How do you hurl a Mercedes F1 car up Goodwood's Hill?

The man must have a time machine, but whatever he does, people love him for it. And judging by the enormous crowd of fans waiting for an autograph or photo with Anthony at the 2021 Goodwood Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard, his popularity is stronger than ever. We’re lucky enough to sit down with Anthony, amongst the Mercedes F1 team trucks, to chat about his many enviable day jobs and what it’s like driving the most modern and formidable Formula One car we’ve ever had on the Goodwood Hill.

GRR: You’re driving the 2019 W10 here this weekend, the first Halo era F1 car to be seen on the Hill and a mighty car with 15 wins out of 21 GP starts. How has it been?

Ant: It’s so strange in many ways being here. Having followed the F1 and WEC circuit around the world in empty venues during the pandemic, coming to an event like this, with fans out in their masses. It’s like we’ve fast forwarded to a post-pandemic era. In a way it’s a brilliant. But I do hope everyone’s staying safe. It has been sensory overload in a way.

To have the chance to drive in front of fans again, it’s amazing. You sense them and have the time to look and wave. You 100 per cent share in the moment. It just isn’t the same going racing without them.

GRR: The introduction of the Halo was a controversial move, but we’ve recently all seen why it’s so important. What was your stance on its introduction to the sport, and has that changed at all?

Ant: It’s slightly different for me, I had my time in F1 and then went to sportscars with closed roofs. So when the Halo was being talked about, it seemed quite natural to me to have a head covering. I always felt safer in a sportscar, rightly or wrongly, compared to an F1 car. And I enjoyed that experience.

For me, the reason I do this isn’t to be a hero. I don’t want to be a gladiator. I didn’t sign up as a racing driver to put myself at unnecessary risk. So I had no issues with it at all. Having a roof or a Halo over my head doesn’t stop me feeling the sensations of fear going up a corner like Eau Rouge in a sportscar, just on the limit. It doesn’t matter if you have a Halo or not. What does matter if there are parts flying off a car in front, or animals on a circuit, stuff we didn’t sign up for.

For me that’s why it was there. For safety. It doesn’t dilute the heroism from drivers at all. What it does, is dilute the repercussions of freak incidents that can come your way. I’ve seen too many of my good friends like Dan Wheldon and Justin Wilson who have fallen foul in the harshest way possible, because cars weren’t safe enough. They were out there being heroes already, in my opinion.

You can still experience the car, experience speed and experience fear with seatbelts. And the same can be said for the Halo.

GRR: You’ve built a reputation in the office as being pinned each time you drive here. No donuts, just flat-out! How do you approach the opportunity to drive cars like this at Goodwood?

Ant: That’s really interesting! For my next run, I had planned on doing exactly that. Flat out. I thought, ‘I’m in this amazing car, that I may never get to drive again. It’s so stupidly fast. It really is laughably fast. Then why not? Why not just blast it as fast as I can’.

If you see me in the barriers, you know why…

GRR: We talked to your colleague Esteban Gutiérrez last year at SpeedWeek, and he was very excited to have managed 177.7mph round the circuit. Where’s the limit of these modern cars on the Hill?

Ant: The limit is the tyre temperature. We don’t have blankets, so they are probably faster on wets than slicks. In this car, I don’t know, but I’ve chosen slicks today because it’s what people are more familiar with. It looks nicer.

You can lock a front tyre so quickly here because you can’t get heat through them. Unlike the rears that you can light up off the start line. The fronts just track along and only start to work if you turn a corner or hit the brakes. Which is daunting. You quickly learn that they are designed for such a specific speed and environment, and once you take them out of that comfort zone, they don’t work very well. The same can be said for most components on these modern F1 cars. They live off speed and heat.

GRR: Do you and the team spend specific time setting the car up for the hillclimb? Or is it a case of turning up, strapping In, and having fun?

Ant: No not really. We get briefed on things like engine temps if you’re planning on doing all the showboating. You need to be aware of the cockpit and any warning indicators that may occur. And you have to have a working radio, again in case there were any issues or warnings that we all need to be aware of. That familiarisation of the machine you are driving is key, but it is hard. Jumping in a car, and being expected to impress and entertain people. There’s always a lot of nervousness. But from that second run, you’re much more confident and ready to go.

GRR: You’re obviously very familiar with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team, being their development driver. How has it been being a part of that team, working on the simulator programme, and how has the technological side of the sport progressed since we saw you on the F1 grid?

Ant: To simply answer the question, it has gone from non-existent to very much in line with the real car. It was not an option ‘back in my day’. There were computer games, but it wasn’t a simulation.

Nowadays, you can back-to-back your sim laps with the real car’s data. You can measure or compare my steering inputs to what Lewis or Valtteri were doing on the same track at the same moment, in the same conditions, in real life. You can see cornering stiffness loads, you can tweak tyre pressures and circuit grip. Anything you want is possible, and it’s only improving.

Since starting this job with Mercedes the simulation world has come on leaps and bounds. It is becoming quite a scary beast to deal with. I’ve already done 43 days of sim time this year. Usually you hit that per year, but because of the pandemic, this year has been particularly gruelling.

Even Lewis is coming in and using it as a tool to go through set-up options before race weekends. I focus on pre-event work, where we correlate the car against last year’s car or the year before to make sure we’re in the right parameters in terms of grip and condition. Then we’ll start working through different set-up options while injecting realism via the drivers in the simulation. It’s a lot of brain power and a lot of hard work but it is a fascinating world. You have to be on it and see the big picture the whole time.

I did six years as an F1 test driver, so I know how it works and what the demands are for the real car. I work with a brilliant team of people. We all know about the wider Mercedes team at Brackley. But the individual department of the sim group also, they are great set of people to work with.

GRR: Gaining all that hands-on experience must put you in good stead for your role with Sky F1. What have you made of the 2021 season so far? Exciting isn’t it.

Ant: With my Sky hat on now — as I sit here in Mercedes overalls — I hope people appreciate how much effort I put into always coming across unbiased. Arguably, I’m even harder on this team than I would be otherwise.

Personally, I’ve really enjoyed this season so far. It’s what F1 needed. More competition. Teams not only taking the fight to Mercedes, but getting the better of them, to the point of leading both championships. Max Verstappen leading for the first time in his career. That’s the sort of energy F1 needs.

Now the question is, can the old master fight back? And I can’t wait to see that. To do that he needs the tools and the team are surely not going to give up. So how do they retaliate? How much can they afford to fight each other this year…

I wish in many ways no one touched their cars from round one. ‘It’s working, just leave it’. It would be brilliant like that. But we’ll see. That’s what F1 is about, the ingenuity. Each time a driver steps in the car it absolutely should be better. That’s what draws people to it.

GRR: You’ve got not one, but several day jobs that lots of us are a bit envious of, can you fill us in on what you’ve been up to recently in terms of FIA World Endurance Trophy LMP2?

Ant: That, like F1, has been effected by the pandemic. We're on a limited number of races this year, just six. We’ve just lost Japan off the calendar. It’s all up in the air still, but, we have got a quick car. We finished 2^nd in the first race in Spa. We won the last race at Portimao. We’re leading the championship, so it’s looking good.

I’m just enjoying driving. I’m 42 years old now, and I know I still have the speed and the talent, but I can also see the bigger picture these days. And that holds you in good stead in endurance racing. I’m looking forward to Le Mans, that’s the one that everything hinges around. It will be my 13^th Le Mans, and hopefully lucky 13. I’ve never won there, so it would be amazing to conquer that race in any category.

I nearly did it in 2016 when the car broke down on the last lap. It has been pretty cruel to me, but it doesn’t stop me going back and taking another beating!

GRR: Finally, as a man used to driving some of the world’s most exciting machinery, what do you use to pop to get the milk in the morning? Anything exciting at home, or do you get enough adrenaline from the day job?

Ant: You’re going to love mine in the office. Feet on the ground, that’s what I do best! I’m going to beat anyone with this…

I drive a Volkswagen Transporter. Honest to god. It’s a little bit pimped, but it’s still a Transporter. I love the van life. I’m so glad I’ve got it. I got it with my own money, no deals, nothing. I’m proud to say I’m a van driver, and the great thing is you get no road rage!