Any advice on starting F1 career?

Good luck and I'm sure others will have opinions but you should already be karting to prepare you for the camp - probably lots of motor racing video games to learn circuits and car characteristics too

 

Karting. Read Mark Donohue's book: "Unfair Advantage". Good Luck!

 

At 13 you should have been carting for at least 5 years already...to have any chance you must start carting now and move up the ladder through the various formulas...Skip Barber, Formula Mazda, Atlantic, BMW, ect... then to Europe by 16 or so...

 

Not to mention a BIG budget.

 

13 is quite old to start a racing career, although Adrian Sutil began with 14 or 15 - so it's not impossible. I've never heard of a professional racer attending some kind of school, get on the track! Start karting!

 

Karting. Just in case you missed that, I'll say it again. Karting.

Since you are 13, I assume you parents will support you in this (karting isn't cheap). And, of course, you'll have to be good at it.


If you want to find out info about karting in your area, check out www.ekartingnews.com

Here's a photo of my 6 y.o. daughter in her kart. We're just in it for fun, I doubt she'll ever be a professional (but I can dream...)

Dom
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13 is NOT too late to start.

Although, many great/good reacers started early, there are numerous examples of success starting later than 13....albeit, not too much later.

good luck, check out some common training sites, and cart camps.

 

+1

You are not too old

I think that a school could teach you good driving techniques early before you develop bad habits which will be a plus.

As others have said you must get out and race karts.

Good luck

 

Forget about racing for Ferrari. You need to land rides from wherever you can get them.

Living in a city is difficult. Most racers in the US come from the south where there's lots of opportunity to drive vehicles from a young age. You can't be a racer without racing! Formula Ford is another avenue to pursue. Whatever you do, you'll need deep pockets as all drivers begin by financing themselves.

To be more realistic, I suggest you take engineering classes in school and get into that end of the business. You'll make a lot of money if you're good, and will have the fun of being in the racing community.

Ken

 

You're ten years too old to get started for F1, but you could still make it into lesser series (e.g. GT racing, IRL etc).

As many said, karting is the entry ticket.

PS: The current estimate to make it financially into F1 is between 3 and 6 million dollars. By the time you're twenty, that number will probably have doubled.

 

Hey man.

As a person near your age all i have to say is START KARTING!

I had the chance to start.

Never happened though(family matters)

Good luck.

Dont stop dreaming!

 

Karting and a few million dollars to get a ride. Sad but true.

 

karting is the way to go. it also helps if you seriously want to be in F-1 to live in europe. while your family may not have the $$$ to send you to boarding school in England, you can look at cultural exchanges to get you there. Live with a family for a summer, and get experience of living and working in europe.

I speak from experience. I started way way too late racing... lived in Switzerland for a bit and raced Formula Renault, but I was WAY, WAY too old (18) when I got serious. I did not have much karting or other forms of motorsport, so I was really shocked at the people I was racing with...This was in 1989 - 1990 - most of the guys there had been racing something since they were 8-9, mostly carts or dirt bikes... The Germans were just not afraid of anything.

Richey Hearn was also there in Formula Renault and did well, but even he had some previous karting and racing experience.
The biggest problem for Americans in Europe is the life style, and the cut throat competition. its really, really, really competitive.

Anyhow best of luck! hope you get racing soon!

Tom

 

SPEED TV showed the probable cost for training Scott Speed and just the Red Bull came to about 30 million US for that exercise....but ya know. Navy gave me flying lessons [not to mention many other qualified training items] and my cousin raced for Army as a carter in the early 70's...point being: there are many routes.

IF a racing career was in your stars,
THEN you will need to SERIOUSLY get into the sport. Same for ANY sport.
ELSE
have fun, and do what you can....like
as

says.
that way, you can have a true living and race for sport as a hobby, which is very fun too and not so problematic.

But here I am talking sense into a passion, especially to someone who has little to draw on [NOT an insult]....find what you want, and go for it...you'll know what the keepers are in that venture...AND BEST THING IS: you'll have done [something] towards your dream...that's what most of us are talking/experiencing here on this site. REMEMBER: you'll not be on your death bed saying..." I Wish I had done that <gasp> <choke> [Dr. he's gone]..."



rik

 

30 million was for the entire driver search program, hence so high. But costs for an individual to make it all the way up to F1 today are estimated at 3 to 6 millions. Of course you can shortcut that by becoming a Japanese citizen.

 

Start karting ASAP.

Being successful is only part of it - you need money. You could be a great driver with a lot of potential and keep moving up and up but if the money isn't there you're going to stop moving up.

Trying to get sponsors isn't the nicest thing in the world either

Despite all this, it is possible so just be the best you can be and enjoy it!

 

Take a look at Niki Lauda's book, My Years with Ferrari. Old but provides insight from a guy that broke in to F1 using creative (risky) financing. Try Alibris or Abe books online for a copy. Subsitiute the #s he quotes per the previous respondses.

 

Lauda basically got a bank loan to make the jump into F1. Nigel Mansell took a mortgage against his house.

Both gambles paid off, but they were huge risks. And probably not how F1 drivers are selected these days anymore. Today's generation is groomed early on (Hamilton effect) by a team manager. But before that can happen one has to develop some skill and show some promise, that's through karting and up.

 

It also helps if you know somebody.... in F-1 either a sponsor $$$ is important or a team principal... they can point you in the right direction open the right doors etc....

 

Dude,
don't set your sights higher than the next rung. Get into Karting, be serious about it and then see where it takes you. I raced for 7 years in SCCA (Spec Racer and Formula MAzda). I regularly got spanked by young whippersnappers coming out of Karting. Shoot for that and see where it goes. Go thru the SCCA ladder and win a couple of national titles in Mazda and Atlantics and you will have a name that people will recognize. Once there you can pay for a couple rides in Sports Cars and hope for a test with IRL, CART or a youth program in Europe. It's not impossible because I've seen it done. But if you end up having a blast with Karts and a few races on a national level in SCCA that is more than most people get. I'm out of it right now to raise my own kids but I will be back racing because nothing replaces the rush of a green flag or holding a checkered for a victory lap!

 

+1

Start there, and you can end there with happiness too. You'll discover what you got into it for and in today's world where not everyone has $$$ to do the big time, you'll see that doing what you can will give you the life experience you'll treasure.

afterall, Michael Shumi, is back where it all started :

http://all-of-f1.blogspot.com/2007/08/michael-schumacher-buys-kart-team.html

Aug. 20, 2007
"
Retired seven time world champion Michael Schumacher is now a team owner - of a go-kart outfit. The 38-year-old German, who in 2007 has attended several Grands Prix as a Ferrari 'advisor', has now returned to his roots to bring on the next generation of driving talent. Schumacher has bought a share in long-time friend Peter Kaiser's kart team, which is based near his and younger brother Ralf's birthplace, Kerpen. 'KSM Official Racing Team' takes its name from the initials of the owners; together with Kaiser and Schumacher, whose equal shareholding takes effect on 1 January next year, is Thomas Muchow. "I have never lost my love for kart racing," said Schumacher, whose main role will be the development of young talent
"