While Ogier has always wanted to test an F1 car, previously his manufacturer contracts with Volkswagen and Citroen have precluded such a move.

But now driving for privateer team M-Sport, which is sponsored by Red Bull, he was free to take a run in the Milton Keynes squad's 2011 RB7, which he drove at the Red Bull Ring in Austria last month.

“One dream came true for me today,” the Frenchman said, stepping out of the car after 60 miles around the Spielberg track.

“It was awesome and, of course, a big discovery. It was so different to what I have ever driven before. It was so much fun and actually this car is super quick but also you feel quickly very comfortable in it.

“As a kid I was watching [Ayrton] Senna, he was my idol, and of course I was dreaming one day to try this kind of car.

"For a racing driver to have fun you need to be fast and a Formula 1 car is the fastest car you can drive, so of course every racing driver wants to feel that one day.”

Watch Ogier in action...

Ogier, who has previously competed on an F1 weekend in two Porsche Supercup races, was given guidance during the day by former Red Bull driver David Coulthard.

But the only change he made to the set-up was to the traction control, with the current WRC series leader getting braver as the day progressed.

“I turned it down gradually,” he said, “then removed it completely to finish without any.

"It was interesting to feel how nervous the car felt without any traction control and how smooth and gentle you have to be with the throttle. It was good fun!”

M-Sport has a successful GT race team of its own, which currently runs the Bentley GT3 programme, and Ogier didn’t rule out a possible outing in the Continental GT in future.

He told Motorsport.com: “At the moment, I’m busy with what I’m doing and, to be honest, I want time with my family – that’s so important to me.

"But in the future it could be interesting to do some racing again.”