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| Image courtesy of en.f1i.com |
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.
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