BAHRAIN — Seven times NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson and double Formula One champion Fernando Alonso swapped race cars in Bahrain on Monday, with the 43-year-old American pretty sure he got the better of the deal.

While Johnson declared the V8-powered 2013 McLaren to be "mind-blowing" in braking and acceleration, Alonso found the Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevrolet a blast from the past with its V8 engine and steel brakes.

"Literally on the first outing, my helmet was trying to leave my head, and I was staring at the microphone in my helmet it was so high," Johnson told ESPN at the Sakhir desert circuit south of Manama.

"I was like, 'I don't want to stop but I think I should'. I got my helmet more under control, and then it was really my eyes trying to find their way far enough ahead and far enough round the turns..."

The fun swap came a day after Alonso's last Formula One race in Abu Dhabi. The Spaniard did a couple of initial laps in the orange Formula One car before handing it over to Johnson, who went on to do 28.

The American returned the favor with some set-up laps in his NASCAR. "To be honest, I was supposed to only drive the NASCAR, but it made sense if I was doing the installation lap (in the F1 car) just to make sure the car was feeling OK," Alonso said of his swift return to the F1 cockpit.

"I found myself in the cockpit at 11 a.m. this morning after retiring yesterday," the Spaniard said. Both drivers said they were impressed by the other's performance.

Alonso set a benchmark time of one minute 40.204 seconds in the F1 car and Johnson lapped in 1:40.462. "I think he was really gaining time every run he was going out," said Alonso.

Verstappen suggests punishment

could be attending F1 awards

Red Bull Formula One driver Max Verstappen has jokingly suggested he could serve part of a community service punishment by attending the governing FIA's prize giving gala in Russia next month.

The 21-year-old Dutch driver, who was punished by the FIA for an angry post-race altercation with Frenchman Esteban Ocon in Brazil, finished fourth in the championship that ended in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.

The top three drivers must attend the annual awards ceremony, held this year in St. Petersburg on Dec. 7, even if those without trophies to collect would rather be somewhere else.

Verstappen would have beaten Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen to third overall had he finished second in Sunday's race rather than third and he joked afterwards that it had all been deliberately planned.

Asked by Mercedes' five times world champion and race winner Lewis Hamilton whether he had secured third place, Verstappen grinned. "Two points behind (Raikkonen) — but at least I don’t have to go to the Gala," he said.

"Lucky you," replied Hamilton, a regular at the ceremony with four titles in the last five years and as runner-up in 2016.

"We calculated that," replied Verstappen. "I’m sorry. Unless I can do it as a community service day, and then I will go. I’ll do some PR stuff before? How great the whole venue is, I’ll do a special speech in the evening..."

Speaking to Sky Sports television later, and in response to a question about whether he might soon be emptying refuse bins, Verstappen said the community service would have to be 'suitable'.

"I’m definitely not going to look silly because I think I am anyway already very harshly treated by that," he said. "So we’ll find something suitable. Because I’m not going to look like an idiot."

The FIA has yet to decide what it has in mind for the Dutchman, winner of two races this year and seen as a future champion. — Reuters