Analysis: climbing the single-seater ladder all the way to Formula 1

The path for a young driver to make it to Formula 1 is often long and hard, unless you’re Max Verstappen or Kimi Raikkonen.

For most drivers the junior single seater ladder begins with karting from an early age – although this isn’t strictly necessary, Renault’s Jolyon Palmer didn’t start racing until he was a teenager.

The FIA’s ideal ladder of progression goes from various regional F4 series to European Formula 3, GP3, GP2 and then F1, but there are plans to create a new Formula 2 championship that would become the step below the series often called the ‘pinnacle of motorsport’.

There are of course some variations, Renault’s 2.0 and NEC championships are very popular and competitive, and the motorsport ladder is often different in each country.

In Britain, the junior single-seater scene is looking much healthier than it did a few years ago with the Motor Sports Association series being the FIA’s anointed F4 series on these shores. Up until the start of this year, the picture was clouded by the presence of the British Racing Drivers Club F4 championship, which is run by Jolyon Palmer’s father and ex-F1driver Jonathan, before that series was rebranded as British F3 following the introduction of a new, more powerful car for 2016.

“In reality, it’s not F3 as we know it,” says Trevor Carlin, whose eponymous squad competes in both British and European F3. “What it is though is a step between F4 and proper F3. It’s a great car, don’t get me wrong, a great championship – very good and cost effective, but it’s not quite British or European F3.”

The British F3 car has 2-litre 230hp engine compared to European F3’s car that has a four-cylinder, 2,000 cc engine, and it is above British F4’s 1.6-litre 160hp machine. But the championship’s name, which was synonymous with the junior single seater ladder for so many years and was won by Ayrton Senna, Mika Häkkinen and Rubens Barrichello amongst others, is still alluring for up-and-coming racers.

“It’s probably more important than most championships in the UK for single seaters,” current championship leader Ricky Collard told JAonF1 shortly before winning two out of three races at the Snetterton round of the series last weekend. “This is a British Formula 3 car and you look at some of the names that have come through and some of the champions that have been on that trophy at the end of the year. It’s something I’d like to try and carve my name on.”

British F3 is attracting drivers from all over the world, with 20 of the 28 drivers that have competed in the championship so far this season coming from overseas. Douglas Motorsport’s Thomas Randle has travelled from Australia to take part in the series, a step that he sees as vital for his development as a driver. “My family haven’t come over yet,” he says. “I’m actually living with my engineer in Norfolk. It’s been different but it’s been really good. It’s good to be independent and my Dad has never missed a race of mine and this year he hasn’t seen one, so it’s been a big change but I think it’s good for me. I’m 20-years-old so I think I need to take that sort step in my career and it’s just been me at the track, I haven’t got any sort of driver coaches or physios or all that – it’s just me. But I think that’s really good for my own development [and] strength.”

The British F3 series has attracted more teams since it introduced its new car – including long-established single-seater squads like Carlin, Fortec and Double R Racing.

Charlie Kemp, boss of the HHC Motorsport squad that ran Will Palmer – Jolyon Palmer’s younger brother – and Harrison Newey, son of Adrian Newey, to first and second in the series in 2015 when it was still BRDC F4, reckons the F3 moniker has given the championship a prestigious standing on the motorsport ladder.

“Ultimately if you can be running at the front of ‘British F3’, it really means something because it goes back into the annals of history of British F3 and F1 drivers that have come through it,” he told JAonF1. “[Going from F4 to F3] doesn’t change it, but it definitely gives it a huge amount of credibility.”

Jonathan Palmer’s MSV company, which runs British F3, wants to maintain the championship’s reputation as being affordable and sustainable, while keeping its unique spot on the motorsport ladder between F4 and European F3. “There is a clear progression between FIA Formula 4, with MSA Formula in the UK, into BRDC F3 and then on to FIA Formula 3 afterwards,” says MSV’s Head of operations and engineering, Giles Butterfield. “I think that makes a lot of sense, it’s got a bit of logic to it and the performance steps are correct.”

MSV is pleased with its place between F4 and European F3 as it not only takes the series onto its own unique step, but it also helps young drivers make progress at a sensible rate. “You don’t want to have huge performance gaps like there was between the FIA F4 level and FIA F3,” says Butterfield. “[With] drivers going from cars that are quick to cars that are a lot quicker, that clearly poses some hazards to put reasonably inexperienced drivers in really quite fast cars.”

The next step on the ladder, the FIA’s European F3, uses more powerful cars that can be upgraded with more advanced aerodynamic packages. This makes the series a clear barometer to show if a driver will succeed in F1. Max Verstappen moved to Toro Rosso from one year in the series, having avoided any of the lower categories, and the driver that beat him to the 2014 Euro F3 title, Esteban Ocon, will join him in F1 with Manor from the Belgian Grand Prix later this month.

“I think that F3 is very good prep for F1 because F1, in my opinion, is slightly over-gripped and a bit underpowered, which reminds me of F3,” says current European F3 rookie and Force India development driver Nikita Mazepin. “So the way you carry the speed through the corner, the way you take corners and brake and things is quite similar.”

But Euro F3 has become dominated in recent seasons by the teams that are able to spend vast amounts of money improving their cars, often courtesy of well-financed drivers. “You’re up against people with a ton of money,” says Carlin. “The playing field is not quite as level as it used to be because people are spending disproportionate amounts of money to do the job, and that’s their privilege.”

GP3 is arguably on a similar step to European F3 and some current F1 drivers, including Esteban Gutiérrez, Valtteri Bottas, Daniil Kvyat and Ocon, have won the category in the past. It is also on the F1 support bill, but although this gives drivers the chance to shine on a more prominent stage, it also means that GP3 drivers will get significantly less track time than there European F3 counterparts.

“The problem with GP3 is you get half the mileage, you don’t get enough driving," says Carlin. “In my personal opinion when you’re young and trying to make your way in any sport – be it golf, tennis, cricket, basketball or table tennis – you need to practice. GP3, if you’re not ready when you get there you’ll just be at the back and the guys that always do well in GP3 are the ones that have done F3 first.”

F1’s current feeder series is GP2 and Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton, Nico Hulkenberg and Romain Grosjean have graduated as champions. But in recent years, GP2’s champions have stalled and Jolyon Palmer is the only driver to make it to F1 since Grosjean did after 2011, although Stoffel Vandoorne may get his chance with McLaren next season.

The FIA has proposed that a new F2 series should become F1’s designated feeder series to complete the latter from F4, and there were negotiations with GP2 to merge the two series under the governing body’s control. But reports suggest this is now less likely and it is unclear what FIA F2 will look like if it is created in the future.

“In theory, it would be nice to have a fairly sustainable championship with a spec car, a spec engine, and at a sensible cost,” says Carlin. “It has to be something faster than F3, so if you could have a 650hp fast car for one million Euros a year you’d probably fill the grid. That’s what it needs but whether we’ll get that, who knows?”

In recent years, it has been a combination of pay and F1 team-backed drivers that have climbed to the top of the motorsport latter. But there are other ways too. Manor’s Pascal Wehrlein won the DTM title for Mercedes last year, as did former Force India driver Paul di Resta, and Ocon was racing in the series until his own seat at the British team was confirmed.