IRL: IndyCar driver Dixon aiming for Formula One

Scott Dixon was thrilled by his first Formula One test with Williams at Paul Ricard in France last week and can't wait to get back in an F1 car. The reigning IRL champion will get his chance at the beginning of April when he will test for Williams again at Barcelona. Dixon spent one day with the team last week and it was enough to convince him that F1 is where he wants to be.

Scott Dixon.

Photo by Tony Johns.

"F1 is definitely what I want to do," said the New Zealander. "I would get back in the car today if I could. It was good to turn right again. Those cars kind of shocked me. It was unbelievable for the first 20 laps. I felt out of place, but I slowly got back into it. I had a smile from ear to ear all day."

Dixon said the hardest thing he would have to get used to is the amount of G force when the car is under braking: "It's huge," he remarked. "I lasted about three runs before my neck was done. You just can't hold it up."

"The acceleration isn't too bad because your head is resting most of the time, but the G forces turning and the braking in the braking zone, your head goes down and you have to slowly bring it up. The forces are way more than what we get."

Although Dixon has previously raced road-circuits, it would take some intensive training to get in shape for F1 after spending time racing on IRL ovals. Toyota's Cristiano da Matta, who was 2002 CART champion before making the switch to F1, believes Dixon could do it.

"It's a difficult championship," said da Matta in regard to IRL. "But it's obviously only on ovals. But he's (Dixon) done road courses before and he's a good road-course driver. He'll have to get into better physical shape but I'm pretty sure he's able to do F1. The tyres and the light weight are the things he'll have to get used to."