We pick some of the sharpest young racing talents to keep an eye on this season.
Written by Greg Stuart
4 min readPublished on
The number of junior racing series these days means that it can be hard work keeping track of all the emerging talent coming through the ranks. However, even amongst all the noise, some drivers simply rise to the top.
With that in mind, we’ve combed through the best young drivers lining up on the world’s starting grids for 2017 to bring you five drivers you should keep a watching brief over this year.
Where to spot him in 2017: Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 with MP Motorsport
Sixteen-year-old Richard Verschoor has spent his winter hoovering up podiums and wins in the hotly-contested Toyota Racing Series in New Zealand. That follows on from a stellar 2016 in which he won both of the championships he competed in full-time, namely the Spanish and SMP F4 series.
For 2017, Verschoor will compete in the Europcup Formula Renault 2.0 Series with MP Motorsport as he moves into his second year as a member of the Red Bull Junior Team. We don’t know what’s in the water in the Netherlands at the moment, but as drivers like Verschoor and Max Verstappen are busy showing, it’s certainly producing some top driving talent.
2. Charles Leclerc
Nationality: Monegasque
Where to spot him in 2018: F1 with Sauber Ferrari
Rumour has it that Haas were seriously toying with the idea of promoting Charles Leclerc to their race team for 2017 as a replacement for Esteban Gutiérrez (they eventually plucked for the more experienced Kevin Magnussen to partner Romain Grosjean).
After being signed to the Ferrari Driver Academy programme, Leclerc rewarded the Scuderia’s faith in him by taking the 2016 GP3 championship, as well as getting his eye in with both Haas and Ferrari’s F1 machinery in his role as those teams’ test and development driver. For 2018 Leclerc stepped into F1 with the Sauber team, and his impressive results (6th in Baku) in an under-performing car have him as the front runner to replace Kimi Räikkönen at Scuderia Ferrari in 2019.
Where to spot him in 2017: Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 with Arden International
Announced as part of the Red Bull Junior Team rostrum for 2017, 17-year-old Daniel Ticktum is busy getting his racing career back on track following a ban in 2015. “Some people will know the mistakes I've made,” says the British teenager. “I have changed my attitude massively and I cannot wait to prove that to everyone."
Ticktum first grabbed people’s attention by claiming a grand slam of British karting achievements in 2011, winning that year's Formula Kart Stars, Super One, British Open and British Grand Prix. Set to compete in this year’s Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 series following outings last year in F3 machinery at Hockenheim and Macau, Ticktum is unequivocal about his goal is for 2017: “[I want] to win the European Formula Renault 2.0 championship.”
4. Esteban Ocon
Nationality: French
Where to spot him in 2018: Formula One with Force India
OK, so Esteban Ocon is hardly a talent that’s flying under the radar, having spent the 2017 in F1 partnering Sergio Perez at the Racing Point Force India team, and finished in an impressive eight place in the championship. He's now halfway through his second season in F1, and with a couple of sixth places under his race belt despite driving the struggling Force India, Ocon continues to impress the big dogs.
We can't help but feel there is a lot more to come from the mature youngster. The current trajectory sees Ocon ending up in the much coveted second seat at Mercedes given that he's in the Mercedes engined Force India, and is managed by the Merc team boss Toto Wolff. Current Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas is out of contract at the end of the 2018 season, will we see Ocon stepping up?
Where to spot him in 2017: European Formula Three with Carlin
Big things are predicted for Lando Norris. The 17-year-old Bristolian won last year’s McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver Award, emulating drivers like David Coulthard, Dario Franchitti and Jenson Button. Norris’ prize includes a year working as McLaren’s sim driver, which will give him invaluable experience of working within a top F1 team, while McLaren boss Zak Brown has tipped Norris as a world champion of the future.
Having won not one but two Formula Renault 2.0 championships in 2016, a move to European F3 for 2017 with the legendary Carlin squad will see Norris mixing with the big boys. Surely an F1 testing role, like the one Mercedes have just handed out to 2014 McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner George Russell, can’t be far off.
Formula Racing
Formula Renault 2.0
GP2
Junior Formula Series
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