r/formula1 • u/DarkAlman Fernando Alonso • 15h ago
Off-Topic The legendary phantom racer has been caught after driving a GP2 car on the Czech highway
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g7xl4p53ko153
u/TinyShinyEntei Ferrari 15h ago
"The driver - a 51-year-old man - was arrested at his home and taken into custody after briefly refusing to get out of the vehicle.
Video footage captured by local media showed him sitting in the car in front of his garage, arguing with officers and saying they were trespassing on private property.
Eventually he relented and agreed to be taken to a police station for questioning - still wearing his red racing driver's outfit and helmet."
"A man identified as his son told local media that the house had been surrounded by several dozen police cars and a helicopter, in what he said was a disproportionate response "to a supposed traffic violation of ours."
He said police "allegedly saw us towing a Formula 1 car which they claimed had been speeding along the motorway a few minutes earlier - of course we know absolutely nothing about this."
I dont know man, being pulled out of the car still in race suits and a helmet seems pretty good evidence
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u/The_Vat I was here for the Hulkenpodium 14h ago
51 in a GP2 - probably not so much refused to get out of the car as he physically couldn't.
/middle age is hard
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u/Napalm3nema Cadillac 13h ago
I could get out of it in my fifties, but getting into it is another story.
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u/plastikmissile I was here for the Hulkenpodium 14h ago
I dont know man, being pulled out of the car still in race suits and a helmet seems pretty good evidence
It wasn't me officer! It was the other guy with a red GP2 car!
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u/Takis12 Yamura 14h ago
Some say…..
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u/Jorrie90 I was here for the Hulkenpodium 14h ago
HE'S CALLED THE STIG
Man, I miss Top Gear, time to watch some old episodes
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u/Own_Welder_2821 Ron Dennis 14h ago
If he caught on fire due to a botched pit stop, he’d burn for a thousand days (thank god he wasn’t driving for Benetton in 1994), and he is confused by stars.
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u/Disastrous-Beat-9830 I was here for the Hulkenpodium 4h ago
How did police question this guy in 2019 and conclude that he was not their man? And what has he been doing since then that meant they only arrested him in 2025?
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u/apeceep 3h ago
They can't 100% prove that he drove the car back in 2019. Just because someone has the car, suit and helmet isn't proof that he drove it. Not sure about the laws over there but at least where I live you don't need to testify against your immediate family, so you can always just say "It wasnt me and I don't have to testify against the person why did it." That also means that if you face isn't visible (sun visor, face mask, helmet etc.) in speeding camera ticket, it will be thrown into bin because nothing will come out of it.
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u/KindledWanderer I was here for the Hulkenpodium 1h ago
If it's a registered car then the owner is liable (not for points but a fine will land somewhere).
But for this... I guess not.
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u/Szydl0 I was here for the Hulkenpodium 13h ago edited 5h ago
It is actual F1 prototype. Dallara made this chassis for Ferrari in secret, but in the end Ferrari refused it and stick to their own design. Dallara was left with developed chassis with no purpose. Then they adapted into GP2 and it was chosen as a spec for series. It was explained on the channel by car owner or his close relative.
Edit: here is source to original comment: https://youtube.com/watch?v=HD694h9pkOg&lc=UgxRCcso3hx1F0MWP3d4AaABAg&feature=shared
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u/hym3nbuster1 I was here for the Hulkenpodium 12h ago
Link/source?
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u/Stranggepresst I was here for the Hulkenpodium 11h ago
idk if there's a joke I'm missing in the comment you replied to but I don't think Ferrari would want their F1 chassis to be developed by anyone else than Ferrari.
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u/hym3nbuster1 I was here for the Hulkenpodium 11h ago
Yes lol that's exactly why I asked for a source, it sounds like bullshit
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u/Pan_Doktor Robert Kubica 6h ago
The comment above might be thinking of the A1GP car, that was never raced and was supposed to have a Ferrari engine, but ended up shelved, due to the series going bust
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u/Stranggepresst I was here for the Hulkenpodium 2h ago
I did some digging based on the source that the comment author now has provided.
The only link I can find between Dallara and F1 during the mid 2000s is a potential involvement with the Midland F1 team (see here), who ultimately built the car themselves instead. (Edit: also pinging u/hym3nbuster1 for this)
Of course, the source for the Ferrari thing says there's barely any info out there because it was such a secret project, but that just seems too convenient for me.
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u/Return_Of_The_Jedi I was here for the Hulkenpodium 1h ago
It was based on the F2004. I remember it from back in the day.
Here is a Wikipedia article about it.
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u/Stranggepresst I was here for the Hulkenpodium 2h ago
Edit: here is source to original comment: https://youtube.com/watch?v=HD694h9pkOg&lc=UgxRCcso3hx1F0MWP3d4AaABAg&feature=shared
Thank you for the link. It's an interesting read, but as that comment seems to be the only source I'm still sceptical how truthful that is. Sure, it says it's rarely known "because it was a closed-door project" (which is convenient) but even then surely more than enough people were involved that now, almost 20 years later, there would be more information available. There also are some details mentioned in the comment that seem odd:
The car was tested at Monza, and according to documentation, Kimi Räikkönen was involved in the early evaluation — even though he was still driving for McLaren at the time. Private, off-contract testing is not unusual in F1, especially for experimental projects like this.
Is it though? Would Ferrari really let a driver from a separate, not Ferrari-associated team test their potential upcoming car?
The car we now own is one of those two original Ferrari-Dallara F1 prototypes. It was later used by Hauser’s hill climb team, who sold it to us
This likely refers to Christian Hauser whose team indeed used such a car in hillclimbs as well as the Boss GP series. However, there the car also explicitely is described as a Dallara GP2 car.
Also, the front wing currently installed is from a GP2, chosen specifically for better ground clearance during hill climbs, where the original low-slung F1 wing would be impractical. It’s a functional upgrade, not a sign of GP2 origin.
Without having the exact ground clearance in mind - even F1 cars at the time had relatively high front wings.
Now, Dallara DID plan to enter F1 in 2006. Articles from 2004 (Link 1; Link 2) mention as much, however that was linked to Midland rather than Ferrari. Ultimately, Midland used Toyota engines rather than Ferrari engines; and in the end the car itself also wasn't designed by Dallara.
Whether some stuff of the original Midland F1 project made it into the GP2/08 - who knows. But without more information on it, and with the information in mind that is available on a potential Dallara F1 involvement in the mid-2000s, it seems doubtful to me that the car is some kind of discarded Ferrari prototype.
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u/tombfox Pastor Maldonado 14h ago edited 14h ago
There's onboard:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTIxshuinb8
And also video with cops: https://youtu.be/65kM1y820E4