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Nick Heidfeld swapped tarmac for ice on Sunday, when he drove his BMW Sauber Formula One car across the frozen lake of St. Moritz in Switzerland. Heidfeld’s demonstration run, part of the celebrations marking the centennial of White Turf, the town’s prestigious horse racing event, was watched by a crowd of more than 15,000 spectators.

“That was quite a unique experience - just seeing the magnificent mountain scenery surrounding the lake is really impressive,” explained Heidfeld. “The frozen track was of course much rougher than what I'm used to in Formula One. Although it was by no means easy to apply force on such a surface, I enjoyed the drive immensely.”

Heidfeld’s run was made possible thanks to the efforts of an eight-man crew that had started preparations the Friday before the event, two truckloads of equipment, and special spiked tires from Bridgestone. They also had to warm up the engine every half hour to keep it from freezing.

Although the tricky surface prevented Heidfeld from going too fast, the German pulled off a series of spectacular manoeuvres - to the delight of the spectators.