The tale of a 10-year old called Lewis Hamilton going up to Ron Dennis and telling the boss that he will race for McLaren one day is now a household story. Young Lewis was signed less than three years later, and he’s now the youngest ever F1 world champion. This young man you see here could well be the next Hamilton.
Only 11 years old, Montreal born Lance Stroll is the latest and youngest driver to be part of the Ferrari Driving Academy, which was created late last year to find and support talented young racing drivers with the eventual aim of getting them into F1.
At his age, Lance already has two wins at the Canadian national championship in Rotax Mini Max category, Coupe de Montreal and Coupe du Quebec Micro Max Championship in 2008 and both Mini Max Championships in 2009. He finished sixth in the World Finals at Lonato in the Mini Roc category and second in the Rotax Micro Max Florida Winter Tour. He also won the series this year in the Mini Max category along with championships for the Tag/Cadet Florida winter tour. Unsurprisingly, he has been nominated for the Rookie of the Year in 2008 by the Fedération Sport Automobile du Quebec and Driver of the Year in 2009.
“We are pleased to welcome Lance to our group,” said Luca Baldisserri, the Scuderia’s chief track engineer who runs the academy. “He is very young, but he has already shown in karting that he is exceptionally talented. We will follow him step by step in his forthcoming events in North America and he will soon also take part in our courses at Maranello.”
At the academy, Lance will join Jules Bianchi, a French driver who won the French Formula Renault 2.0 in 2007 and the F3 Euroseries in 2009 along with podium finishes in the GP2 Asia series. The fact that such an important man in the Ferrari F1 hierarchy heads this program shows how serious Ferrari is in wanting to find new talent.
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Helluva busy schedule for an 11 year old. Where do you squeeze in school time?
If you’re talented enough, school isn’t important. When was the last time you heard about an F1 driver with a degree? The only one I could think of was Dr. Jonathan Palmer who drove for Tyrrell in the 80s and was actually a doctor before he started racing.
guess you’right, but I wasn’t thinking about tertiary education.. just plain ol’ primary and secondary education.. guess by the time this kid is 19, he’s already made enough to invest and earn a steady income. unless he blows it all on honeys and apartments in Monaco, and not get injured along the way.. and penny wise parents.. Come to think of it, I wanna be a playboy rececar driver too..
nahhhh….
don’t worry….ferrari already have assigned him a private teacher….
teaching when the schedule are free from training…. ;)
-i guess it was the special part of mainstream junior racing….
In real life, actually degree is just a requirement. What boss would look at would actually be the amount of professional work experience.
Well, we can expect his name to rise in the next decade….A bright talent indeed. Imagine with decades of driving experience and professional guidance by Ferrari!
yeah,who needs school when ur already in a Ferrari Driver Academy.big bucks waiting!!
Western education is more flexible. He can still learn, take tests, do assignments while training for races.
still jazeman better……currently racing in British Formula Three
its nice to support our malaysian boy, but unfortunely he is still under the standard….
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazeman_Jaafar
He’s doing good actually. The wiki site is outdated. He’s already got two podiums in F3 this season in his rookie year, and is learning the art is overtaking. Long way to go, but very good prospect.
Gets you wondering….. he’s so young that he “not old enough” for a driver’s license. But he’s racing in a ferrari car……… hmmmmmmmm…… does the super license abort that rule of minimum driving age?
image his mum sending him to the race circuit with backpack behind his back & a water tumbler in their family MPV (coz he got no driving license) so that he can race on a Ferrari Wowww……!!!
Don’t think it’s necessary to own driving license to have a racing license. Anyway many Scandinavian kids are already karting and rallying before they start shaving.
last time i also seen ron dennis and tell him i want to be a F1 driver… last2 become F1 supporter je…
i bet you dont know jazemans story very well……he oni racing bcoz he’s got his dad’s fortune to spend and his dad corprate contacts…he’s n ok driver oni, trust me….compared to other driver frm his age group/class the main difference is tat he has the funding tatz all….i personally know of a few drivers who when jazeman was racing in d rotax championships used to beat him consistently, only difference is he got the funding so moved on to bigger cars….know the actually story before you pour praise on a person who is just riding the wave.. almost any1 can be thought how to be a good race driver, but the coup de grass is that natural instict i have not seen is he’s driving yet for tat matter…..may be he is destined t be a great driver but on current driving he’ll oni be mid pack driver tatz all….
Sadly, unlike in many nations where even a farmer’s son can become a professional racer, it’s only those with money here who can.
That’s why unless that hurdle is eliminated, we will not have our own racing legends, we’ll just have a venue.