INTELLIGENCE

“Seb Vettel. He was very, very nerdy, very intelligent. I don't know if you want to say it that way, but... he understands a lot and he analyses a lot of things and people are very different in sports. Seb was very into everything and analysed as much as he could.”

QUALIFYING SPEED

“I'd say Max, definitely. He just puts a lap out of nowhere. You think he's not going to be quick and bang, he's on pole and you're like, what the hell? So I'd say probably Max. Or Charles actually. Charles is probably the best qualifier, he's got so many poles.

TYRE MANAGEMENT

“Weird one, but I would say Sergio Perez. He was really, really good on the tyres. He wasn't always quick, but he was always able to manage them well. So, I’d say Sergio Perez is quite good on the tyres.”

SMOOTH DRIVING STYLE?

“Tough one. Lando probably. He’s very smooth. When you watch him drive, he's very, very calm and smooth.”

AGGRESSIVE STYLE?

“Max. It's quite an obvious one. In terms of my own style, I can have both. So normally, I tend to be very smooth, but when you need to, you need to be aggressive, I can kind of switch in between, and that's quite a good thing for me. I like to drive very calm, not turn the wheel much, be very smooth. And then at times, I probably struggle a wee bit on the aggressive side, but in racing terms, aggressive-wise, I'm good at that.”

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OVERTAKING ABILITY

“Daniel Ricciardo. We'll go with that. Yeah, he always sent it, so I'll say Daniel.”

ANYTHING ELSE?

“Consistency. Someone who's always very, very consistent and who's always there, even when they're not quick enough, they're always top five or they're always just bringing it out of nowhere. And I think that's something Max has got better at.

“When you watch him, he's just always there. And even when the car's not good enough, he'll get the most out of it. So yeah, I would say Max’s consistency.”

DREAM TEAM

“I like Adrian Newy. I think he'd be good as my team boss. And he's very good at designing cars.

“Drivers – I’d pick Seb. And the thing is, it's bad having two good drivers, because it won't always end well, but I’d love Seb and Michael Schumacher. That'd be a good driver pairing. And they probably would work well together. So, I'd say those two.

“And for the car, I’d say the RB19, it basically won all the races in the 2023 season.”