It was an unusual sight on Sunday morning in Melbourne when a two-seater Formula1 Minardi took to the city streets ahead of the GP this weekend. The car was branded in the generic Australian GP livery as a promotion to market the event. Police escorted the car with only very minor disruptions to Sunday traffic. For race fans it was music to the ears and a rare opportunity to get so close to such a machine, however for a lot of the locals enjoying the park and rowing on the river, it may not have been appreciated as much.

The car was driven by V8 Supercar driver and occasional sports commentator Cameron McConville. One lucky competition winner had the honour of being the passanger.

Cameron is no stranger to F1 cars. In late 2008, after the F1 season finished, Cameron received one-on-one tuition from Jensen Button in the 2008 Honda F1 car. Cameron then was able to do a number of hotlaps in the Honda F1 car around their test track whilst under the watchful eye of Jensen Button and his teams engineers. Cameron infact was the last person to ever drive the Honda F1 car before it became BrawnGP ahead of the 2009 season.

The two-seater Minardi will lay the first race rubber on the circuit for the weekend when it opens the program on Thursday morning. The lucky competition winner gets to be a passenger for one flying lap at speed in the Minardi, including an in-lap and an out-lap around the Albert Park circuit.

Here is the official YouTube video of the Sunday morning drive from the event organisers channel: