Christmas Turkeys and Spring Chickens

For all there's no on track racing there doesn't seem to be such a thing as a truly off season in motor racing now. Gone are the days when drivers would swan off to their beach resorts for Christmas with trimmings we can only imagine, only to be let out of their boxes the following Spring. Now we are fed a constant stream of testing times, publicity outings, shows and paddock politics that won't go to sleep. Now it's possibly to indulge in motor sports 24-7, 12 months a year.

I remember when the wait between the last race of the season of the year and Christmas Day was a Formula One free zone. Christmas morning I could guarantee somewhere under the tree lurked the Autocourse Grand Prix Annual and some other F1 goodies if I was lucky. Many people may bemoan having a racing fan in the household throughout the summer months but even they must admit it makes for easy present buying come the holidays.

Of course, the holidays can lead to tantrums under the tinsel. Buying loved ones a rather swish looking Ferrari fleece only to 'find' its the wrong size and then claiming it yourself does not win friends. Similarly, the cautionary true tale of the father-Scaletrix scenario should be heeded. Top of the range Scaletrix sets are indeed a wonderful gift I'm sure many would like to find in their Christmas stocking. However, buying one for your toddler daughter may not be perceived as the most appropriate of gifts. This in mind, it is certainly unwise to compound the situation by inviting your best friend round on Christmas Day who has bought the same present for his own (barely out of nappies) son. Clearing the 22ft through-lounge so that you can then join both sets together and recreate EVERY race of the previous season will not endear you to the rest of the family. Thankfully, this marriage survived on the grounds the wives in question couldn't find a divorce lawyer who worked Boxing Days.

I have to admit the seasonally induced reminiscing made me feel old. I'm only a twenty-something but, more and more often I find I can't start a conversation about F1 without 'I remember when'. The feeling was magnified by an article in a British tabloid recently; that popular off-season topic - spotting 'the next big thing'.

For the life of me I cannot remember the name of the young karter the article focused on but the gist was he was Britain hope for the next generation. If there is a phrase I've tired of over the years it's the easy copy of labeling someone as the next <insert name of great driver>. Tell me about someone's talent, tell me why you think they have potential, their exceptional quality in the massive pool of wannabes but please don't think this is done by cramming it into the single sentence 'he'll be the next Ayrton Senna'.

Not that this was used in the article in question. Now we have a new phenomena. This karter is going to be the new Jenson Button. The new ambition, it seems, is to be the youngest F1 driver. I can understand the ambition and desire that pushes people to want to win races and championships but have never understood the desire to be the youngest as it appears such a nondescript distinction. However it appears in so many sports that the players are getting younger and younger and motorsports seems to be no exception.

The subject of just how young is too young for an aspiring F1 driver was a hot topic this year, especially in Britain's when Jenson Button became Britains' youngest ever F1 driver. For the 2001 season much attention will be focused on Kim Raikkonen not only on the fact he is 21 years old but more so that he only has 23 car races behind him - a situation similar to the debut of Jos Verstappen in 1994. And it's possibly the lack of race miles which causes the most upset in the pit-lane as opposed to age.

It's accepted that there is no better way to learn the trade than get on track and race. We seriously enter the realms of predicting (not too distant) future F1 drivers when the aspirants hit F3. Past F3 Champions and front runners such as Ayrton Senna, Mika Hakkinen, David Coulthard, Rubens Barrichello have all graduated to F1 and help herald the British F3 series as one of the best training grounds internationally. Further encouragement for young drivers come from the myriad of young driver awards held internationally. Not only will you grab headlines with such a win but usually a tidy sum of money to help lubricate your journey through the ranks. In Britain the award to aim for is the McLaren/Autosport " Young Driver of the Year, which replaced the Grovewood Awards scheme. This year's recipient is Anthony Davidson who in the same week of winning was named as a BAR test driver. BAR have recently annouced their commitment to helping new drivers with a series of testing sessions.

Walk down any F3 paddock and it is increasingly professional, very much the scale model of F1. British F3 is currently under somewhat of a black cloud with regards to organization. In a bid to increase public awareness and support the series is run as part of the Power Tour, a format which is applauded in some circles and derided in others. There's people far better qualified to talk of the merits (or not) of the Power Tour than me and as I still instill a semi-off season in this household it means I don't have to think about motorsport politics (well not too much) until Spring; consider it time off for good behaviour. However, my two-pennies worth for the moment is not to let such wrangling over-shadow this great arena of talent. In the 1980's if a driver got the nod from Dick Bennett's and the West Surrey Racing team it tended to mark them out as something special. In the 1990s WSR's talent spotting thunder seemed to be somewhat stolen by Paul Stewart Racing.

But the secret seems to be not to stay in F3 too long. Lets face it, Jenson Button all but dipped his toe in. More than a couple of seasons in F3 and you can appear stale and with such a large pool of talent whatever bad luck has beset you will probably be acknowledged but no favours made. The road to F1 is unforgiving in more ways than one.

Only this week Tomas Scheckter has said his father, former World Champion Jody Scheckter, has told him he must aim to enter F1 by 2002, by which time Tomas will be 22 years old, or risk losing the opportunities completely. Jody was himself 22 years old when he debuted. With youthful exuberance Jody went about a very public learning curve during his first seasons of F1. His numerous crashes and off track excursions afforded him the nickname 'Fletcher' a reference to a character in Richard Bach's book 'Jonathon Livingstone Seagull' - Fletcher was the young bird who tried to fly when he was too young and kept crashing. Jody Scheckter's story has a happy ending, he goes on to be World Champion and a respected campaigner for drivers safety. It's hard to imagine modern F1 affording a young driver such an intensive schooling in the ways of Grand Prix racing. Least of all imagine if a young and inexperienced driver caused a serious accident - the ramifications would go beyond the facts.

It is hardly surprising the age of the next generation of drivers is dropping. Karting, the accepted breeding ground of motorsports talent, is a professional and competitive arena ensuring a steady flow of hopefuls streams into single seaters. And it appears youngsters are karting, seriously karting, at a younger and younger age - even single figures. No wonder so many 15 and 16 year olds are itching to get into single seating racing before the law of the land will let them drive on the open roads.

The youngest driver ever to compete in an F1 race was Mike Thackwell who was just 19 years old when he raced for Tyrrell in 1980. He only raced in two races, resurfaced in F1 a couple of years later but only to post DNQs. Chris Amon was also 19 years old when he raced a Lola-Climax in 1963, going on to have a 13 year career in F1, competing in 96 races but without a win. Ricardo Rodriguez was 19 years old when he debuted for Ferrari. The young Mexican driver was confident to the point his fearlessness was frightening. The true extent of his talent was never realised, he was killed during the non-championship Mexican Grand Prix of 1962 aged just 20 years old.

20 year old F1 débutantes include Elio de Angelis, Andrea de Cesaris, Rubens Barrichello and Tarso Marques.

You could get very mathematical about the whole thing and people have. People crave averages and statistics. One set of averages would suggest you need to be in F1 by you're 24, won a race by 26 and have a World Championship under your belt by 30. Depending on which eras you decide to include or exclude the figures vary. At the end of the day they are just numbers and the maturity of driver, for which there is no unit, can far excel their age.

In fact 'maturity' is probably the key to the equation. For a driver to mature in all respects of their craft depends not only on his age but attitude, personality, natural ability and, ability and willingness to learn. Waiting till someone is 24 to let them through the paddock gates doesn't ensure you'll get a well-rounded racing driver. This is the difficulty for the talent spotters and team bosses and is as dependent on their attitude as to that of the drivers. As a team boss do you want to nurture a young driver or have one ready made and proven? Teams such as Jordan, and to a degree Benetton, have long been promoted as fostering young talent. Horses for courses, different drivers will flourish in vastly different environments whether it be the precise determination of McLaren or the energetic enthusiasm of Jordan. Not to mention the fact many drivers seem to have a second wind. A promising start, a couple of seasons in the doldrums before rediscovering that vital essence that sets you aside from the rest.

Possibly one of the greatest threats to young drivers is burnout not only on track but off. Mix youth with sporting success and the lavish lifestyle that goes with it and we see many a young, promising career falter. As sporting lifestyles go motor racing has one of the most famed for being hedonistic on one hand, damned hard work on the other. Structured academies in other sports are developing with this all round view, teaching the new generation not only the technicalities of their sport but the surrounding furore of commercial, media and personal commitments and pressures. The Elf Racing School in France approached training new racing stars in a similar vein teaching not only practical racing skills but mechanic and engineering qualifications in recognition not every student would make it on the track, far from it, but at least they would come out with some bankable skills. I wonder if this approach will spread especially in light of the dropping intake numbers into engineering, it may be a way of enticing youngsters into the field.

I wouldn't be surprised if the age of F1 newcomers steadies around the 21 year old mark, purely because of the talented youth coming up through the lower ranks. And if the intake age lowers you would expect the kicking out age to come down also. We will wait and see. Pass the Ovaltine someone, time for an early night.

© Rebecca Hobbs

(c)RH PR 2007