We know footballers are a competitive bunch, but let's see how they perform when challenged in a different sport. PUMA athletes Cesc Fabregas, Emmanuel Frimpong, Michael Carrick and Bacary Sagna took up the Race Off challenge to compete against Nico Rosberg in an F1 simulator.
Footballers are often snapped driving the latest sports car, but how would they cope when given the power of a Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 car?! Fortunately for the players involved and the clubs they play for it was just an F1 simulator, but still the gauntlet had been thrown down by Rosberg.
Challenged with driving the legendary Monza race track, all participating players were given a training session on a fully authentic Mercedes AMG Petronas simulator before being let loose on the circuit to record a time. Egos are hurt and pride is bashed as many of the players discover that driving a Formula One car is not as easy as it looks as they fight for pole position on the PUMA Race Off leader board.
Before his own performance in the simulator, Cesc Fàbregas said, “If you watch a sport from the outside, it always looks easy. In football, many people in the stands think it must be simple, but I can tell you, as soon as you get onto the pitch, things turn out to be a lot more difficult. I am sure this is the same thing for the Formula One drivers, so I would love to get the chance to once step into Nico Rosberg’s shoes to drive a proper high-performance car on a circuit.”
Arsenal's Bacary Sagna added, ”I like racing, I love the speed. For me, to get the opportunity to do it in real life would be amazing. Winning PUMA Race Off would be incredible, I'm a competitor and I want to win everything on and off the pitch and in every situation I want to be the best. To drive a real racing car would be sensational."
The winner will have the opportunity of a driving lesson from Nico Rosberg of the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, before putting their skills to the test in a high-performance Mercedes-Benz car around a real racing circuit.
Nico Rosberg commented, “PUMA Race Off is a very interesting concept and I really like the idea of merging different sport categories. And,” he added cheekily, “I am intrigued to see how all these top athletes perform in a real sport!”
Check out how Nico Rosberg sets the standard in this star competition and find out who will be the fastest to challenge him on www.puma.com/raceoff. Stay tuned to SoccerBible for new videos, and let us know who you think will be the fastest footballer? Comment online, on Twitter and on Facebook.