Wrong way up

Whoever wins the Formula 1 World Championship this season, it will come as no surprise. Whether it’s Antonelli, Russell, Leclerc, Hamilton, Norris, Piastri or Verstappen, our champion will have followed a very conventional path to racing’s greatest honour.

Without exception, they were all racing karts by the age of 10. All climbed the junior single-seater ladder, albeit at various rates of ascent with some skipping a rung here or there. And not a single one got where he is today without being signed to a driver development programme by a top F1 team. So the lesson for any young racer who wants to be the champ is plain to see – you’ve got to go the right way up.

It wasn’t always that way. And while we do of course admire and celebrate those well-funded karting prodigies who win in the junior categories before breaking into Formula 1 by the age of 20 or so, I admire the scrappers, the hustlers, the late starters, the motorbike riders, the grass track racers and the clubman drivers who reach the highest heights even more.