Categories: Look backRace and classic pictures

Fernando in a Jaguar

With Eric Silbermann reminiscing over past days spent in the cold during testing at Silverstone, his feature looks back at a time when unlimited testing led to more opportunities for drivers to try different cars. One such driver was Fernando Alonso who, during his year as Renault test driver, also got a run out in the Jaguar at Silverstone in 2002. Jaguar used the test to provide a benchmark for the other drivers it ran that week, as well as having a look at Alonso in case he did not get promoted at Renault the following year. For the record, Alonso was marginally quicker than Jaguar race driver Pedro de la Rosa on the day.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.