Watch Lewis Hamilton test the INEOS Grenadier 4×4

Seven-time F1 champion Sir Lewis Hamilton got behind the wheel of the all-new INEOS Grenadier in a no-holds-barred shakedown on and off-road.

INEOS* chairman Sir Jim Ratcliffe took the passenger seat for the drive at the Millbrook Proving Ground near Bedford.

“I’m genuinely enjoying driving this car,” Sir Lewis said. “It’s very comfortable considering some of the huge dips we were driving down. I was pretty much flat-out around the course. I’m massively surprised at how much grip there is.”

Sir Jim added: “The Grenadier was designed to be good off-road, but we didn’t know it was going to be as good as it is on the road. I can definitely say I don’t think anyone has ever driven it like Lewis drove it.”

The Grenadier has completed 1.1 million miles of extreme testing and development in Death Valley, USA, the dunes of the Middle East, the Arctic Circle and the notorious Schöckl mountain in Austria.

Priced from £48,000, the boxy SUV features a box section ladder frame chassis, permanent four-wheel drive, two-speed transfer case and centre locking differential on all models.

*INEOS is a principal partner to the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One team.