Formula 1, a world that boasts great technical excellence, is not immune to being influenced by trends. It cannot be explained otherwise, given that there are historical cycles that repeat themselves more or less every ten years.
After last year’s record of stability, with a market that did not propose a single change in the team/driver lineup in view of 2024, great attention has now returned to the paddock for young people.
It happened in 2006/2007, with the arrival of a high quality poker team (Hamilton, Rosberg, Kubica, Vettel) then something similar happened again in the 2018/2019 seasons with the Norris-Russell-Leclerc-Albon generation. Flares of interest separated by periods in which the ‘experience’ parameter was judged to be a fundamental element in evaluating the choice of a pilot.
Oliver Bearman and Kimi Antonelli will be Haas and Mercedes regular drivers in 2025
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
To rekindle interest you always need a spark, and this season has different proposals. Oliver Bearman started, with his unannounced debut in Jeddah, a circumstance which cemented Mercedes’ choice to put aside the move to Williams planned for Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Bearman’s F.2 teammate) who was promoted directly to place of Lewis Hamilton.
Then came the surprising debut of Franco Colapinto, who in the space of a few weeks went from being a mysterious ‘object’ to a driver who was the subject of much attention, inside and outside the Williams orbit. Alpine also broke the deadlock by promoting Jack Doohan, a driver from their own academy, to the first team.
In Formula 1 a new variable is not always welcome. When it comes to drivers, a new entry (especially if it’s a rookie) is seen as a risk. There are relationships to be built, there is a smoothing job that must be taken into account even for the most talented, and this extra work is often considered a nuisance.
Yet, today many teams have a very useful tool for reducing the margin of risk to a minimum, namely the ‘junior’ programmes, the Academies which have been set up for almost twenty years (with more or less success) by almost all team. However, they are not always exploited to the fullest, i.e. with a concrete and direct link with the Formula 1 structure. In some cases the relationship is limited to the financing of careers (in a few cases total, in many others partial) in the preparatory and when reading the results.
Franco Colapinto, Williams Racing
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
There was a lot of surprise regarding Colapinto’s debut, a surprise that confirms how the simple analysis of the results in the minor categories is not enough to get a clear picture of a driver’s potential. Champion in the Spanish F.4 (in 2019) the Argentine continued his journey up to F.2 without the numbers of a future star.
Third in the Formula Renault Eurocup in 2020, sixth in the 2021 season in Formula Regional, ninth and fourth the following two years in Formula 3. Yet Williams, right at the beginning of 2023, decided to include him in its Academy, driving him to the F.2 season (still ongoing) where the results were good but not sensational. A victory in Imola, two second places in Barcelona and Spielberg.
Franco Colapinto, Williams FW46
Photo by: Lionel Ng / Motorsport Images
When it came to finding a replacement for Logan Sargeant in the paddock, the perfect candidate was believed to be Mick Schumacher, an important name, two seasons behind him and even a few sponsors in tow. It was also the choice expected by Mercedes (which boasts a technical partnership with Williams that goes beyond the supply of the power unit) but team principal James Vowles decided on Colapinto.
Franco also guaranteed financial support to the team, but he was not the deciding factor. Vowles has been in contact with the Argentine over the last year, has followed him closely and has also had the opportunity to evaluate in detail the results obtained in the preparatory categories, a world in which Colapinto (without the budgets required by the top teams) has not never had access to the top teams.
It’s not just a question of having a young person wear the official colors and waiting for successes to arrive in F.3 and F.2, to understand who you have at home you have to dedicate time to them, offer them opportunities, involve them and put them to the test . Waiting for the report from the team he races for in the minor categories is part of the job, but it is not all that is needed.
Liam Lawson, debuts in the USA with Racing Bulls, but in 2025 he could take Sergio Perez’s place in Red Bull
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
In the Melbourne Grand Prix which opens the 2025 season there will be at least four drivers starting their first full season in Formula 1, Antonelli, Bearman, Lawson and Doohan, all coming from junior programmes. It is positive news for those who are part of the Academies, because after years in which the outlet in Formula 1 was limited to a few exceptions, perhaps today the teams have understood that with the right management of the junior programs it is possible to find at home what in the past we looked elsewhere, recycling pilots with great experience but with motivations often bordering on trade unionism.
Jack Doohan, Alpine F1 Team
Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images
The recovery of former top drivers in most cases has guaranteed golden pensions to those directly involved, but in terms of results the operations have been unsuccessful, confirming that there is a margin of risk in every choice. It’s right that in Formula 1 there are champions like Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, drivers who have never shown any weakness in terms of motivation, but with twenty places available it’s equally right that those who let their guard down can be replaced by those who have done all this what it takes to deserve a chance.
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