Why The Emoji Movie infuriates me

Image courtesy of www.theverge.com

Hello you, my name is Luca but you can call me Luca. So a movie is out in theatres right now called The Emoji Movie and it has caused such a shit-storm in all the worst ways, and if you want to ask me if I've seen it, feel free to ask because you'll always get the same answer, no. Unless I'm forced to watch it Clockwork Orange style, or if I don't have to give Sony any money.

Let me put this into perspective, I pay for Unlimited at Cineworld so I pay about £17.40 per month which is the equivalent of paying for two movie tickets, and for that I can see as many films as I damn well please. But even with that incentive, I'd probably still sneak in to see this film and still demand for my money back for how bad it is, or at least, how angry it makes me.

But I'm not a rant person, because whilst it infuriates me, I'm just very disappointed. Allow me to explain.

As we all should know, movies are a business, if movies don't make money then they won't be made. How do producers and studios ensure a movie makes money? They get a factor that a market will gravitate towards, whether that be a genre like superheroes, a beloved novel like Curious Incident (Here's hoping), or even an actor who audiences will recognise. Why do you think Kingsman has brought back Colin Firth for the sequel that comes out in a month?

So all studios are looking for their next big cash grab, and there's no shame in that as long as it isn't so blatant both in how desperate it comes across and you have the right balance of actual good storytelling and whatever the fuck will make them some monehs. When this film was announced as a definitely happening, the internet did a massive facepalm.

A movie, about emojis? Such an inane and mundane concept as little faces that you use to add some kind of emotion into your text messages, that even we as 'millennials' acknowledge is a bit stupid. I mean, the furthest I ever get to really speak about emojis myself is whenever I instead use a colon and a close bracket instead of a smiley emoji, it's so basic.

When the marketing for the film began, it was absolutely bombed with disapproval, everyone stating what I am reiterating, a movie about emojis. The reception on YouTube was overwhelmingly negative, with the majority of YouTube's original uploads of the trailer amassing dislikes in the majority, and immediately everyone going to meme it.

Ever since the film was released, it for a long time sat on a 0% approval rating but has since moved up to a very generous 8% on Rotten Tomatoes, and on IMDb it is on 1.9/10 which right now would be enough to have it sat firmly in the Top 20 lowest rated movies on the website.

Actually just going back to that thing I just said about memes, we really are the generation where we meme anything, and in many ways, I love being a part of this generation because memes as a whole, cannot be touched by big corporate people, even if they try. The big companies no longer decide what we like or pay money for, we do and that's a big disconnect for them and they fail massively.

I liken memes and the corporates trying to "Getting down with the kids", to old people trying to play video games, no matter how hard they try, whether they are good or bad, they never get it. There's a fast food chain in America who ran a campaign saying "Anyone can eat burgers here, like the memer" and cutting to someone saying "Eating a burger, LIKE A BOSS!", it's so cringey!

Whether you like memes or not, it's our generation's way of individuality, you can't deny that. Plus since our generation is also the most likely audience that will go to see a film nowadays, they want to find something that we will identify with, but again, corporate big-wigs trying to make a movie out of one of our exclusives, we see through that shit.

There's such a disconnect between the movie producers and studios, and the actual movie going audience, and that's another aspect I want to touch upon, proving yet further a flaw in our movie industry. But first in order to provide context, how about I attempt to talk about the 'plot'?

We follow the emojis in their own little multiverse inside a kid's phone, and this kid wants to talk to a girl and to do that, he has to send that OOH such emoji of importance to impress her.. did that sound as dumb to you as I felt it did? It did, didn't it? Moving on! In the phone, all the emojis live in Textopolis and each are all assigned the one facial expression and it is their utmost duty to live with that one expression.

However, we meet Gene (Voiced by T.J. Miller) who is meant to be the "meh" emoji, but he is exuberant and has no filter and therefore multiple expressions, and one instance of the phone's user sending his potential love interest a text message ends in disaster, when he makes the wrong face! OH NOO!

This threatens their very existence and as a result, with the help of his good old chum Hi-5 (Voiced by none other than everyone's favourite lovable British comedic actor turned talk show host in America, James Corden) and strong independent woman emoji who don't need no man and codebraking emoji Jailbreak (Voiced by Anna Faris). Gene and his two friends embark on an 'app-venture' through all your RELATABLE apps like Candy Crush, Instagram, Snapchat, Just Dance (That's an app?), Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, DropBox and Spotify with each of their own crazy little world, to find the code that they need to fix Gene.

But when a greater danger threatens the phone, the fate of all the emojis depends on the three unlikely friends who must save their world before it is deleted forever! That ladies and gentleman, what a fucking masterpiece. Not like we haven't seen a movie like this many times before.

Of course I am being sarcastic, but you can't help but think the same of The Lego Movie as well and that turned out to be one of the best movies of 2014. I was in the movie theatre rolling my eyes at the utter cheese it was until that moment that everyone knows what I am referring to when they have seen it. However from the overwhelming response on The Emoji Movie, there's no real moment where this feels like anything other than a corporate cashgrab with little in the way of soul.

At least with Lego, there is lore in the way of their own original characters as well as the franchises that they all have their hand in on, an emoji is.. just a face. It has no substance to it, and that's exactly what annoys me, Sony (Who made the movie) are so blind that they see something which has nothing other than what it is to make a movie out of, I'm going bold right here, Sony thinks we are idiots.

Before you put any words in my mouth, I own a PS4 so I have a Sony product but as far as movies have gone, Sony seem to not have the correct intentions. You've seen how they've handled the Spider-Man franchise, ever since their last decent Spidey film before this year's new iteration with Marvel Studios, before that we had the first two Raimi movies, then the third one was overpacked crap and their failed attempt to reboot with the two Webb directed Amazing Spider-Man movies.

Andrew Garfield (Who portrayed Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the Amazing Spider-Man movies) was promoting two movies - Silence and Hacksaw Ridge - when he was grouped with Amy Adams to do an 'actor on actor' interview, Adams like Garfield also portrays a comic book character as she is Lois Lane in the DC and Superman movies. Garfield had been ousted from his role as Spider-Man after Sony teamed up with Marvel Studios to have the character appear in Marvel's cinematic universe with a new actor, Tom Holland.

Appearing alongside Adams, Garfield went in depth about how he had signed on to serve this character that he had been dressing up as since he was a child, and how he wanted to tell a great story. However, that was not the same priority list as the studio's, which Garfield details here:

Obviously not all movies have the same level of corporate interference and I'm not saying that these movie making companies should leave the product that they're funding alone, but there has to be a level. The Emoji Movie is a blatant example of money over any inkling of movie making passion, and whilst I could sit here and naïvely state, "If you made good movies, people would go watch them" because that's not true isn't it?

Let me put it this way, what made more money at the box office? The incredible story about a 16-year old girl raised in the Finnish wilderness, trained to be an assassin her whole life, who is sent on a mission to stealthily make her away across Europe while evading agents sent after her by a ruthless operative who wants her dead, and as she draws closer to her target, she faces startling revelations about her existence and begins to question her humanity, that got a 71% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes? Or.. a film about the Easter Bunny? Answer, the last one.

No matter how good I can make something sound, you'll always identify with a factor in a movie more than the quality of a movie itself. Even I had that when going to see Kingsman, I had only known about it because the director of X-Men: First Class was the director. High quality movies need that hook that audiences need to contemplate spending the money on going to see it, but you can only go so far before a movie audience can see through your shit.

There are probably those who actually enjoyed The Emoji Movie without the slightest hint of irony, and that's an audience that I cannot speak for, without sounding like a disrespectful cunt. But the backlash that this movie has stirred up, I really can see it actually having an effect on the movies in the future.

The Emoji Movie was created to be cheap because they were expecting it to be a massive hit. In comparison to other animated movies, such as Zootopia/Zootropolis which had a production budget of $150 million, or Inside Out's production budget of $175M, or even Sing (Which I personally liked) which was very cheap for an animation movie, at just $75M. All of them respectively garnered $1.024 billion, $857 million and $632.4 million at the worldwide box office.

In comparison to these actually good (in their own ways and varying levels) movies, The Emoji Movie was made for $50 million and has so far in its theatrical run-time garnered only $125 million. This to me is great, because despite how much they will have saved themselves by getting a limited budget, Sony expected to get a shit tonne of money back. It's highly likely that when you factor in the money it cost them to advertise the movie, it may have even lost money!

That is what they respond to, your wallets! You can cause a shit storm with words however you like, they don't give a shit, because if you pay money to see this movie, Sony are happy and they fucking love you for it.

Sony may finally be seeing the error in their ways, because everyone sees this movie for what it is, a blatant attempt to make a shit tonne of money without any other thought being put into it. This is an issue that has plagued movies and other forms of media for some time, and it needs to stop. Thankfully, this could begin laying breadcrumbs for such a thing to happen.

To anyone who looks to make something for any consumer to see, don't treat us like idiots. If you insult your audience or believe they're not as intelligent as you give them credit for, you lose respect and nobody will tolerate that shit. They put money in your pockets, so drop the shit, studios.

If there's a note I want to end on, it is movies that are in theatres that I am predicting or know are great. Dunkirk, Atomic Blonde, The Big Sick, Baby Driver (I think that may have left theatres, not sure), upcoming films like the new Kingsman, Logan Lucky, Detroit, all great movies.

Those are the films to spend money on. Because they're more than just means to make people spend money, they're a great product in and of themselves with all the correct intentions behind it. Don't be tricked into watching something like The Emoji Movie, with its forced morals and its feministic intentions being shoved down your throat, all for corporate greed. Yes I did say feminist, because they know we are a society that wants women to be empowered now and this movie undermines it and it frustrates me, I've stated why in an article before about shit like that, not willing to go into it again.

I'm just glad that Sony it seems have learned their lesson. They cancelled a Popeye movie for this, let that sink in! I hope I never have to give any bit of purpose of brain activity into having to think about this Patrick Stewart voiced poop ever again.

So as always, I appreciate all of you stopping by here and as ever, if you enjoyed what I have to offer and want to see more, either follow me on Twitter @TheLucaFormat or put your email in the 'Follow By Email' option above. So with all that being said, I hope you return to see what I have to say very soon.

As always, until we meet again.
Luca.

One of the best days of my life

Image courtesy of www.theperfectman.me

Hello you, my name is Luca but you can call me Luca. February 10th 2016, the second day I was in London with my Performing Arts college group and we were there to watch some theatre shows, and it was an immense time.

I had been to London approximately zero times but within a 12 month period, I went there four times. With my Performing Arts group the previous February, then in late June for the inaugural Formula E season finale, again in October for a reason I'll make clear soon then obviously this instance as well. The first trip to London was very overwhelming for me and I probably got too excited, I thank many of the people around me for putting up with me then.

For me, the first trip there was hectic and having no structure was really difficult for me, especially in a condense city and the first day, not knowing the underground's system and being as hungry as I was on the first day, not being able to look down when on the escalator to the underground, it took a toll on me. Thankfully I had everything somewhat planned 12 months afterwards, and it is a surreal experience.

The first day we were there during my second visit with my Performing Arts group, very much the same with plenty of free time before our first show, but unlike the previous year where I tagged along with some unfortunate buggers and looked around, I got some food and went back to my hotel room to watch The Martian on my portable DVD player. Yes, that is sad but I was at peace with myself, and the same can be said for that night when everyone pretty much remained awake until like 5am but I went to bed and encouraged everyone to enjoy themselves but be respectful. I'm not a teacher's pet I promise.

Moving on to that very day, me and my friend Ash are both big Kingsman fans and I had been invited to the Huntsman tailors in October, where they shot the first Kingsman movie and was only a few months from shooting the upcoming sequel. So in February, I got back in touch with my contact there and they gave us a tour, and it was so nice to be there again, the Huntsman tailors and the people there are incredible and I have to hammer home how grateful I am that they allowed my to not only attend in the first place but allowed me back.

Also later on, we went to go see The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time which I had suggested to the tutors who organised the trip, and of course many of you will know the history I have with this amazing story and having already seen it once before seeing it with my Performing Arts college group. I remember when the character of Christopher began reacting to the bright lights and needing to follow a technique, all things that I do. Same when Christopher began laying train pieces down, a lot of autistic people like myself were always lovers of trains, and this hit a chord with everyone who saw it. Except you Ash, you fell asleep! No matter lol.

At the end of the show, Christopher professes that he can do anything and everyone went "Aw", and it felt very empowering to see a character with autism like myself profess this, and not that I didn't feel this way when I saw Curious Incident for the first time but to be able to show this to my friends felt incredible. My friend Callum felt the same after seeing Kinky Boots, saying how he strongly related to the characters in the moment during a major song, because they felt like they could never live up to their father's expectations for both character's, something he struggled with personally having grown up gay and afraid that he would be letting him down. It was wonderful to see these situations played out where we both related to each one, it felt great to be able to showcase how I was to all my friends.

That night, everyone was enjoying themselves and I was talking to a friend named Amy over the phone about a lot of deeply emotional things for me, she was helping me out a lot as I was on my own and thinking about things, I'm grateful for her help, she even held my hand the previous year when I began feeling a bit unnerved on the underground escalators. One of the things that me and Amy spoke about beforehand, was how incredibly uneasy I was during our first few weeks in Performing Arts, and I told her about a friend of ours who really put me at ease and reassured me through our first duo project together, I will refrain from saying her name as we are no longer close, I have reason to believe this person purposely distanced herself from me after we all left college later that year.

Anyway, I was aware that this girl had an autistic younger brother and that she had reacted very emotionally to Curious Incident, remembering how patient she was with me when I was struggling and very unsure of myself, she helped me through it and I really wanted to show my appreciation for how she helped me overcome my apprehensions and set me on a path to becoming a better performer.

At that point, a lot of people returned to my hotel room and I heard that one of my most valued friends, Penny, is very upset as she was ditched by a couple of her friends for a reason I'll not disclose, I didn't get all the details so I may have some of them wrong. I encouraged Amy to talk to her as she had come into our room and I couldn't get to her due to the amount of people, and I wanted to get to her to see if she was okay, even though I wasn't in such a good state myself.

After finding out that she was okay, I began getting all worked up with everyone around me and I was very emotionally drained, and already deep in thought. Penny noticed this and brought me into the corridor away from the huge majority of people in my room, and I told her about a lot of the things I had been feeling that night and how I had been reacting to a lot of the situations posted to me that night, regarding that unnamed individual who had helped me when we were partners during the first few weeks of Performing Arts, I wish I could say exactly what it was but the whole situation went by so quickly.

One detail I'll never forget, when a lot of people were walking to their room, some of them got talking and I tried to hide that I had been crying, Penny picked up on my embarrassment and told the group that she would see them back at their rooms. Saved me some in the moment red cheeks and explanation, not feeling too comfortable to disclose why I felt that way to just anyone, I really value what Penny did for me there.

Penny got asking about Curious Incident itself, many of you will know my ambitions with making a Curious Incident movie and after unloading the weight of what was bothering me, to get talking about that really lifted me up and I was at peace. Before Penny left, I was ready to go to bed and I was feeling all warm and happy, Penny came in for a hug and I did, one with a lot of love and I kissed Penny on the hand to show my appreciation for her, and I remember Penny went "Aww" and kissed me lightly on the cheek, I was beaming from ear to ear. Obviously I don't read anything more into it, Penny and I are what I consider to be the utmost of friends and nothing more.

That day for me was one of the best days of my life. Going to the Huntsman tailors, showing all my friends Curious Incident and seeing it portray the way I react to situations, and then talking it all out with Penny when I felt like that night I couldn't get it off my chest without seeming like an embarrassment or overbearing weight over anyone's head. Because that was something that always plagued me, thinking I was an inconvenience, I would always say to people "Thanks for tolerating me" with no irony in there. Penny as well as Amy who I was chatting to over the phone beforehand were amazing, so I do have to thank them both.

Being able to project my feelings among an atmosphere that would be more suited to me being a drunken party animal, I didn't belong, I felt overwhelmed but thanks to the actions of these people who cared for me, it's a small task but it honestly meant the world to me.

Penny had always been someone who I saw as being able to lead an army into battle, she elicits a quality about her that just brings out the best in people, to the point where she rides this incredible line between being so great that you can't help but look up to her, but also being grounded enough to show you that you can relate and bring out such qualities in yourself. She inspires me, and I know Penny will end up being great, I hate to sound like I'm putting the weight of the world on her shoulders but I always said that I could see her becoming a famous theatre actress, but she doesn't have to end up there for the world to know just how wonderful she is.

I know this sounds like a puff piece, all this because she saw me in a fragile state and saw I needed help. In a way, I can see why it may be but as small as what the task was, I became so much more comfortable with myself and the way I thought around people, I mean I've never put myself in a situation like that again but I'll feel more comfortable in the future.

That is why February 10th 2016 was one of the best days of my life, and I remember it fondly. I want to thank Penny and the many other people who have had an everlasting effect on my development over the past few years, my Performing Arts years have been the best few of my life in terms of being around people. I still don't think I have peaked as a person and I still bear certain scars from past experiences. Thankfully not hugely terrible ones but I am intending on making my strides to becoming a better person, being more at ease with myself and meeting more incredible people.

So thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it or found my words helpful. This isn't a typical article as I don't intend on self-plugging at the end. Just needed to get this one out in words for myself and maybe even this will help someone who may be going through some mental health issues, I don't know if there's any way it can but who knows?

Until we meet again,
Luca.

The next generation of F1 drivers

Image courtesy of en.f1i.com

Hello you, my name is Luca but you can call me Luca. Every great has to begin somewhere, Ayrton Senna raced in Formula Ford and British Formula Three before entering F1, so there's always that keen attitude to look down the motorsport ladder to see who is on their way up. I have a few in mind here, so in the light of F1's rookie test after the most recent Grand Prix in Hungary, I want to speak about a few drivers who I do hope make up the F1 grid for the next few years.

The unfortunate truth is, many of these drivers could possibly miss out and for the ones I want to talk about, it would be tragic. Thankfully, we have some drivers in F1 now who I am really hoping are in it for the long run, such as McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne, Williams' Lance Stroll, Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz, Jr. and Force India's Esteban Ocon, also even though he is definitely here to stay and I need not worry, Red Bull's Max Verstappen.

So without further ado, here are my future hopefuls for the next generation of Formula One stars, starting with the two you see in the picture at the top.

Antonio Giovinazzi

Pictured above to the left, the 23-year old from Italy has pleasantly surprised me over the past two years. I remember discovering Giovinazzi in European Formula Three in 2013, and he impressed me relatively, but I didn't see him making it into F1, and I saw him being a very attractive option for Audi to sign up to DTM after he performed very well when he was drafted in to race in place of a banned Timo Schneider at the 2015 DTM round at Moscow.

However after finishing runner-up that year in European F3, I was fully expecting Audi to snatch him up but instead, he moves to GP2 and put in some incredible performances, narrowly missing out on the championship to team mate Pierre Gasly. What would be next for Giovinazzi would be a very bold move that I highly respect him for, he signed for Ferrari as a development driver.

I did think Giovinazzi signed out of wanting to be at Ferrari, but it has paid off incredibly well for him, as at the opening Grand Prix this year, he filled in for Sauber's injured regular driver Pascal Wehrlein and on his debut, finished a fine 12th place and only two places from scoring a point. For a last minute call-up, not being prepared and being his debut Grand Prix, this was incredibly impressive. He was drafted in again for the following round in China and did show himself to be a bit, unrefined shall we say? He has since done some free practice running with another Ferrari powered team Haas, and did unfortunately put it in the wall on his last attempt.

The thing is, I think Giovinazzi has proven himself to be very capable but maybe he needs some time to hone his skill, and I would hope that this year as a Ferrari development driver, I'd hope he isn't wasted as being to Ferrari what Michele Pirro is to Ducati, and isn't where he belongs, racing full time. On the topic of MotoGP, Giovinazzi reminds me a lot of another Antonio, that being Iannone who rode for Ducati in MotoGP but was very reckless and in the end, lost out on retaining his Ducati ride for this year. In a way is what made him successful and likable, that he was passionate and ballsy enough to go for the moves, he rode in a very Italian way and I know Giovinazzi drives in a very Italian way too. He just needs time to reign his skills in.

I want Giovinazzi to be successful because unlike MotoGP, we are running short on Italians in Formula One. To put it into perspective, Giovinazzi became the first Italian driver on the F1 grid since Jarno Trulli and Vitantonio Liuzzi both last raced in F1 at the 2011 season finale (for two teams that raced pretty much at the back of the field). Also, whilst the last time an Italian driver won a race was Giancarlo Fisichella in 2006, what is even worse is how Italy has not had a champion since 1953!

Giuseppe Farina won the first championship in 1950, then Alberto Ascari won back-to-back championships in 1952 and 1953 so you'd think there would surely have been many more Italian F1 champions but there has not been. Italy has always been more about Ferrari than its drivers, so I think Giovinazzi has picked the correct route to go down, and I hope he can begin laying breadcrumbs for other future Italian F1 drivers and that over six decade gap can end.

Paired with the second person I am going to talk about, Giovinazzi is supported by Ferrari and they're apparently wanting to place him at Sauber for next season since Sauber just broke off a Honda engine supply deal and are being looked at by Ferrari to become their B-Team, like how Toro Rosso is to Red Bull. He has surprised me, so I do hope he can be allowed to develop somewhat going into next year, as I know he can be very competitive. Let's just hope Sauber improve their car next year, so we can really see Giovinazzi shine should he be loaned off to them, and the same can be said for my next pick.

Charles Leclerc

Pictured to the right of Giovinazzi in the picture at the top is the Monegasque driver taking the motor racing world by storm, aged 19 and having been put through a lot already at his age, he elicits all the right things and he's someone who I know can be a future champion.

I was made aware of Charles at the start of 2015 when he entered Euro F3 and quickly made his mark alongside a lot of drivers who had been in the series for a while, and he really only didn't win because of their experience in comparison to Leclerc. He had finished as vice-champion in the previous year's Formula Renault 2.0 Alps series to dominant McLaren junior Nyck De Vries, and finished fourth in Euro F3 that year.

Leclerc did go through a major tragedy, like all of us in the motorsport community when Jules Bianchi unfortunately passed away due to his injuries he sustained at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix, Leclerc having grown up with Jules and if I'm not mistaken, apparently Bianchi was Leclerc's godfather despite only being eight years older than him. Leclerc was so graceful with the aftermath of Bianchi's passing, and I have the utmost respect for him.

So Leclerc went in 2016 and Ferrari signed him up to the Ferrari young driver development programme that Bianchi was also on, Leclerc went on to win the GP3 championship that year and was heavily tipped to leap straight into F1 with Haas after he had been loaned to them for some Friday free practice running at a few Grands Prix that year. That however was quickly put to rest after reigning GP2 champions Prema signed Leclerc up to compete in the newly rebranded FIA F2 championship this year, and boy was that a smart move.

Leclerc pretty much took pole position at every round this year so far (with the exception of the last round where Leclerc's car was found to have violated the regulations), and he has a fairly insurmountable lead of 50 points. He looks absolutely unstoppable, and I have to say like with Giovinazzi, for a country that is rich in motor racing history, there has never been a Monegasque champion.

There has only been three Monegasque drivers in F1, only one of whom has ever won a Grand Prix but that was before F1 even began in 1950, which is to be expected when Monaco is a principality and has less citizens than most small British counties. I think Leclerc would really put Monaco on the map if it wasn't already on the map.

Next year, I really want to see Leclerc racing alongside Giovinazzi at Sauber, or if Prema considered entering F1, I have been going at it on Twitter with as many possibilities just to see these two racing. I do hope for one thing though and forgive me if this sounds somewhat insensitive, I really hope the FIA see it fit to allow Charles to race with the number 17, Jules Bianchi's number. Only because Leclerc had such a personal connection with Jules, and despite the fact that the FIA did retire his number out of respect, I have a really strong feeling that Jules would want Charles to race his number.

Of course, Leclerc may not want to and I respect that, but I can't see past this right now, I do hope if Leclerc does want to race it, Jules' family would give their blessing and Charles can race the number that Bianchi raced, I see it as very fitting.

Regardless of any of that, Leclerc is an outstanding talent who has proven himself to be talented and not just good because of his experience, he more than deserves an F1 ride.

Lando Norris

Next up we have a Brit, aged 17 and someone that I am tipping to bring in the British fans in the same way Lewis Hamilton has. Lando Norris has had a remarkable career, first coming onto the scene for me in the BTCC supporting Ginetta Junior Championship in 2014, taking third in the championship but then moving into single seaters, that's when we really got a taste of what he could do.

In 2015, he won the MSA Formula championship (Which would later be renamed the British F4 championship) and in 2016, he won three separate single seater championships, beginning with the New Zealand based Toyota Racing Series which took place in the European winter months. Norris followed that up with a double championship winning campaign across two Formula Renault 2.0 championships, the EuroCup and the Northern European Cup.

If that wasn't great enough for young Lando, he won the highly prestigious McLaren Autosport BRDC Award which was also won by David Coulthard, Jenson Button and other highly successful Brits in motorsport. This entitled Norris to become a part of the McLaren young driver programme, which also has past success with Lewis Hamilton, Kevin Magnussen and Stoffel Vandoorne making their way into F1 with McLaren.

Norris does represent Britain's next hope for an F1 champion, since most of the Brits that have entered F1 since Lewis Hamilton made his debut haven't set the world on fire like I personally would have hoped. I used to think Jolyon Palmer would have a great F1 career but he doesn't seem to be as good as I was expecting him to be, but Norris seems to be the real deal.

This year, Norris is racing in the European F3 and he really is upsetting the applecart. Racing for Carlin in his first year in the series, he's second in the championship with a few more events to go, he's only 18 points behind the championship leader Maximilian Günther who is in his third year in the series and racing for Prema, the team who has won every Euro F3 championship since 2011.

I'm fully expecting Lando Norris to win this year's FIA European F3 championship, I certainly hope he does as I think he would be more deserving. If he does win the championship, I expect him to be in Formula Two next year and probably winning that immediately as well. If he doesn't win the F3 championship, I could see him staying around another year and winning the championship, though I really struggle seeing that happening, I know fine well he will win the F3 championship this year.

As far as when Lando will make it into F1, I'm fully expecting him to take a McLaren drive in the next few years after Fernando Alonso calls time on his career or maybe even leaves McLaren. I would hope soon that McLaren sort their shit out and become competitive again, as their partnership with Honda at the moment is a complete joke, and I want Honda to be successful but if they don't get their act together, McLaren will need to look elsewhere.

Anyway off topic, I am certain that when Lewis Hamilton calls time on his F1 career, the vast majority of the British public will not be depraved of someone to support. I think we as Brits are too prone to support someone with the slightest inkling of promise to fly our flag in motorsport but it seems we have the real deal in Lando Norris.

Pierre Gasly

The reigning GP2 champion that beat Giovinazzi to the crown, Gasly is a 21-year old Frenchman who is a part of the ruthless Red Bull young driver programme that has propelled Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen all into F1. Unfortunately like his predecessor as GP2 champion Stoffel Vandoorne, he has to spend this year for the most part in Japanese Super Formula as there are no openings in F1 at the moment.

Gasly was first brought to my attention in 2013 when he battled Oliver Rowland for the Formula Renault 2.0 EuroCup championship, then going into Formula Renault 3.5 the following year and finishing runner-up to Carlos Sainz, Jr. despite never winning a race. Infact it would be until 2016 in his second full season in GP2 that he would win again.

To put that into perspective, between his last victory in his Formula Renault EuroCup campaign and his first victory in GP2 in 2016, Max Verstappen went from his final season in karting to then being a race winner in Formula One.

Nonetheless, Gasly deserves a shot in F1 and I believe that either Red Bull will place him at Toro Rosso in place of the seemingly outgoing Daniil Kvyat for next year. Or if Renault don't sign Esteban Ocon, the French manufacturer may want a French driver and they obviously saw some potential in him as they drafted him in to race at the New York Formula E race in place of the absent Sébastien Buemi.

If I had to give it a lot of thought, I'd say that I could see Leclerc and Norris as being the main pretenders here out of the few I have mentioned. The unfortunate truth is, there has been many great drivers from the feeder series' that have missed the window of opportunity, and it would be a tragedy if any of these guys were not given their fair shot.

I mean, I've only spoken about the drivers who have an existing F1 team supporting them, there are plenty who don't have that luxury, and no sponsors ready to pay the $15,000,000 to help them get to F1. I know that 2013 FIA European F3 champion Raffaele Marciello has given up on the F1 dream due to the ridiculous expenses.

I don't want any of these drivers to miss the window, I feel like Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris will end up fighting for victories and championships in the future. But we have so many drivers already in F1 like the few I mentioned earlier, who all have amazing potential like Vandoorne, Ocon, Sainz, and we have seen a load of drivers who are in F1 that outstay their welcome like Marcus Ericsson and Jolyon Palmer, who take up seats that decent drivers would do so much better with.

If all goes to plan, Giovinazzi and Leclerc will take up the Sauber drives next year, Gasly will race for Toro Rosso, Ocon goes to Renault, Wehrlein to Force India, in a couple of years time we will see Norris take Fernando Alonso's McLaren drive when Alonso calls time on his F1 career.

Unfortunately there are many drivers but not enough to make it to F1. I just hope the ones who deserve to make it, do indeed get into F1.

Anyway, that's all from me. If you think I've missed someone out who are racing in the junior formulae that you believe will be in F1, tweet at me @TheLucaFormat. Also if you're new here and want to stick around to see any more of my articles, put your email into the 'Follow By Email' that you'll see on desktop.

So until we meet again,
Luca.