Aston Martin has launched a driver academy, and I have all the details in this week’s Driver Development Roundup. You will also learn about the importance of adaptation, the constant battle between your talent and aspirations vs your financial ability to pay for it and why F1 driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli refused to quit high school while racing. All this and much more!
Becoming a Professional Race Driver
In the video above, Enzo Mucci explains how to gamify your life. “No more treading water in life and putting up with slow progress. Set things up so you treat each day as if it were a game.”
In Talent and Aspirations vs Financial Ability, Rob Howden of eKartingNews.com looks at the financial cost of pursuing a racing career after karting, and offers some valuable tips to help you with your sponsorship acquisition efforts, especially if you are currently competing in karts. His main point is to start learning about sponsorship now.
“My contention continues to be that it’s wise to figure out how to craft, sell, and service a sponsorship program while your son or daughter is running in Cadet or Junior karting, when the budget is significantly smaller. This concept works for club racers just as well as it works for national karters. The principles are the same. Your karting program has some value in terms of marketing for companies, if developed and presented correctly. It’s your job to find out what those marketing deliverables are.”
The imminent arrival of a new American Formula 1 team is the source of significant excitement, but it also brings into perspective one of the major hurdles facing the most prominent aspect of any team. Jak Crawford has been linked with Cadillac but is currently part of the Aston Martin setup, as he chases this year’s Formula 2 championship.
He was just 14 when he was signed to the Red Bull junior program and made the switch to Europe in early 2020, a decision that was taken in partnership with his father, Tim, and was seen as a necessary step to chase an F1 seat. But it was just the first of many steps along a tough-to-navigate path to even get into a position where Crawford is spoken about as a potential future F1 driver. RACER looks at the challenge of chasing an F1 seat as an American. “The infrastructure is not set up for the Americans to succeed. You don’t know what relationships to form, things like that. So it’s just really hard to start from scratch.”
Callum Voisin stayed with Rodin Motorsport for a second Formula 3 campaign after an impressive rookie season last year, but he hit a rough patch in the recent triple-header and fell to ninth in the standings. Feeder Series and selected media spoke with the 19-year-old at a mid-season virtual roundtable about his 2025 campaign so far and the importance of adaptation. “But at the end of the day, you need to adapt and you need to be the best at adapting – that’s what makes a good driver.”
I have always stressed to young drivers the importance of continuing their education while they pursue racing as a career as an essential fallback in case the racing does not work out as well as for personal growth. Mercedes F1 driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli completed his final high school exams just days after scoring his first Formula 1 podium at the Canadian Grand Prix. He explained to Autosport why quitting high school for F1 wasn’t an option. “Quitting, especially on the last year of school, wouldn’t have been the best,” he said. “I would have probably felt guilty over the years, just for quitting right at the end.”
After causing a first-lap crash with Victor Martins in the Monaco Formula 2 feature race, Rodin Motorsport’s Alex Dunne faced a plethora of online abuse on social media. Feeder Series spoke to Rodin team manager Benn Huntingford to find out how the team supported Dunne during this difficult period. “In terms of Alex, it was just a case of not letting it interfere with his weekend, just helping him keep focused on what he needed to be doing with his racing and trying to shelter him from any of that.”
Driver Development Program News & Resources
The Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team has launched its Driver Academy, a program designed to identify, support, and develop exceptional driving talent, with 21-year-old Mari Boya from Spain becoming the Academy’s first signed driver.
The Academy is committed to forging long-term partnerships with up-and-coming drivers, actively scouting the brightest young talent from across all levels of motorsport, from karting to single-seater racing series. The program offers a comprehensive development pathway, including physical training, media coaching, simulator sessions, and the opportunity to attend race weekends to gain insight from the team and its drivers.
More Details on the program can be found here.
From the Sim Racing Roundup
The NASCAR iRacing driver pipeline is just one of the topics covered in last week’s Sim Racing Roundup. I also show you how a driver uses the sim to prepare for an IMSA race, what the latest FIA move means for esports, why sim racers should attend the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa and much more!
Driver Development Pathways
From the time she first saw one in action, 14-year-old Kourtney Baker knew she wanted to become a race car driver. But when her family discovered a steep curve in her spine that threatened Kourtney’s health, they turned to the Spine Program at the Jackie and Gene Autry Orthopedic Center at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles for help. Just three months after undergoing corrective surgery at CHLA, she was back on track. After all, Kourtney didn’t want to slow down—she had races to win. You can read about her journey here.
Ayhancan Güven and Elia Weiss are the Porsche duo for the Formula E Rookie Test in Berlin (14 July). On the Monday after the German E-Prix, a total of 22 rookie drivers will have the opportunity to test Formula E cars and in doing so prove themselves in these cars – none of them have competed in a Formula E race yet.
It will be Turkish former Porsche Junior Güven’s (27) first outing in a Porsche factory car. The second Porsche 99X Electric in Berlin will be driven by 16-year-old Munich-born Elia Weiss from the Motorsport Team Germany of the ADAC’s sports foundation (ADAC Stiftung Sport) and the German motorsport federation DMSB – a junior programme for talented young racers, which Porsche also supports.
Author: Mark Boudreau
Mark is the publisher of Motorsport Prospects. As a lawyer, he applies his legal background and research skills to assist race drivers by showcasing the resources they need to make their motorsport careers happen.
