Driver Coach Susses Out The Dramatic License In Hammond's TG F1 Drive

Scott Mansell aka 'Driver 61' has provided an analysis of the famous Top Gear segment, explaining the parts that are real and the bits that employ creative license

Matt Robinson

13 May 2020

Top Gear, both before and after the Clarkson, Hammond and May era, has employed a fair amount of dramatic license. For the most part there’s nothing wrong with that - first and foremost the show is about entertainment.

Regardless, it’s interesting to see a classic segment broken down to analyse what’s real and what’s dramatised. Here, was can see racer turned driver coach Scott Mansell (not related to a certain other driver with that surname, before you ask) pick through an iconic TG moment from 2007, when Richard Hammond got behind the wheel of Fernando Alonso’s 2005 F1 championship-winning Renault R25.

Insert stock tyre screeching noise here...

As you might expect, it’s a fairly even blend of reality and dramatism, with a lot of editing choices used to spice things up, and - Mansell reckons - a few shots with a pro driver at the wheel provoking the car to make Hammond’s laps seem slightly more fraught.

We’ll let Mansell take you through it, but one particularly amusing element that you might not have ever noticed before is the stock tyre screeching sound that’s been added to one shot.

Are we mad? Of course not - that’s TV, folks. We’re pretty sure we now want to lock ourselves away for a few hours and catch up on some more classic Top Gear, though.