What's the oddest path to F1 you have seen a driver take?

[adam46]

Basically I just want to see your opinions and tof ind out some intresting methods drivers have taken in the past.

The best one I can think of would be Vitaly Petrov, who raced in two Lada championships on his ascent to F1.

Discuss!

[p-matt]

Yuji Ide's career path was quite unconventional, but then again that showed when he got to F1.

[dtype38]

Fangio. Trans-continental saloon car rallying to F1 is quite a step.

[Jacques Rabbit]

Narain Karthikeyan's original path to F1 was pretty conventional, but his second one wasn't. Camping World Trucks to F1? Went the other way around for Jacques, Scott, and Nelson!

[bella]

kimi raikkonen's was barely sensible, i mean formula renault to f1? i can't imagine anyone doing that now with anyone, it's too daft even for red bull

[wolfhound]

Kimi Raikkonen may not ohave used an odd path but it was unusual as he only did 23 car races in Formula Renault before he came into F1.

[Paradise City]

Gregor Foitek went F3 hill-climbing. Mario Andretti started in dirt tracks.

[Mystery]

Bert Gachot went from F3000 to F1 to HMP Strangeways and back again.

[cos]

Ralph Firman - Macau F3 winner, 6 (!) years in FNippon wilderness then out of nowhere an F1 season with Jordan

[Teretonga]

Intersting question.

Of the modern practioners Raikkonen's 23 races in lower formulae is a standout but ignores the years in karts, which are now an alternative to years in the lower formula and cost nearly as much. (A year in 'professional' European will cost you far more than a year in club FF or Formula Renault, and not a lot less than a season in one of the European championships).

Karting has lost touch with its roots in the cost respect which is why the numbers of national and international karters is actually in decline world wide.

If you looked at the way drivers of the 60's and 70's found their way into F1 it was actually easier then than it is now. Chris Amon was plucked from virtual obscurity in NZ racing an old Maserati 250F and Coopers to go to Europe to drive for Reg Parnells F1 team. Others from outside europe also seemed to have an easier route than those in Europe.

Although Peter Revson had driven in European F3 he went back to the USA and was taken from Indy cars and Can Am into F1. Andretti was invited by chapman to drive a third Lotus 49 (with the high wings etc) in the 1968 USGP at Watkins Glen. He had never driven a F1 car in competition before but took it out in practice and put it on pole! Chapman apparently then told him he could have a drive whenever he decided to come to F1....

Traditionally the Formula Junior/F3 route to F2 and F1 was always the obvious route but there are now many routes to gaining the ability to demonstrate talent although ultimately you are going to have to look at GP2, WSR 3.5 and European/British f3 as the ones that will get you the greatest exposure. In this respect GP3 isn't a bad option.
Many times as many people aspire to be F1 drivers now than there were 30years ago. This is simply because the sport's public demographic and the fact that the population of the planet has increased so dramatically since F1 started.

In 1800 there were only 1 billion on the planet, 1920 under 2 billion, 1960 3 billion, 2000 over 6 billion, last year 7 billion had arrived and in 9 years over 8 billion will live here. It makes sense that there will be many alternative routes and formulae and that it will be harder and harder to get to F1... let alone stay there....

[strider]

Originally Posted by wolfhound

Kimi Raikkonen may not ohave used an odd path but it was unusual as he only did 23 car races in Formula Renault before he came into F1.

He did a fair amount of F3 testing with Carlin as well.

[andy97]

Derek Warwick started out in stock cars and was World Champion, i think. Martin Brundle started off in Hot Rods

[bludvl_x19]

Sir Jack Brabham started off racing midgets on the dirt tracks, even winning a number of Australian titles, before setting foot in a Formula car.

[Peat]

When Felipe Massa came into F1 in 2002, i though 'Wow! What a step-up for him!'. Then i realised i had him confused with Sascha Massen..........

[steve_r]

Of the current drivers, De Resta has a pretty unusual background - well recently anyway. I think before his stint in DTM, he was on the more usual track.

But of course, the ultimate answer to this and many a F1 question is Perry McCarthy!

[Flavio Galtieri]

The weirdest I've seen in modern times is Max Chilton, who was at the Abu Dhabi F1 test.

He skipped all the junior formulae altogether and went from "T-Cars" (a joke kids formula with maybe 7 or 8 on the grid when I saw it) to Formula 3, thereby avoiding any need to prove himself against any of his peers lower down the order.

I know motor sport isn't a meritocracy but that took the biscuit imho....

[bella]

can't argue with that. learning in the spotlight isn't a good idea. it's even more hilarious when guys like that (can't remember who it was in particular, not inclined to point the finger anyway) say they 'worked really hard' to get a f1 test.

no. your dad worked really hard before you were born to earn the money for you to be where you are. you simply went to the kart circuit and the gym instead of school, and it shows.

BUT! it's money and the sport needs all it can get to help sustain the industry.

/off topic

[Hawkwood]

Allan McNish took the long route to get to F1.
Surprised that no-one has mentioned John Surtees yet

[ensign14]

Mario Andretti had an unusual route; jalopies on dirt ovals via ChampCar racing. How many other drivers drove Langhorne on the dirt before becoming an F1 driver?

Di Resta coming in via touring cars, not a common move.

And the Villeneuves, via snowmobile racing...

[Jacques Rabbit]

I suppose Sébastien Bourdais was a bit odd, too, though not the strangest path. Just one that took a weird direction for a while.

He was racing LMP1 cars before he went to International F3000, which is a bit out of order, but what's really strange is that after winning the F3000 title, he went to CART/Champ Car, yet still made it to F1 six years later, in that time also running sports cars of the European and American varieties. You would have thought going to America after already-overlooked success in Europe would have been a bit of a "death sentence" in F1 terms. It takes a lot of tenacity to recover from that, and while I know Bourdais rubs people a lot of the wrong way, and has a reputation as quitting on teams after what happened in Superleague, he really did have to bust his ass to get back to F1.

The most enjoyable part on his path to F1 in terms of "WTF," of course, was IROC. For those who didn't know of it, in that generation, IROC was a little NASCAR sideshow where the France family invited 10 NASCAR drivers and 2 drivers from other series and ran spec (identical setups, too) Pontiac Firebirds (which had long since ceased production) on a schedule of NASCAR ovals. Basically, it was all set up in that era for NASCAR drivers to win something with the name "International" in it to prove they were the best in the world. Bourdais beat Mark Martin and the others to win on the 1.5-mile NASCAR oval in Texas.

http://www.race2win.net/iroc/05/images/2.jpg

I'd expect to see a Pontiac Firebird in a Long Pond, PA front lawn, but not so much on the résumé of an F1-bound driver.

[Jacques Rabbit]

Originally Posted by ensign14

Mario Andretti had an unusual route; jalopies on dirt ovals via ChampCar racing. How many other drivers drove Langhorne on the dirt before becoming an F1 driver?

Surely the only one, but I'd like to hope he won't be the last to come from dirt ovals. A bit off-topic, but I've always believed that the car control you learn racing a modern sprint car on a dirt oval is so valuable. They wet the tracks to make them extra slick, and you're dealing with horsepower around 900 and weigh around 1100 lbs at the highest level of competition. I think having a background in that and then going to lower-level formula cars and climbing your way up would be the perfect way to develop an American F1 talent, but of course, I say this with the flag that I have in my sidebar, so of course I just want to see some all-American, blue collar badass cowboy take his own unconventional path to F1 and then prove everyone wrong.

Carry on.

[Icarus_nz]

Originally Posted by Jacques Rabbit

A bit off-topic, but I've always believed that the car control you learn racing a modern sprint car on a dirt oval is so valuable.
They wet the tracks to make them extra slick, and you're dealing with horsepower around 900 and weigh around 1100 lbs at the highest level of competition.
I think having a background in that and then going to lower-level formula cars an

It doesn't hurt to try different things but I don't think there is much of relevance to be taken from sprint cars to F1.

The acceleration is impressive but the terminal velocity is not.
A car sliding doesn't generate much lateral G.
The technical armoury you develop is 'backwards'. Sprintcars are set up to 'fall'(lean) into the corner and every damper is adjusted to provide best performance in one direction only.

There is a large amount of skill in carrying speed, passing and searching out the grip on the track which is constantly changing and guessing what the track surface will do throughout the race/evening. Its just not F1.

Likewise karting. As kids move from karts to cars they have a world of learning to do but have been sold the half truth that karting prepares them fully for top level motorsport.

Karting introduces you to a culture of motorsport. It sort of teaches people to pass albeit by leaning, pushing or barging. Again the terminal velocity isn't so great and the mass is low. Forget power to weight, when physics takes over in a car you are a passenger.

It a kart the pilot can alter the handling by twisting (crossweighting) the chassis, leaning, bouncing etc. It a car it takes the right input at the right time at the correct rate.

Karting requires sharp reactions. Great at the very top end of the sport. Not so good at lower levels where patience while the chassis transitions is a virtue.

Karts have a large power/weight ratio and masses of grip.
Lower levels have less power/weight, less grip.

I don't mind working with kids who have done karting - i just wish they'd leave it in their gear bag.

Raikonnen obviously had 'X' factor and the ability to learn and adapt quickly.
He must have had exceptional people teaching him and guiding him. Most of all he didn't trip.

[adam46]

Didn't the DTM/F1 driver Gray Paffet start in like F2 stock cars with his brother who still does it?

[darcym]

Alex Yoongs path was an odd one,

from his home, to the bank manager, to Minardi, to the wilderness

[Mystery]

I hope Adam Carroll makes it to F1 somehow. He'll win this award by a street.