F1 reaches out a helping hand to victims of Australian bushfires

Today, the BMW Sauber F1 Team's test driver Christian Klien and former Minardi boss Paul Stoddart tried to lift the spirits of the victims of the recent Australian bushfires and this with a Formula One demonstration through the streets of Kinglake, a town badly hit by the fires.

Christian Klien drove the BMW Sauber F1 car, while Zsolt Baumgartner was to be seen in a two-seater Minardi, provided by Paul Stoddart. Town residents, who suffered from the tragedy, were invited to drive along in two seater on an improvised track.

After the demonstration, Christian Klien said: "We saw on the news back in Europe what happened with the fires, and I flew there this morning by helicopter and you could see what happened to the land there.

"It was nice to bring the people up there a bit of happiness and to run our Formula 1 car there. You really could see the smiles on the faces of the kids, and it was a really nice thing to do."

The F1 demonstration is not the only way the F1 drivers will try to help the victims of the disaster and honour the heroes. The F1 drivers will have their pre-race parade on the back of local fire trucks on Sunday.