ESPN shares teaser from Nick Saban’s F1 hot lap for College GameDay in Austin

Shortly after it was reported that Nick Saban would get to zip around the Circuit of the Americas outside of Austin, ESPN College GameDay shared a teaser of the head coach being driven around. The full segment will air on the show on Saturday morning.

As is common for various dignitaries getting driven around an F1 track, Saban sat shotgun in a version of the pace car, a Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series that’s been heavily modified. And with a race helmet and seatbelt on, Saban was off.

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And while he comes back in one piece and seemingly unflustered, the full experience of Saban zooming around an F1 might perhaps be more dramatic.

It’s also not clear who Saban’s driver was. In previous celebrity hot laps, team drivers like Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris have driven around the likes of Usain Bolt or Jimmy Butler , respectively.

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The stunt for Saban lined up neatly as ESPN’s College GameDay is in Austin for the Texas-Georgia matchup on Saturday night. Saban is also plenty familiar with fast, expensive cars, as he co-owns a pair of Florida-based Mercedes Benz dealerships.

And though he also owns a few supercars himself, Saban has likely not experienced the physics of something akin to a GT racer at full bore. It should make for great TV.

In a further F1-football collab, McLaren driver Oscar Piastri will get to meet some Texas players. Previously, F1 drivers have met a number of professional football players when at races in Texas and, more recently, Miami.

Perhaps no driver leaned into the Americana and Texas of it all more than recently-retired Daniel Ricciardo , who once arrived to the pre-race paddock on the back of a horse wearing full cowboy getup. He’s also shown up to the pre-race in a Texas football jersey.

Now college football will somewhat return the favor, sending Saban out for a zip around the track in a Mercedes. And pace car or otherwise, Saban’s in for a sure thrill.

Georgia and Texas kickoff at 7:30 p.m. EST on Saturday night. The lights go out on the United States Grand Prix almost 24 hours later, with the 20 cars set to scream off the line at 3 p.m. EST on Sunday afternoon, in what should be a sports-packed weekend in a state that loves to brag about doing things bigger.

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