Drive a F1 Car or Ride in a F1 Car?

A coworker and I were discussing this today. His son's boss did an F1 drive experience in a F1 car at Paul Ricard (The boss is a fairly experienced racer but not a pro).

I told my coworker I'd rather have the ride with an F1 driver at the wheel.

My reasoning is such:

While I've driven some fast single seaters I am keenly aware that my skill level is such that I'd be hard pressed to go much faster in an F1 car than I would in a Formula Atlantic. Yes it would be cool to drive it round but it wouldn't be any cooler than driving a F3 car or Atlantic.

At seventy years of age I've never turned a wheel in "anger" therefore given the opportunity to just do anything  anywhere would be the ultimate experience ........late

Ride, if the driver could push. I'd think there are costs & fears keeping that from being commonly offered though.

Aren't F1 cars notoriously hard to even get off the line for a norm? Or have hybrid systems eliminated the need for anti-stall devices?

Ride for me as well. I'm only used to 3 buttons on my steering wheel.

In reply to j_tso :

The car driven was an older generation; so I suspect they would have to content with the anti stall. 

Are there two seat F1 cars that I'm unaware of?  Anyway, I get carsick in the passenger seat, I don't even like to instruct novices. So pretty easy answer for me. I would love to drive one on a track I know really well though, to see how far off the pace I am vs. a pro driver. 

In reply to ShinnyGroove (Forum Supporter) :

759NRNG said:

At seventy years of age I've never turned a wheel in "anger" therefore given the opportunity to just do anything  anywhere would be the ultimate experience ........late

I'll put a plug out for Xtreme Xperience, then.  It's pricey compared to a track day, but, where else can you drive a Ferrari 488 GTB or 911 GT3 with someone in the right seat saying "we're coming onto the front straight, roll on that gas as much as you want!  Nice and smooth, let's go!"

There's a few of us here on the forum that instruct with them, and it sounds like the perfect use case for you.

I've been a passenger in an airliner pushing 550kts at 30,000. I've been the pilot of a Cessna at 100kts at 3,000.  Pilot-in-command trumps being ballast every day of the week.

Appleseed said:

I've been a passenger in an airliner pushing 550kts at 30,000. I've been the pilot of a Cessna at 100kts at 3,000.  Pilot-in-command trumps being ballast every day of the week.

An airliner isn't a thrill ride, though.  It's more like comparing flying a Cessna to being a passenger in an fighter jet.  Different experiences -- I'd take both if they were offered!  Do the drive first, then get a ride so that I can see just how much I'm falling short. :)

I've driven the Ring and ridden the Ring Taxi. If I had to make the choice I'd say ride with a pro. Someone who knows the machine and the track can open your eyes.

In reply to paddygarcia :

I've ridden with both an Indy Car and F1 driver and the finese is amazing.

I am a pretty good amateur driver but even in my most dillusional moments I can't even believe I'd get a F1 car within 10 seconds a lap of a  F1 driver.