Interesting quote from ToTo! I've mentioned before that this is the problem with the sport! “If somebody is talented, very talented, [they] probably need to spend $1 million in karting through junior, senior and international races,” says Wolff. “You need at least a season in F4 or Formula Renault which is another $350,000 if you do it properly. You need $650,000 for an F3 season so we are at $2 million. You probably need another season of F3 so you are at $2.6 million or $2.7 million and then you haven’t done any GP2 or World Series. So let’s say you are at $3 million if you are an extraordinary talent. “GP2 is another $1.5 million so probably, if you want to be on the safe side, you are around $4.5 million and $5 million and you have only done one year of GP2. You are on the verge of getting into Formula One but you are not in there. You need another $2 million to $3 million to get the drive. So you are talking about $7 million to $8 million so let’s call it $8 million.”
And they say F1 drivers are the best in the world. Looks more like they are the drivers with the best financial backing. Sad really but if you don't get spotted in karts and signed up to a young drivers program F1 will be out of reach no matter how good you would have been.
The transition from karts to cars isn't easy, and the best karters don't always make the best car drivers. Maybe that has a lot to do with people using most or all of their budgets in karting and then being unable to sustain it as they move up? My son is involved in the lower rungs of this ladder and is pretty successful (relatively), but we are unable to compete with the big spenders. It's not just about being in the bigger teams with better equipment, it's about seat time. Kids of 14 /15 are in the car and simulator every day and don't go to school - that is where the budget difference takes over. Damage is also a problem for people with significantly lower budgets.
Hamilton and Vettel got picked up quite early and so their backers paid most of that invested and got them in a top drive. As for Stevens and Chilton who got financed by daddy all the way to F1 only to get a crap car
Kart simulators??? WOW thinks have progressed.... Very interesting... Wish your son best of luck and hopefully sponsorship.
Well said, Smithers. Best of luck with your son. P.S. Which part of the country are you in? (P.M. me if you'd prefer not to broadcast to all and sundry).
Midlands - just finished a season of national and international karting so didn't see much of home! Done a few car tests, single seaters and tin tops in there as well and just in the process of trying to get a budget together for next season. Already 6 months behind on that ! We just enjoy the competition, and although I know we are better than most given budgets and kit, I'm also realistic to know he isn't going to make a career out of it. He wants to work in Motorsport on the engineering side so hopefully his experience of differing racing events will add to his academic CV. Edit: Forgot to add he is 14 years old and I have a daughter (12) who's crazy quick but can't race for toffee - she prefers horses - not sure what's worse?
Well done for giving your son support and helping him with his future. He will probably not realise for a good many years how much your help and support will help him in future life no matter what he does for a living. Well done.
Good luck with your childs motorsport future. When he makes it, make sure he has a not606 sticker on his helmet.
Thanks guys - appreciate it. In relation to the thread, Motorsport has to take a good look at itself. There are ways to control costs in junior formula and these need to be done. In addition, I think that final step prior to F1 should be funded and run by the teams/F1. It needs to be a pure selection of talent rather than personal wealth at the final proving ground before F1. Some of these guys have spent circa 5 million hogging a seat in GP2 - crazy.
The numbers aren't that surprising really, but scary none the less. It's often said that F1 drivers are the best in the world, but the reality is that very few sports have a pyramid system that allows the best to be found and F1 certainly isn't one of them. Given how few people even try karting, let alone have the budget to progress through the system, I suspect the most potentially naturally talented f1 driver in the world today hasn't ever sat in a Kart and if they did they are almost certainly not in F1.
Motorsport has sadly been this way for a long, long time. We don't really get to see the best driver's in the world, we get to see some wealthy drivers, a handful of others who were luckily spotted and backed and the occasional oddity that comes through kicking and screaming.. It makes you wonder how many potentially fantastic drivers just slip through the cracks. Smithers, that's absolutely fabulous what you and your kiddo are doing. Even if he's not able to progress through the ranks as far as you'd both like, I hope he's able to fulfill his ambition to make it in to the engineering side. What a way to make a living.
