Last weekend, we reported that Ferrari was restoring their first race-winning F1 car, the 375, for an exhibition at the British Grand Prix celebrating 70 years since that first win back in 1951. Now, Ferrari has released the video from that exhibition with none other than their own Charles Leclerc behind the wheel.
The 375 is powered by a 4.5-liter V12 making around 350 hp (355 PS / 261 kW), and weighs just 1,587 lb (720 kg). However, that’s quite a far cry from today’s F1 cars, which weigh about the same, but produce upwards of 1,000 hp (1,014 PS / 746 kW) from their hybrid V6 power units. That just goes to show how far technology has progressed in the past 70 years.
See Also: Watch Ferrari F1 Driver Charles Leclerc Drive A 275 GTB Around Its Test Track
One thing the modern F1 cars don’t have, though, is the 375’s glorious V12 exhaust note, which you can hear as Leclerc wrings the car around the circuit. Additionally, as explained by Marc Gené later in the video, the car’s throttle pedal is curiously in the center of the footwell, and the brake is on the right. Combine that with a proper 4-speed manual, and you begin to understand how the challenges faced by the drivers of that era were very different to those of today.
The last time this car was taken out for an anniversary at Silverstone was in 2011 with Fernando Alonso behind the wheel, and he went on to win that weekend’s British Grand Prix. Interestingly, Leclerc nearly encountered the exact same fate this past weekend, as after the restart following Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton‘s crash, he led the race all the way until lap 50 of 52, where he was eventually passed by Hamilton. Nevertheless, you can watch him pilot the Ferrari 375 for yourself in the video below.
