In what was one of the coolest Red Bull publicity stunts, they put Tom Cruise behind the wheel of an F1 car at Willow Springs circuit.
The star of Top Gun, Mission Impossible, and Top Gear’s reasonably priced car, showed great performance behind the wheel of the 850-horsepower Formula 1 car as well, and truly impressed his instructor, the former F1 driver David Coulthard by hitting 181 mph around the 2.5 km race track.
They started out by learning the track in a road car, and then strapped Cruise in the F1 machine and he completed 24 drama-free laps during the seven-hour session. His final lap was 11 seconds faster than the initial one, which shows he got the hang of it quickly and actually got some raw driving talent!
“Tom’s the real deal. I was surprised that he picked it up so quickly and is such an accomplished driver,” said Coulthard. “His recall was incredible considering how complicated driving an F1 car is. He’s a guy who really pushes the envelope in real life. This day was not green screened. He thoroughly impressed me.”
