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bad268 · 1 year ago

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It Could Not Get Any Closer (Andrea Kimi Antonelli X Reader)

Fandom: RPF/Formula 2/3

Requested: Yes by @abi184

Warnings: None. Just post race fluff

Pronouns: You/your

W.C. 1724

Summary: The gap for Kimi to become the FRECA Champion could not get any closer.

As always, my requests are OPEN

MASTERLIST // HITLIST

~~(^Google/FRECA switch announcement)

It was a tight race. Not just this race, but the entire season had been tight between Kimi and Martinus Stenshore. They have been running 1 and 2 since the start of the season, alternating between the two of them winning. It really came down to this last race in Hockenheim.

They were separated by three points going into this race with Martinus on top. The best part was the fact that they were split into different qualifying groups, so if they both qualified first in their respective groups, they would lock out the front row. It could not get any closer.

That is until their best qualifying times were within 0.001 seconds of each other. They had identical lap times until the very last corner where Martinus got the very slight upper hand. It could not get any closer.

That is until they went into the first turn. The track was wet, but the spray was manageable. Apparently, not manageable enough because Tim Tramnitz almost clipped the back of Kimi’s car and took him out of the race. He didn't, but it could not get any closer.

That is until the final lap. The final lap nearly killed you, and you weren't even driving in it! Kimi and Martinus were neck and neck after the first lap incident, and neither were letting up. After a few turns, almost pushing each other off the track, a slight mishap led to Kimi seeing an opportunity to overtake at the last corner. They finished the race 0.012 seconds apart from each other. It could not get any closer.

But hey, that’s a race, right? One has to win and one has to take second place. No one actually could tell who won the championship. They were just so close. All Martinus and Kimi knew was that they secured P1 and P2, that’s it. They were neck and neck across the line. It could not get any closer.

Sitting on the pit wall with the team as they talked through the headset to race control was nerve-wracking. The cars were coming around the track, into the pitlane, yet the teams still did not have confirmation that either of their drivers won. You were staring at the screen, hiding half of your face under the t-shirt you stole from Kimi in an attempt to see which car actually crossed the line first, but your focus was broken when a team started screaming and cheering.

The Prema Team. That’s who was screaming.

Kimi did it. Kimi won the Formula Regional European Championship.

You broke out of your shock when Rene along with a couple of engineers started shaking your shoulders and pulling you toward parc ferme. Tim had already pulled into third place by the time you all got there, and Martinus was just pulling in. Just then, a replay of Kimi’s radio, when he crossed the line, sounded across the track.

“Who won?” He asked.

“We will get to you,” his engineer, responded.

“That was the hardest race yet,” He laughed.

“It was close. We’re checking with race control.”

A similar message was played but with Martinus and his engineer. Then, the screens showed a close-up replay of Kimi’s front wing just barely being over the line before Martinus. The crowd erupted into cheers once again as Kimi pulled his car into the first-place position.

You were standing at the gates, waiting for him to climb out of the car, but he seemed frozen for a few seconds. When he snaps out of it, he scrambles to remove the steering wheel and jump out of his seat, standing on the nose of the car with his arms above his head. The entire team cheers from him, including you, as he runs over to jump into everyone’s arms in excitement. Everyone moves to pat him on the back or helmet.

Once everybody calms down, they push you closer to the gate, so Kimi can hug you individually. He wrapped his arms around your waist and lifted you over the barrier to pull you into his chest and spin you around.

“Amore mio (my love), I did it,” He whispered into your ear after he stopped spinning you but didn’t set you back on the ground yet. “I can't believe I actually did it.”

“You are a Formula Regional Champion now,” You whispered back to him. “You get to go to Formula 3 now. One step closer to your dreams, Kimi. I am so proud of you.”

“Wouldn't be here without you, mia belle (my beauty),” He pulled back as he saw Tim and Martinus come closer behind you to congratulate him. “I need to get up to the podium and post-race interviews, but meet me in the motorhome after. We’ll do something.”

It was another few hours until you saw Kimi again. He was being pulled every which way with interviews and photos, so you didn’t mind chilling out in the pack of the Prema garage, watching the race replay with his parents. Afterward, they left, saying they would let you all celebrate and meet you back at the hotel. And with that, you were by yourself. You decided to use this time by scrolling through Instagram, making a post congratulating Kimi, and liking others.

At some point you fell asleep, so you did not see when Kimi entered the room. You also did not see the heart eyes he sent your way when he noticed that you had also stolen his sweatshirt and buried yourself in it. He chuckled to himself, seeing you dig your face deeper into the crook of your elbow before he sat on the floor in front of you and laid his head on the couch.

He stayed silent for a few minutes, just studying your face. It was nice to have a quiet moment to himself. He knew winning the championship would mean more media, but he didn’t think it would be dark by the time he finished. The race itself had ended around noon, and it was nearing 10 PM by the time he made it back to the garage. To say he was exhausted as well would be an understatement. While all of his friends planned to go out to dinner and celebrate, all he wanted to do was go back to the hotel room with you and sleep for the next 24 hours, and right now, he was even thinking about just sleeping here. He was just about to fall asleep, too.

That is, until one of his race engineers, Paul, knocked lightly on the wall, pulling Kimi’s attention away from you. “Kimi, we’re heading back to the hotel now. You two want a ride?” Kimi looked back at you, seeing you still peacefully asleep, before turning back to Paul. The engineer was smirking smugly at the young couple, and Kimi just nodded in response, not even acknowledging the smirk. “I’ll pull the car around to the front of the garage.” With that, Paul turned around and left to pull the car up.

Instead of waking you up, Kimi thought it would be better to carry you out to the car. First, he wanted to make sure he had everything, though. He changed out of his Prema polo and jeans to sweatpants and a plain t-shirt before throwing the clothes and other miscellaneous things into his backpack. He made sure to grab your wallet, your phone, and charger and threw them into the backpack as well. He thought that Prema would have his race suit and helmet, so he didn’t worry about it as he put the backpack on.

Walking back over to your sleeping figure, he made sure his phone and room key were in his pocket before moving his arms under your back and legs, pulling you into his chest. While you did not wake up entirely, you did wrap your arms around Kimi’s shoulders and hide your face in his neck. Kimi just chuckled lightly at your reaction before moving to leave the garage where Paul was just pulling up.

After a short drive to the hotel, they pulled up to the front entrance. Paul gave the key to the valet driver, and he grabbed Kimi’s backpack and key, so Kimi could continue carrying you. Paul ran ahead to call the elevator down, so by the time Kimi and you got there, the elevator was just opening. When they go to their floor, Paul opened Kimi’s room for him and set the backpack down by the door. Kimi went to set you on the bed before heading back to talk with Paul for a minute. Paul reminded him that the flight back to Italy would be at 2 PM, and the Prema team wanted to go out for a celebratory lunch beforehand. Paul said he would send more information in the morning and get a good night's sleep because he deserved it. With that, Paul bid Kimi goodnight and headed to his room.

The door closed a little faster than Kimi was expecting, so it slammed before he could grab it, causing you to shoot awake. You’re met with Kimi’s back from where he’s standing, reaching to grab the door. He slowly turned to face you, looking guilty as he made his way over toward the bed. He just collapsed on the bed, laying on top of you with his head on your chest with a sign.

“Mi dispiace amore mio (I’m sorry my love),” he mumbled into your chest, already falling asleep as you ran your fingers through his curls. “Voglio solo dormire. Svegliami alle undici per favore. Ti amo (I just want to sleep. Wake me up at eleven, please. I love you).”

“Ti amo anche io tesoro (I love you too darling),” you whispered placing a kiss on his forehead. Before he fell asleep, you knew you wanted to congratulate him one last time, “Sono cosi orgoglioso di te, campione (I’m so proud of you, champion).”

He didn’t respond as he was already letting out light snores, but his arms tightened around your torso as an unconscious thank you. You knew that you would have more time tomorrow to shower him with praise as you both celebrated the new Formula Regional Champion in a competition that could not have been any closer.

~~~~~

#andrea kimi antonelli x reader #andrea kimi antonelli #formula regional #freca #f3 #Formula 3 #kimi antonelli x reader #kimi x reader #bad268 #ship268 #thing268

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mecachrome · 4 months ago

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hi! @ anon here is my lando accent infodump lmao:

so like landos accent is an ancient secret scientists worldwide have been spending centuries trying to analyse... but im gonna try to sum it up to the best of my abilities

his accent definitely changed with both private school AND international karting / single seaters but what complicates the matter is that his accent was weird to begin with

so using the reference clips k already picked out bc theyre actually rly good:

lando starts off (as far as we know, obvs by the time we have interviews of him he was already heavily involved in karting) with a weird accent

the main building blocks are definitely standard southern / londony working class. but there's also a distinct bristolian twang: notice the "foinal" and "mah mayn competition" and "jamie caroloine" lol (beloved). that bristolian twang is the first thing that goes away once he goes to secondary & is pretty much imperceptible today which is incredibly tragic to me

aside from all that is the weird foreign quality which has stayed in his accent to varying degrees over the years: these sort of flat, almost south african sounding vowels

part of it is 100% his mum & flemish roots. like, the reason i mention south africa specifically is bc i rmbr multiple ppl throwing it out as a guess, & it makes a lot of sense to me considering the dutch influence on the ZA accent. theres also his dyslexia, which often makes him trip over sounds / unsure of some pronounciations / simplify words in his head, and im almost certain that also contributes to his vague 'foreign' tinges

BUT if it was just those things it rly wouldnt explain why it fluctuated sm over the years. like we leave 11 year lando off sounding slightly european, but by the time we return to him at his formula 1 debut in 2019 i see ppl in the comments genuinely unconvinced that hes even british. he pronounces small 'i' sounds as long (think "a-nee-thing") and 'a' sounds flattened almost into 'e's (think "beck" instead of "back"). my reference for plotting where landos accent is at has always been how he says the name max (convenient that hes had by now 2 championship rivals and a best friend with that name) because at its most exagerrated it almost sounds like "mex"

i think what happened to get him to that point was like. as soon as private school flattened the regional twang his accent became even more absorbent than it had been before, and hanging out with so many international people brought out the european aspects of his own accent as well as had him borrow a few of their pronounciations

in 2019-2020 he was either living with sacha fenestraz (french-argentinian, has subtle and imo very charming argentinian accent) or alone & struggled to reconnect with old friends, bc of first the pressures of his rookie year and then the pandemic. this all changed massively in 2021 - at work he got an EFL teammate, at home he had max move in with him, in his social life he started hanging out more with tom bale and connor hughes and british youtube circles. 2021 is also when his accent solidified way more as 'standard southern' & i think it makes sense considering everything

nowadays his accent still varies & still carries some shades of his unique foreign pronounciations but it rests pretty consistently at 'standard southern'. what pushes it into different directions a bit is probably hanging out w garrix & other dutch ppl, as well as him adopting maxf's horrible little habit of mimicry which has him either pulling out the bankai bulgarian even out of context or, on the opposite side, placing the completely incongruous 'bunda' and 'man' into his vocabulary. OH and the even more baffling occasional brummie touches, also from maxf

tldr lando does have the ambiguous euro accent but its a bit more complicated than just spending time in international circles bc i think he is predisposed to speaking like that

as an addendum bc the english class police will come for me: by working class i just mean not posh

HLKSDFHLH kira this is such a dense text i don't even need to add anything!!! i've also seen people be like >WHY DOES HE SOUND SOUTH AFRICAN??? which mildly amuses me but yes all of this makes sense! and omg sacha's accent is sooo fun to me, i remember watching this interview where he talks about it (answering in spanish while his parents spoke to him in french 😭) and identifying as more argentinian than his sister etc. it was very charming. anw tl;dr as you put it i think a lot of it is just him and maxf possessing a natural inclination toward mimicry and a wide social circle LOL

#ask

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umlewis · 9 months ago

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Mercedes gave Hamilton short F1 contract to keep Antonelli option open

Toto Wolff has admitted that the Mercedes Formula 1 team didn’t commit to a longer-term contract with Lewis Hamilton because it didn’t want to risk losing protégé Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

Last August, Hamilton signed a two-year contract with the team, which was widely assumed to be fixed for the full term and left open the possibility for Mercedes to take Antonelli in 2026; however, Hamilton was able to use escape clauses to miss the second year and take up an offer from Ferrari, leaving his seat free for 2025 and giving Mercedes the chance to take Antonelli as early as next year. Antonelli, who is just 17 years old, is moving up to Formula 2 with Prema this season, having won Italian F4 in 2022 and the Formula Regional European Championship with the team last year. Wolff has compared the situation with 2014, when the team was keen to sign Max Verstappen but had nowhere to put him, while Red Bull was able to offer him a Toro Rosso seat for the following year. "There was a situation many years ago where we had the opportunity to let Max drive," Wolff told Austrian broadcaster ORF, "and that wasn't possible back then because we simply didn't have a cockpit. Rosberg and Hamilton were tied to us long-term, and Red Bull naturally seized the opportunity. They gave him a contract with Toro Rosso, with the possibility of driving for Red Bull the following year. We then lost the young driver, and you can see how successful he has become, and precisely because we have a junior on the horizon who is really driving at a very high level, I simply wanted to keep this option open. Wolff reiterated what he said in a response to Motorsport.com in Bahrain last week by stating that the newly-vacant 2025 seat is not necessarily being saved for Antonelli, who has yet to start his first F2 race. "That does not mean that we will actually put Antonelli in the car next year," he said. "He is 17 years old, and that might be a bit early. But with a view to the next five or ten years, I just wanted to have this option." Regarding the Italian’s potential, he said: "In a way, he's a wonderkid. He won everything there was to win in karting and then moved into F4. He won all the championships in his rookie year, then moved up a level and won everything there too. Now we've decided to skip F3, partly because there's not much time to test there. Instead, he'll go straight into F2, which is a huge leap for him. These are really big cars with power. Most of the races are part of the F1-supporting programme, so we'll have a good overview there too." Wolff has confirmed that Antonelli will do some private running in a 2022 car, noting that Mercedes will "run a big test programme with him in 2024 and then we'll see, is he ready for 2025? Or for 2026, will there be a different situation?" The conundrum over opting to hold him back until 2026 is that it would require another driver stepping in for 2025 only, assuming that George Russell remains in the other seat and his contract is extended beyond 2025. Wolff said that the driver market will be "incredibly interesting, because really strong people will be available for 2025," and that Mercedes will review the situation "over the next two or three races." He added: "Do we want to rely on experience and perhaps try something new? Or do we want to focus on youth and take the risk that we have a rookie and then have to look at this from a medium- to long-term performance perspective?"

op note: do not leave hate for a 17-year-old literal child in my notifs. absolutely hate on toto all you want tho.

#lewis hamilton #f1 #formula 1 #fic ref #fic ref 2024 #not a race #2024 not a race #pre-season #pre-season 2024 #bahrain #bahrain 2024 #bahrain 2024 wednesday #kimi antonelli #toto wolff

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not-that-syndrigast · 2 months ago

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The F1 feeder series masterpost

In recent events, like Oliver Bearman's F1 debut in Jeddah, him, Jack Doohan and Kimi Antonelli joining the grid as rookies in ‘25, Liam Lawson and Gabriel Bortoleto also being discussed to get a seat and the reveal that Franco Colapinto would replace Logan Sargeant at Williams, feeder series’ have gotten more and more attention. A lot of people have no starting point to get into feeder series’ though, and struggle to understand the influence they take on F1, and that's what this post is for. This post includes everything you need to know about feeder series, and if you’re interested, you’ll find discussions and thoughts about common topics between fans and clarification on common misconceptions and anything else one might need on this blog.

Before we start into the topic; this post is incredibly long and detailed, thus there is not only a table of contents below to navigate it easier, but if you want to, you can also read it via the google doc. More discussions and similar posts can be found on my blog under the #wheeltalk

1: What is a feeder series’

2: How to get into feeder series’

3: The history of feeder series’

4: Drivers academies

5: Feeder series and F1

1. What is a feeder series

Feeder series are, in this case for Formula 1, racing series that are supposed to find new talents and develop them, thus the name; feeding them to F1, metaphorically. But in more detail, there are quite a few different feeder series that have developed over the years. They can be compared to stages;

A young driver will usually start their single seater in a series on F4 level, those are the smallest and slowest cars with only 160bhp. There is no worldwide championship, as the drivers are usually very young here and it’s the smallest and ‘cheapest’ of the open wheel series. There are different regional championships in a lot of places, as an example the British F4 or the Italian F4. Interesting to note is though, that these are rather new and there are big differences in the levels, the italian F4 is very popular and bigger compared to others. F4 and most lower feeder series drive by slightly different race weekend timetables to F1 and drive on vastly different circuits due to the regional aspect.

Although it's officially not counted as a feeder series, I would like to add F1 academy, which is a female only championship that follows the F1 calendar. Female drivers participate in that series to gain more attention from sponsors to be able to afford higher categories. Although their cars drive on F4 level, it's international and thus gains a lot more traction than other racing series of that car level.

If a driver is good enough and has the funds, they will progress to the so-called formula regional. Those are, as the name suggests, also regional. Different from F4 though, they are usually on a whole continent. The cars are faster and bigger and the whole event is more expensive. Most well known is probably the ‘Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine’ or short ‘FRECA’. Once again european bias strikes because even non europeans often come to europe to drive here because doing good in FRECA still seems to be better than to do good in another regional series, this is a problem for another post though.

Once again, if a driver is good enough and has enough funds, they can proceed to the next stage. Unlike in F1, they do not get paid to drive for a team but instead have to pay to get a seat, a rather expensive ordeal that can usually only be funded by good sponsors, rich connections or drivers academies that pay up to 100% of the cost. If a driver manages to afford a seat, they can participate in F3. Different from the previous categories, there are only two F3 series, although one is the FIA F3 world cup which is only one event, so most drivers focus on the FIA F3 championship which is not just international, but also follows the F1 calendar.

“Following the F1 calendar” means that they drive on the same circuits and weekends as F1, this helps them not only gain fans but also experience because an F3 race weekend is a lot more similar to F1 than an F4 race weekend and that is not just for the cars. F3 drives a lot less rounds though and almost exclusively in europe.

Last but certainly not least, when a driver graduates from F3 their next step is F2. The FIA F2 championship is arguably the most well known feeder series, almost every F1 driver that has debuted after 2017 has competed in this series, with many having won the championship. The cars are the closest to the F1 cars but it’s also the feeder series that requires most funds, with a seat for a season being estimated to cost up to $3 million.

With all of this in mind, it needs to be added that all feeder series are spec series, so all the drivers in one championship have the same cars to ensure that the championship is reliant on racing talent, rather than the car. Still, they can change small things on set-ups and some feeder series teams are better than others, some series like F2 suffer under the so called Mecachrome, an engine that is super unreliable, so like any other racing series, feeder series have their problems.

Another important addition for feeder series is, that while there are junior academies the championships are not between the F1 teams that you are used to. I’ll explain junior academies later, but if you are watching feeder series it's important to be aware that there are other teams and rules slightly vary depending on the series. In F3, as an example, a team has three cars, but all of these are dependent on the series and you can easily find them out yourself.

For the race weekends it also slightly varies depending on the series; F2 and F3 have one free practice on friday, then qualifying, saturdays there are the sprint races with reverse grid and sunday the feature race. In the reverse grid the top half of the grid gets turned around after qualifying, the pole sitter for Sunday starts on ten, the driver who qualified for ten starts on one and so on. FRECA on the other hand has two full races with two full qualifyings. As mentioned, while I'd love to share everything, feeder series are (luckily) so broad that it's rather impossible. I’ll most likely post some pre-season guides for F2, F3, FRECA,... for the 2025 season though.

This is only a rough overview to show off how feeder series work. All of these series have official websites, social media sites and are easier to access than F1 so they are a lot more ‘fan friendly’. I will go more into detail on how and why these series have evolved the way they did later on, but I need to admit for myself, that I am a huge fan of feeder series because they are, as mentioned before, not only cheaper to attend but also really great to watch for fans and I hope I can help some people find interest in feeder series with this post.

2. How to get into feeder series

You may have seen the uproar around F2 drivers that could make their way into F1 next year, have read the previous text or decided for yourself, you’d like to watch even more racing, then this is the point where you find all the resources on how to!

I need to preface this by saying, feeder series grids are a lot less permanent than F1. Usually a driver only spends one or two seasons in a single series because they try to make their way up the ladder to F1 but also because it's a waste of money to pay for a seat when they could be in a higher category. Furthermore, sometimes seats just change in the season, with Franco Colapinto graduating from F2 mid season, he has triggered a domino effect; someone had to replace him in F2, that driver had to be replaced in F3,... For this reason, I cannot post a grid on any of the series here, for that you will have to visit the sites of the feeder series you are interested in.

What is pretty permanent though, are the teams. As mentioned, the teams are different from F1. Big feeder series teams like Prema racing, MP motorsports, ART grand prix, Rodin Motorsport, ect are present in most categories. By following them on social media you can easily find out who their drivers are and get to know them. I would also recommend following feederseriesnet on social media, it's the most trustworthy news site that covers everything related to the feeder series. Sadly, many feeder series are only covered in comparison to F1 by typical F1 news which is why those are more often than not untrustworthy.

If you question now how people have favorite drivers, then I have really good news for you; in feeder series everything is a bit more fun and to gain sponsors and fans, both teams and drivers themselves are a lot more active on social media than you’d be used to by F1 drivers. I've mentioned it before; feeder series are amazing for fans. There are good chances that you can even watch a race in person because feeder series are actually global and also super cheap, so just look at the F4 or regional championship closest to you.

In relation to this, I especially want to point out Prema. It's not only the most successful feeder series team but also by far the most popular one. The reason why Prema is so popular is on one side obviously the fact that they have won almost every single title in the past years and almost half the current F1 grid were in that team in their junior career, but also their social media presence. The Prema drivers are always by far the most well known and popular drivers in any series because Prema has been posting successful youtube videos for years now and I’ve found it the best way to get to know the drivers. As mentioned, many drivers were at Prema at some point, in feeder series drivers switch teams a lot more often so you’ll get to know about many drivers if you just look back a bit, even if certain teams post less on social media, their drivers will most likely appear in other videos.

If you want to watch the feeder series race, it depends a bit. Most regional championships you can watch free on youtube, but i’d recommend searching it up before you want to watch it. Some also live stream via official websites, really, it depends. F3, F2 and F1Academy follow the F1 calendar. Although they are not at every race, when they are, they just run via skysports, F1TV or wherever else you are watching F1.

In the end it's important to acknowledge, though, that feeder series and F1 are quite different. Feeder series are a lot more race based and things switch faster. For me, it's part of the fun to see more different types of drivers race, there is always something happening, drivers are younger and thus more bold, hoping to impress F1 teams. If you think F1 silly season is stressful, F2 is a lot worse since every single driver has to actually fear for their seat. One downside though is the fact that feeder series, beside Prema, lack a bit of fandom, there are significantly less fans for feeder series and there is a lot less content, less memes but the fans in general are in my experience a lot nicer.

3. The history of feeder series

Especially if you are a big fan of F1, trying to look at old feeder series races or are interested in the history of racing in general, acknowledging the history of feeder series is important to understand them. Feeder series have greatly evolved in roughly the past two decades; the “FIA Global Pathway from Karting to Formula One” as it has been established by the FIA only exists in the way it does now since 2014.

Many of the current feeder series have gone through a whole lot of renamings, rule changings and changes in approach; there used to be F3 and GP3 at the same time, with GP3 being somewhat comparable to F3, but the whole problem was that there were many different open wheel racing series without a linear approach to F1. If you look at current F1 drivers' junior careers, you’ll notice how different they look to each other because unlike the way I introduced previously, there was no one pathway. The FIA has established a proper pathway now though, partially to help drivers but also because it's simply needed. If you look at certain drivers like Fernando Alonso, who started his Formula 1 career roughly 25 years ago, you’ll notice that he barely had any previous open wheel racing experience. The reason for that was not only that Alonso is a great driver with potential, but also the fact that F1 cars were simply a lot easier and it was more approachable for young drivers.

Since F1 cars have become more complex, driving has become faster and the F1 championship has become a lot more serious, the evolution of the feeder series have followed the evolution of F1. Racing has changed a lot, from the eighties where you pretty much sat in a car and just raced if you had the money to now, where teenagers train from early childhood on in karts to hopefully join F1 one day, F1 has become a huge sport.

The biggest changes in recent years, following the FIA pathway program in 2014, are the following;

In 2014, the Formula 4 series was invented, to bridge the jump from karts to F3 which has become a lot faster in recent years. In 2018, Formula regional was invented for the same reason as F4; to bridge the gap between existing series. Also in 2018, GP3 and the FIA Formula three European championship pretty much merged to what we now know as F3. the year prior, in 2017, GP2 rebranded to F2 leading to the feeder series being uniformed to all go by the formula title.

I am quite sure we will still see some slight changes in the following years, especially since feeder series are gaining more and more traction as you can see here. All over the world there are also new regional championships starting out, which leads me to one of the most important parts of this; the globalification of feeder series.

Just like F1, feeder series are very european based. Many drivers had to move to europe in order to move up in the motorsport world, but with regional championships like the Formula regional middle east championship gaining traction, i wouldn't be surprised if feeder series become even more internationally, because while they are already a thing all over the world, you can clearly see the difference in F4; the italian F4 is always in focus and drivers from all over the world participate in them, while other F4s are focused more on their use; developing local talents.

4. Driver academies

Now as mentioned before, the F1 teams are not in feeder series, but there are so called ‘driver academies’ but what exactly are those and how do they work?

Well, driver academies are a sort of support system for junior drivers. F1 teams will take good young drivers into their teams. By that, they try to ensure that good drivers get the fundings to become a good future F1 driver. In return, they have contracts with the drivers and (usually) first privilege when it comes to signing them to drive for them in F1.

But there are more advantages for the young drivers; besides the monetary advantages, being a member of a driver's academie helps them greatly. Depending on the academy they are in, they get help when it comes to personal trainers, contracts and sponsors and just in general, being a member of a driver academy makes it a lot more likely that a driver will actually join F1.

But just like in racing itself, the different teams have not only different approaches but also different levels of success. While some junior academies like Ferrari can boast of being known to be incredibly loyal to their junior drivers, helping them get sponsors and become popular and having many of them graduate to F1, there are other junior academies who aren't as successful. Best example for a less successful team is Alpine, while they have many drivers, not many of them graduated to F1, even less with them. Still, in my opinion it's not necessarily a bad thing; a team like Alpine that pays for many young drivers is incredibly important and even better, they have a whole category for female racers.

In the next few days I'll post a ranking detailing a bit closer what exactly the driver academies are doing, so stay tuned!

5. Feeder series and F1

The way that feeder series have influenced F1 in recent years should have become a bit more obvious by now. With the establishment of a proper pathway for feeder series the drivers are a lot more likely to know each other and it's a lot easier to follow. F1 has become this huge sport in which everyone is a proper athlete, with feeder series becoming respected, so do their graduates.

Every rookie since 2019 had to go through at least one of the feeder series and although there will still be changes, especially with driver academies now going as early as F4 to recruit drivers, feeder series become more and more important to F1.

Even if some people aren't as interested in feeder series, many have learned this year that you can't enjoy F1 without keeping the feeder series in mind.

Still, it's a personal wish, but i hope that in the near future (and hopefully by this) there will be more feeder series fans. Although obviously the end goal is F1, not everything in the feeder series has to be about F1. Furthermore, F1 is very different to the feeder series, which is a good thing.

In the end, this whole post is a lot less detailed than i would have liked, but as mentioned multiple times, i will post even more specific texts in the future, but feeder series are such a broad topic that it would be an impossible task to explain every single feeder series because there are so many, and quite frankly, it would also be a bit boring.

If there are any questions left, or one of you just wants to talk about feeder series, request more info or discuss any thoughts, my DMs are always open and I absolutely love sharing all of these.

@the-prophesied-mouse @eve-will-perceive

sorry guys, this was supposed to be finished sooner but work ruined my life. I originally wanted to post it pre f3 final but live is hard. Also i'll be in so much pain if this fails, please.

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formulaford2022 · 3 months ago

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Apart from a few people who's parents money and connections are the sole reason for their seat (which unfortunately happens in every single job out there), I think by the time a driver reaches the national level, they typically have the talent to make some sort of driving their career. To be so good at karting that you win national championships means something. To reach a formula 4 or formula regional level is quite difficult. To reach formula 3 or formula 2 level (or an equivalent such as Indy NXT or super formula lights, but for this argument I will be talking strictly European, which is shocking because I never turn down a chance to talk about Indy NXT) is nearly impossible. There are 30 drivers in F3, typically between 16 and 20 years in age. In F2 there are only 22 drivers, only a year or two older than they were in F3. When you race in a feeder series you are elite. To go even further, into the exclusive club that is Formula One is a feat that no one can take away from you. This isn't even about Logan Sargeant specifically, but all the drivers over the past few years who have gotten the chance to race in F1 before finding a more permeant home in another racing series. Maybe they had a horrible experience in F1, maybe it was the best years of their lives, but weather they are in Formula E, WEC, Indycar, Super Formula, or wherever, they get to say they were a Formula One driver, which is something not a lot of people get to say. The same goes for the other series as well, being able to say you were/are an Indycar, WEC, Formula E, Super Formula, etc. driver is a feat that no one can take away from you. Logan obviously did not have the greatest experience in F1, but he still achieved his dream. He still gets to say he was an F1 driver. To even be driving at the F2 level, and winning races at that, just proves that he was qualified to be there. It didn't work out, but he was still a formula one driver. How many of us never even come close to achieving our dreams?

#f1 #logan sargeant #just some thoughts I had while avoiding my homework

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boxboxblog · 1 month ago

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Driver Profiles: Franco Colapinto

Hello, this is part of a series where I focus on one driver on the current (as of Oct 2024) grid and give an overview over their career and driving styles. I will be going in championship points order. Enjoy!

Name: Franco Alejandro Colapinto

Age: 21

Nationality: Argentine

Years in F1: Less than 1 (Williams Sept 2024-Present)

Number: 43

WDCs: N/A

Driving Style: While not much has been seen from Colapinto in F1 yet, what we can gather is that he is an aggressive driver with strong defense, and solid overtaking skills. He has taken to the stress and pressure of F1 well, showing a cool head during races and defending well against F1 veterans like Sergio Perez. This shows a degree of adaptability, one that has been seen in his F2 career as well. A negative of his style is that his eagerness and aggression can lead to unnecessarily bold moves. In F2, for example, he is prone to receiving penalties. This eagerness can also cause inconsistency while racing.

History:

Colapinto came from a much more middle-class family than the average F1 driver. His carting career started at age 9, and he showed strong promise, winning the Argentine Championship in 2016 (Pre-Junior class) and 2018 (Sudam class), as well as the Buenos Aires Regional Championship in 2016 (Pre-Junior class) and 2017 (Junior class). Colapinto also won the gold medal at the 2018 Youth Summer Olympics. Due to this obvious talent his family sold their home in order to pay for Colapinto's debut in single-seaters.

(Colapinto during his karting days)

He debuted in car racing in 2018, participating in the final race of the F4 Spanish Championship. He had a stellar performance, and was able to sign a full-year contract for the 2019 season. That season he scored 11 victories, 13 podiums, and 14 pole positions. He took the title that year by winning the last three races of the season.

(Colapinto after winning Spanish F4_

Early 2020 he raced for the Toyota Racing Series, and finished 3rd in the standings, winning the rookie championship in the process. He also joined the Formula Renault Eurocup in 2020, and had a very positive year. He took two race wins that year and seven podiums, finish 3rd in the championship. This made him the highest placed rookie in the 2020 season, winning another rookie championship. 2021 saw him take part in the European and Asian Le Mans series, where he took 4th and 3rd respectively.

(Colapinto shortly before signing for Formula Renault)

His debut into F3 came in 2022, signing with Van Amersfoort Racing (a team that had once raced Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen) and came 7th in the standings, one of his worst championship results ever. He did have some positive results, with one sprint win and three podiums. He took part in F3 again for 2023, this time with a different team, and had a much more positive year, getting 4th in the standings by the end of the season.

(Colapinto after taking pole for Van Amersfoort)

Late 2023 it was announced that Colapinto would be graduated up to F2 for the 2024 season. He only completed the first half of the season, and gained one victory, before being promoted to the F1 Williams seat to replace Logan Sargent. So far he has shown positive results for a mega rookie in a midfield car, finishing in the points in his second race. As of right now he will stay with Williams for the rest of the season, but he has no seat for 2025.

Major Races (some F3 and F2 ones too):

F3: 2022 Imola Sprint: His maiden victory in F3, Colapinto capitalized on the tricky wet conditions and displayed strong composure and race craft.

F2: 2023 Silverstone Feature: He fought tough battles in the midfield to come. Although he did not place particularly high, he showed he could fight against competitive junior drivers and hold his own to stay in the points.

2024 Azerbaijan GP: Only his second race in F1, Colapinto delivered a stellar performance on a tricky track. He finished 8th (ahead of his veteran teammate) and showed that he could handle the pressure of a F1 race.

2024 Singapore GP: Although Colapinto finished outside the points, he had a standout performance. He fought hard in the midfield (memorably being complimented by Perez for his defense skills) and handled the physically toughest race on the calendar with grace.

Alright, that is all for Colapinto. Up next is Zhou Guanyu.

Cheers,

-B

#f1 #formula 1 #f1 driver profiles #f1 drivers #franco colapinto

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formula-phoebe · 9 months ago

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Léna Bühler joins ART Grand Prix in Formula Regional!

Léna Bühler has joined the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine in 2024 and is to drive for ART Grand Prix. Bühler competed in the inaugural season of F1 Academy in 2023, finishing 2nd in the championship behind winner and FRECA Prema Racing driver Marta García. She took two wins and 13 podiums over the course of the season. She was the first female driver to join the Sauber Academy…

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#2024 #ART Grand Prix #F1 Academy #F4 #Formula 4 #Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine #FRECA #Lena Bulher #motorsport #news #racing #Sauber

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racingmochi · 2 months ago

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Predictions for Next Year’s Prema Seats

Wanted to put my thoughts out there (I know Ugo was already announced but I'm just curious how close I'll be with this)

FIA Formula 1 (I know Prema isnt racing in f1 just put this here cuz im going based on this year's Prema teams)

Oliver Bearman -> Haas

Andrea Kimi Antonelli -> Mercedes

FIA Formula 2

Gabriele Minì

Arvid Lindblad (Campos Racing)

Dino Beganovic (Not prema)

Honestly kind of the hardest to predict. I think MinÌ is the one that makes the most sense cuz he's already competed in an f2 race and had a pretty strong f3 season. Arvid has already been announced for Campos Racing. Dino is rumored to be having financial troubles so it's unclear if he'll be racing in f2 next year. If he can figure out finances, I can see him staying with prema. If he doesn't stay, I'm not too certain who prema would sign. Maybe they'd call up Rafa but that's kind of a far jump from FRECA (yes I know kimi just did that but......) Ofc they could choose another f2 driver or a maybe an f3 driver that's not currently with Prema but I dont know the rest of the grid well enough to say for certain

FIA Formula 3

Ugo Ugochukwu

Rafael Câmara

James Wharton

I think these just make the most sense based on their FRECA performance this past season. Finances allowing I can easily see them all continuing with Prema for F3

Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine

Freddie Slater

Alex Powell

Doriane Pin (Iron Dames?)

Maya Weug

This one's also a little hard. I was thinking I don't just want to only have the guys moving up and FRECA is the next step after F1 Academy. Doriane and Maya have both had really strong F1 Academy seasons so I can see them moving up to FRECA. Doriane is currently competing with Iron Dames in FRECA so it could just be that she stays with Iron Dames. If Maya and Doriane don't move to FRECA, Kean and Tomass or maybe Rashid moving up to FRECA

Italian Formula 4

Kean Nakamura-Berta

Rashid Al Dhaheri

Tomass Stolcermanis

Dion Gowda

Oleksandr Bondarev

Again, this is assuming that Maya and Doriane move up and compete with prema in FRECA. I can easily see Kean, Rashid, Tomass, and Dion sticking with prema (again finances and other things willing). Also, they're most likely gonna have Oleksandr Bondarev move up to f4. He's already racing with Prema in karting and he's already done an F4 race so like i will be SHOCKED if he doesn't move up to f4 with prema (though i guess, stranger things have happened in the 2024 motorsports world LOL)

F1 Academy

Tina Hausmann

Nina Gademan

Ella Lloyd

Again this is under the assumption that Maya and Doriane both move up to FRECA. The two of the could stay in F1 Academy since they're all in their first year of F1 Academy (and could even compete in FRECA cuz Doriane is doing it right now). But if they decide to leave F1 Academy, I can see prema signing Nina Gademan and Ella Lloyd. The two of them both raced as wild cards this season with prema and did pretty decently! Other than that, idk who else they'd sign since i really dont know karting and I don't think there's any women racing in Italian F4 that might move to F1 Academy

IndyCar

Callum Ilott

Robert Schartzman

Figured I should add Indycar since prema is going to be racing in indycar next year! Nothing super interesting predictions-wise since Callum has already been confirmed for next year. Robert is the main rumor for the other seat and I feel like that makes the most sense since he came up through f3 & f2 with prema.

Anyways, those are my predictions! Obviously, there's a lot of room for change and we don't really see a ton that's going on behind the scenes. Aside from finances, drivers might just decide that they don't want to race with prema anymore or maybe prema decides to drop them as drivers, it's so hard to say. I think especially as someone who literally just got into f1 this season, there's probably a ton i don't know about that might skew these predictions. ALSO i really don't know other drivers outside of prema so i don't really know if there's anyone vying for a prema seat but it's possible that non-prema drivers could sign with prema fo 2025. So I guess just think of these predictions as solely based on performances from this season and nothing else LOL

Excited to see what comes from these predictions and excited to continue to follow and cheer on prema in 2025!

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