Why the BTCC is so hard for F1 converts to conquer
The list of F1 stars and race winners that have taken on the British Touring Car Championship is long, but the list of those that have truly mastered the art of its front-wheel drive action is short. Can Mark Blundell turn around his tricky start in tin-tops?
Failure to finish race three at Thruxton marked the end of a trying weekend for British Touring Car Championship rookie Mark Blundell. After a tangle with Tom Chilton during qualifying - which left Chilton saying that the ex-Formula 1 driver should consider his place in the series - 27th in the opening race was as good as the rest of the meeting got.
Three times Blundell stood on the podium at the end of an F1 grand prix, and in 1992 he won the Le Mans 24 Hours. That kind of kudos has brought with it plenty of public and media pressure for the oldest driver on the BTCC grid to impress. But, judging by history, the intense level of scrutiny seems unfair.
Share Or Save This Story
Matt Kew is Autosport’s F1 Editor, a role he has held since March 2022 following stints covering Formula E, Extreme E and the British Touring Car Championship.
Matt joined Autosport in 2018 to work predominantly on the magazine, but his relentless quoting of Alan Partridge meant office colleagues soon thought he would be better-suited to increased field work.
Needless to say, Matt had the last laugh when he won the Motorsport UK Young Journalist of the Year Award in 2019.
His interest in motorsport was sparked by regular trips to watch ASCAR crash around Rockingham’s banked oval.
Matt read politics and philosophy at the University of Sheffield - receiving first-class honours for his dissertation assessing the lack of female participation in top-tier motor racing.
He covered a wide variety of national race and rally meetings for Autosport as a freelancer before joining full-time. His best efforts to argue the merits of historic racing are undone by a questionable taste in music and James Bond actors.
More from Matt Kew
McLaren will “protect” Piastri from busy Melbourne F1 schedule
Hulkenberg: Smaller F1 teams need “unorthodox” strategies to score points
Sauber: Audi's accelerated F1 takeover a boost for short term
RB sets end-of-2024 date for moving to new Milton Keynes F1 facility
Ricciardo: RB has identified a few flaws with 2024 F1 car
Vettel sent Bearman 'good luck' message ahead of Saudi Arabian F1 debut
Massa files lawsuit against FIA, FOM over 2008 F1 Singapore GP
The impatient pair who’d hoped to be a thorn in Red Bull’s side again
Latest news
Bezzecchi details “frustrating” time on 2023 Ducati MotoGP bike
Albon: Williams “can’t access” full potential of 2024 F1 car
What we're looking forward to in national racing in 2024
Snorkels “more relevant” for rainy-season WRC Safari
Autosport Plus
How a BTCC Alliance swept the field away in 2023
How a top-down overhaul formed the basis of Sutton's 2023 BTCC dominance
A BTCC star tests the cars that transformed tin-top racing
Can the BTCC's underrated Toyota ace stake his claim to a title?
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.