28 replies to this topic

[Viryfan]

Good festivities everybody.   

 

i wanted to know your take on the best way for youngsters to get into the pinnacle of car racing.

 

Aside from the meteoric arrival from Verstappen we saw various approaches.

 

1 ) Run as much as you can in second tier formula (f2,gp2, super formula, 3.5 series) then enter full time in f1

 

The way choosen by Vandoorne and Palmer (and surely gasly) the closer you get , the better it is

 

2) Conventional route

 

2.0 renault + f3 + gp3+ gp2

f3 + gp2

 

The likes of leclerc and Giovinazzi

 

3) Skip feeder series full time

 

f3 and f1

 

f3+gp3 and f1

 

f3 + dtm

 

 

f1 champions tends to skip most of the time feeder series

 

 

There you go

[Marklar]

Money.

[Jimmy75]

You need to have tons of talent and determination and in most casus a lot of money!

[Ruusperi]

• Have a surname of Schumacher.

[ensign14]

Change surname to Schumacher, Prost, Senna or any other racing driver whom you admire.  The more successful, the better.

 

I note for instance Ferrari have signed up Enzo Fittipaldi for their driver academy, to go alongside Pietro Fittipaldi.  Drivers whom Ferrari have not signed up include Yu Kanamaru and Matevos Isaakyan, who both beat Pietro last season, and the seventeen drivers who all beat Enzo in Formula Ginetta last season.

[f1paul]

I don't think there is a best way. I think it's more about how you impress and when. If you're very good at the age of 15-16 then people in F1 will immediately look a you, providing your in a series like F3, GP3, GP2, Indycar or even WEC in LMP1 or LMP2. The best way to get into F1 is to impress at a young age, get contracts to a big team like Red Bull, Ferrari e.t.c and to have a bit of money and a bit of luck because you surely want to dominate a series when the field is strong. Don't make stupid mistakes and stand out from the crowd, in a good way!

[ch103]

Beginning with inheritance level wealth is a good start.  Being "in the family" so to speak also helps out.  Mainly, it is offering commercial value to the owners of F1.  If you can drive well, that too helps, but the team's funds and engineers take on most responsibility for making the cars go quick.

 

And there you have it. 

[PistolPete]

I think the best that can happen for a young guy is that he gets into a car that is easy to handle like the Torro Rosso or Red Bull. That will make the young guy look good from the beginning as he can overtake the others with silly lines the others cant do.

[ensign14]

You've got a 1 in 320 million chance of being on the F1 grid next year.

 

If you're the white male son of a former top-rank racing driver aged between 15 and 30, those chances reduce to something like 1 in 500.

[GoldenColt]

[The Kanisteri]

Rich or famous parents, money, country of origin which is even exploitable (Brazil, Venezuela, Columbia) or large fan base (GBR, Spain,Germany, France, USA).

As exploitable I mean government or country's big industry or big bank pays driver in. As large fan base I mean this fellow will attract money consuming fans and other people who can inves and spend money on motorsport itself or merchandise.

Both will get illusion their driver is greatest on the world.

 

I think past are those days who get into F1 by being very quick through career steps.

Edited by The Kanisteri, 28 December 2016 - 13:08.

[Kev00]

I don't think there is a best way. I think it's more about how you impress and when. If you're very good at the age of 15-16 then people in F1 will immediately look a you, providing your in a series like F3, GP3, GP2, Indycar or even WEC in LMP1 or LMP2. The best way to get into F1 is to impress at a young age, get contracts to a big team like Red Bull, Ferrari e.t.c and to have a bit of money and a bit of luck because you surely want to dominate a series when the field is strong. Don't make stupid mistakes and stand out from the crowd, in a good way!

The kids who do make an impact at such a young age are usually those with a famous name or with loads of money, who's parents have invested heavily in their karting careers and also plenty of testing is formula Renault or formula 3 cars.

[chunder27]

Talent is never enough, not even for those of you who think it is. Money still plays the vast amount of the choices

[opplock]

Knowing that I had been an amateur racer my friend's son asked me this question aged about 10. He didn't like the answer "You have one huge problem. Your dad isn't a multi-millionaire".

[Starchild]

Rich or famous parents, money, country of origin which is even exploitable (Brazil, Venezuela, Columbia) or large fan base (GBR, Spain,Germany, France, USA).

As exploitable I mean government or country's big industry or big bank pays driver in. As large fan base I mean this fellow will attract money consuming fans and other people who can inves and spend money on motorsport itself or merchandise.

Both will get illusion their driver is greatest on the world.

 

I think past are those days who get into F1 by being very quick through career steps.

Stoffel Vandoorne

He didn't have any of that (famous parents, money, 'exploitable or large fan base' country of origin). He progressed to F1 just by being very quick at every level.

So your statement is not true. Yes, cases like that are very rare, but as you can see, it's not impossible.

[highdownforce]

I note for instance Ferrari have signed up Enzo Fittipaldi for their driver academy, to go alongside Pietro Fittipaldi.  Drivers whom Ferrari have not signed up include Yu Kanamaru and Matevos Isaakyan, who both beat Pietro last season, and the seventeen drivers who all beat Enzo in Formula Ginetta last season.

[Cynic Mode]

{ Ferrari, RBR } academy doesn't sign you, you pay to be part of it. (and have some performance clauses too, of course)

[/Cynic Mode]

[superden]

Have a rich daddy.

[PlatenGlass]

Rich parents, parents who encourage you to get into karting early, parents who make sure you get plenty of practice and the best equipment and are quite hands on in making sure that of all this happens. And a surname certainly helps.

A lot of people say that none of this matters if you don't have the talent. But actually what you see as talent is just as likely to be a skill that was developed at an early age with many hours of racing and practising, which only comes from being given the opportunity. I don't think it's a coincidence that Max Verstappen started young and had a Jos there making sure that he got everything he needed. I also remember Ayrton Senna saying that in his early days he did a kart race in the wet and was awful. But then another day when it rained, he went out onto the track and did loads of laps and taught himself how to drive in the wet. Great story, but how many people have that sort of access to be able to do that?

[messy]

Best way for a young driver to get to F1? Go to Red Bull and sell your soul.

[Tsarwash]

Stoffel Vandoorne

He didn't have any of that (famous parents, money, 'exploitable or large fan base' country of origin). He progressed to F1 just by being very quick at every level.

So your statement is not true. Yes, cases like that are very rare, but as you can see, it's not impossible.

Grosjean doesn't come from a stupidly rich or famous family, neither did Hamilton, either. But I think increasingly wealth is the primary way into F1.

[PlatenGlass]

Grosjean doesn't come from a stupidly rich or famous family, neither did Hamilton, either. But I think increasingly wealth is the primary way into F1.

But Hamilton at least still had the advantage of a father that was willing to commit himself to Hamilton's career from an early age. It's still factors outside a driver's control.

Edited by PlatenGlass, 28 December 2016 - 18:50.

[jonpollak]

Take daddy's money to Indycar... at least that's what they do where I live.

[pdac]

Q. What is the best way to get in Formula 1 for young drivers?

A. Either get daddy to buy a team or inherit his money and buy a team yourself

 

That's the best way. There are others, but they too almost all rely on someone coughing up huge sums of cash.

[Nathan]

You need to show in karts and your very first junior category you will be great so someone with money comes and paves your way.

 

Too bad we got rid of Flavio...

 

The junior ranks have got too expensive, so the likes of Briatore and the Robertson's have gone away it seems.

Edited by Nathan, 28 December 2016 - 23:09.

[pingu666]

You need to show in karts and your very first junior category you will be great so someone with money comes and paves your way.

 

Too bad we got rid of Flavio...

 

The junior ranks have got too expensive, so the likes of Briatore and the Robertson's have gone away it seems.

 

there isnt the paybase in f1 to get a return on investment either

[Vettelari]

Find a way to blackmail Helmut Marko or be lucky enough to have been born a 1%er or previous driver's son.

[HillHamiltonButton]

if you don't have big money sponsors then this is the best route (assuming you get backing from a big team's young driver programme anyway):

 

Formula Three (probably needing to win it or at least win a lot of races)

GP3 (again needing to win it or win a lot of races)

GP2 (needing to win it or win many races)

 

F1 test driver (needing to regularly impress, ideally beating your team's main driver in the sessions you take part in)

 

F1 (unless you are in a young driver programme then basically this will only be a team that has a heavily sponsored driver in the other car)

 

if you have money then it's this:

 

Formula Three (doesn't really matter if you don't do much, helps if you win a race or two over a long period in it though to get your super license)

 

GP3 (as with F3)

GP2 (as with F3)

 

F1 testing (as long as you are within a second or two of your team-mate, you will get a drive next year if the team needs money)

F1 (with any of the smaller teams as you can offer them money)

[Gretsch]

Win. Win everything. You start with karting and win. If your material is keeping you from winning and you cannot find sponsors to help you, just give up because it wont get easier. If you win, certain paths will become visible, some doors will be opened. Never the same for everyone. Keep winning. As soon as you are no longer winning the path towards F1 will be closed and will never be opened again.

I do not mention money because those who have it will not ask questions in a forum.

[noikeee]

Ideally you'd gain as much experience as possible and have as much money as possible, whilst not letting people realise how much experience you have, or letting people realise you're being advantaged by money. Whilst being freakishly quick, of course. And having started karting as early as possible, too. Ideally you'd want to be in a go-kart by the age of like, 3.

 

I wonder whether Vandoorne managed to game the system by accident. No, I don't think he's secretly rich. But thanks to McLaren fiddling their thumbs on him forever, he now has 4 seasons of top level junior racing (1 year of FR3.5, 2 years of GP2, and 1 year of Superformula). Crucially, he'll also be 25 years old by next year's Australian GP. In this day and age, that's OLD! (yes, don't tell me how depressing that is, I'll be 31 by then).

 

So he's super quick, he started karting aged 6, he's got years of experience on top level junior formula, he's at a much more mature age than most rookies this era, he's been with the F1 team too for years, and he's even had a real Grand Prix in Bahrain this year. And as for money, thanks to McLaren backing, he doesn't have to worry about it as long as he delivers the results. He's essentially the best prepared rookie of ever since they banned free testing, AND hasn't lost any reputation whatsoever. That's remarkable. I don't know who is his manager, but he's either a genius or absurdly lucky.

 

Now, he's still going to have it extremely tough to be a rookie next to Alonso. Even with all these advantages, you can't seriously put on his shoulders the expectations to beat Alonso outright. But I definitely believe his experience of racing next to him, will be more like Lewis Hamilton's and less like Nelson Piquet Jr's or Romain Grosjean's.