Paddy McGuinness has spoken about welcoming a Formula 1 star back to Top Gear for the show’s upcoming season, with the race car driver surprising a group of young drivers with no track experience.
The 33rd season, hosted by McGuinness, Freddie Flintoff and Chris Harris, will see the trio head off on another round of driving shenanigans, including a trip to the prestigious GT Cup at Donington, where they introduce a young race team to Lando Norris.
Speaking to RadioTimes.com and other press about the episode, McGuinness said that it will explore how the world of motorsport can be difficult to enter.
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“Unless you’ve got a lot of money, it’s very tricky to get into and most young people who are talented, whether they are drivers or mechanics, will never get a chance to be a part of that world,” he said.
“So we thought, ‘Right, let’s look at getting a team together of young people and giving them a go at doing that.’”
He said they took the team of four young drivers to McLaren and surprised them with an appearance from Norris.
“They didn’t know Lando was going to be there,” McGuinness continued. “He walked around the corner and you see the genuine surprise and happiness on their faces, it’s lovely.
“They just mucked in and they did brilliantly and it just goes to show if people get a chance, they can actually do well in a sport. But that’s a very, very tricky sport to get into. Unless you’ve got a lot of money or rich parents or whatever, you know. So yeah, it was good to see.”
Top Gear’s new season will see its three motorheads drive along the de-restricted autobahn motorway in Germany, try their hand at stock car racing and test out Hmong karts in Thailand.
Top Gear returns to BBC One later this month. Looking for something else to watch in the meantime? Check out our TV Guide or visit our dedicated Entertainment hub.
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