The best in-car video ever recorded is undoubtedly C’était un rendez-vous, the classic 1976 short by Claude Lelouch. But this one comes damn close to stealing the crown away.

In just 1 minute and 48.88 exhilarating seconds, F1 world champion Jenson Button completes a lap of Australia’s Mount Panorama Circuit behind the wheel of his McLaren F1 car. The speed at times is absolutely insane.

At 1:05, he enters Bathurst’s famous downhill esses at such a clip, you’re expecting him to shoot off the road into the barricade.

Then, just 25 seconds later at 1:30, he maxes his car out along the back straight. The roar of the wind as he approaches what must be close to 200 mph nearly drowns out the sound of the engine.

At 1:36, he enters a gentle right-hander at top speed and doesn’t lift off the throttle.

Sweet jiminy, I almost wet my pants just watching it. I guess Jenson drives with Depends on or something.

Thanks to Pete Harris, friend, photographer and fellow F1 geek for sending it along. Check out his portfolio here.

Qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix is on right now, but I no longer have cable TV. This is how I am watching it.

It’s the Formula 1 2011 Timing App on my iPad 2. 3D views of the track, car telemetry, real-time commentary. If only it had the video from the session, it’d be perfect. Seems a bit expensive at $32.99, but that’s only $1.73 per race. A bargain.

Source: itunes.apple.com