Shell in Qatar’s executive vice president, Andy Brown, with test driver Marc Gene, Omar Alfardan and other officials at the event yesterday
By Peter Townson

Ferrari test driver, Marc Gene became the first person to drive a Formula One car on the Corniche yesterday, as he took part in a street demonstration to crowds of onlookers.
After the impressive run, which included a number of pit stops to give fans a close up look at the work involved, Gulf Times spoke to Gene about the drive and his hopes for Ferrari the 2012 season.
Today was easier than normal – it’s a lot easier than driving in a grand prix as there is no competition, but I had to make sure that safety wasn’t an issue as safety is the most important thing for both Shell and Ferrari,” said Gene. “The schedule went according to plan,” he explained, adding that he did not feel comfortable about performing the doughnut spins in his car, until the very last minute.
“This was difficult and I have to say that before doing it I thought I wasn’t going to do it because the space was not very big and when you start spinning around, you lose a bit of awareness about how close you are to the wall.
“I told the team that I wasn’t doing it, but when I started doing it, on the same moment I changed my mind, so I kept the floor down and did two or three 360’s because I know the Qataris like to see the smoke and the noise,” he said, “but it was surprising how I changed my mind when the car was spinning.”
“The crowd was very happy and I think they saw a unique show – if you’ve never seen a Formula One car, to see one like that is something you will remember for the rest of your life,” said the test driver.
Gene said that he could see another Grand Prix coming to the region in the future, as the Middle East continues to grow and develop its enthusiasm for motorsports.
“It’s important as it’s a growing market for Ferrari’s road cars which is very important,” he said, adding “we drivers are very happy to come to the Middle East, and I wouldn’t be surprised if you saw another country having a Grand Prix – we drivers like coming here.”
“I think we are seeing probably the best championship ever in terms of drivers, as we have six world champions now which we have never seen before - the teams are very strong and to win the championship has always been very difficult, but now especially,” he noted.
Gene said new rules on overtaking have worked well, and expressed his belief that there were some particularly enjoyable and competitive races in the calendar last year.
He also said that he believes Fernando Alonso to be the best driver in the world. “I’m not saying this because I’m from Ferrari or because I’m Spanish, I think he is the most complete driver - there are other drivers who are extremely good, and Vettel deserved to win this year, but I think Alonso is the best in the world,” he said.
And fans will surely be left excited at the prospect of seeing similar events to the street demonstration being held in Doha in the future. “I think the difficult thing is to come for the first time, and the event was very successful so I would be delighted to come back,” added Gene.
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