Photos: IndyCar / Joe Skiblinski

Callum Ilott is eyeing up the chance to talk to IndyCar’s top teams for 2024, having impressed in his 22 races with the underdog Juncos outfit so far. But he knows how hard negotiating for seats at this level is…

Only a few years ago, Callum Ilott was one of the most promising drivers competing in junior single-seaters. He was third in GP3 in 2018, and Formula 2 runner-up with Virtuosi Racing in 2020, but never made it to a Formula 1 race seat after.

He currently races in IndyCar for Juncos Hollinger Racing, with whom he debuted late in the 2021 season, and led the team’s first ever full-time attack on the series last year. Ilott ended his rookie season by qualifying on the front row, and started his sophomore campaign last month with a fifth place. With the team looking competitive enough for similar results to be achieved through the year, its bolstering Ilott’s reputation and helping make sure he stays in single-seaters’ top tier for 2024.

But when Ilott finished second in F2 almost two-and-a-half years ago, he had a very different negotiating card for landing a seat at the top level. On the Formula Scout Podcast, he talked about how  events behind the scenes evolved in 2020 while he was a Ferrari junior in regards to a step up to F1, and why that never materialised. It was a situation where, according to him, he was kept in the dark for most of the year as fellow Ferrari junior Mick Schumacher beat him to the title and an F1 seat.

“It was that they [the Ferrari Driver Academy] would help find a seat. It’s not that you definitely get one,” Ilott said when asked whether he had been promised a 2021 F1 seat ahead of the 2020 F2 season.

“There is never any guarantees in this industry, so it was understood that it was never guaranteed, but obviously you’ve got a very good chance if you’re finishing the top three.”

“It is very difficult because I was not told really anything from that side,” Ilott explained about how close he came to becoming an F1 driver in 2021.

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

“Like I never really knew what was going on until it was solid. Of course, there are other ways for me to find out information, and I did. And then the media would always clarify that information two weeks later or three weeks later. So you knew you were kind of getting stuff that was correct.

“I felt like I got quite close. But of course you never know really where these deals are at, where mines are at. I think in some ways I could have got a bit more help in some areas. But again, it can all change in a week.”

Schumacher ended up graduating to F1 with Haas, a team Ilott had set to drive for in the opening practice session of the Eifel Grand Prix before rain and fog led to it being abandoned before Ilott got a chance to head out on track.

“I remember that Nurburgring FP1. Before that, it was kind of looking like that’s the direction of everything. And then I remember the Monday after that weekend, it just all changed. And then it went from you have a great chance to ciao ciao basically,” Ilott recalled, despite not mentioning the team he had more chances to step up with.

“The world works like that and it’s quite tough. And it was quite tough to hear. And again, I didn’t hear that directly. I heard it through my own sources. I mean, if it was all from the one side, I didn’t know until three races to go that I wasn’t going to F1, two races.”

Although he understands that is part of the F1 game, the then-FDA member admits he would have liked to receive more direct information about what his future was looking like and at an earlier time.

“It’s tough, and it’s a big, big moving entity, F1. Lots of decisions are made off of lots of things. It’s never just one thing. I mean, if it was on who was the quickest driver, I’d probably have a seat. If it was off of championship results, I’d probably have a seat, or at least a chance,” he reckoned.

Ferrari juniors Shwartzman, Ilott and Schumacher in F2

“I wish some things were communicated earlier, or at least the idea and the perception. And I much prefer being told the truth than some bullshit half of the time because, you know, it’s just you live your life off of hope.

“I lived 2020, 2021 off of hope, and a lot of people don’t give a shit about your hope. ‘It’s just a dream for you, okay, go along’. I found that out on one stage that no one really cared personally about my dream or whatever.”

Ilott described his situation those years as being a “pawn on the front” on a chessboard, which was “tough”.

“We’ll just let you move two spaces and get on with it,” he said. Such a scenario prompted him to look elsewhere for the future, and let him ultimately to where he is now.

“That was why 2021, I took it into my own hands and was like ‘well, you know, I’m going to go and find my own way because no one would ever find the way for me’ kind of thing. So I went over to IndyCar and that’s the start of it.

“But no, I don’t think it’s managed poorly. It’s just that’s how it works, you know. That’s why sometimes you need people in the right places. But you are dealing with something that’s so political and so big, there’s a lot more to it than that, a lot more to it than just being managed slightly better,” the 24-year-old affirmed.

Ferrari announced Ilott as its F1 test driver for 2021 just over a week after the conclusion of the F2 season, in which he had won two feature races, a sprint race and claimed five poles, and he also joined Ferrari’s engine customer Alfa Romeo Racing as one of its reserve drivers. That led to two free practice outings, and he combined those duties with racing Ferraris for the Iron Lynx team in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, the Le Mans 24 Hours – where he finished third in the GTE AM class – and the Indianapolis 8 Hours. 

“Testing with Ferrari in a certain way is like a holding place on a contract. Because there was a reserve driver, and that was [Antonio] Giovinazzi, and test driver was more like the simulator side of things.

Photo: Scuderia Ferrari

“I wasn’t really going to the track with Ferrari, I was just behind the scenes. And not doing a massive, massive amount, which is why I started doing some of the GT stuff as well because they had a space there and there was probably potential to run for the Hypercar,” he explained.

“Then the reserve stuff with Alfa, I wanted to do. So I pushed for that and got that with Fred [Vasseur, Alfa Romeo team principal]. And that came with the FP1s, and that kept me busy, going to the track, staying in touch with people, and filling my weekends up basically.

“The FP1s were obviously great to do and a great experience. And then to work with all those guys and see the professionalism and learn from Giovinazzi and [Kimi] Raikkonen. To see them hand in hand and like the way they speak, the way they work with the team, for a potential if I got the seat in ‘22 to be able to replicate and do the best job possible.”

Ilott enjoyed his maiden F1 practice session appearance at Algarve, where he clocked 21 laps in Giovinazzi’s car. His next outing was at the Red Bull Ring, where he did 23 laps, which would be his last despite the initial plan was to do a few more practice sessions in preparation for an eventual F1 debut in 2022.

“I had more agreed. Then I found the IndyCar stuff, and I think I had to sacrifice one for an IndyCar test or race. I think it was maybe Sochi I had to sacrifice, because I was probably going to do that one. And I chose the IndyCar stuff because I was like that’s probably what I’m going to end up doing [next year]. And then I had another two, but they kind of disappeared as soon as I confirmed I was doing IndyCar.”

Moving to America for 2022 meant he had to stop working with Alfa Romeo. However, he briefly returned to the F1 paddock in Miami to deputise as reserve for Robert Kubica, who had a clashing racing committment.

“I still keep in touch with Fred. Obviously now he’s at Ferrari. They needed someone for Miami and I was there. I was going anyway, and it made sense. And so it was just limited to that.

Photo: Alfa Romeo Racing

“I did offer for anything else, but they didn’t need it. I think they had [Theo] Pourchaire for a couple of races later on in the season, which I might have done if I was around.”

IndyCar is now Ilott’s “medium-term project, which could be very long term if you look at Scott Dixon, Will Power [for example].

“At the end of the day, I’m with Juncos, and they brought me into IndyCar. They gave me the opportunity, and we’ve got a big plan to try and improve as much as possible.”

Notwithstanding, he keeps his mind open for the longer term.

“I would like to see what other opportunities there are after IndyCar. There could be the Hypercar stuff, [it] is very appealing. I do take an interest to that, but it was at the wrong time in my career to really step into it. I think there’s more of an impact I can do in single-seaters, and it was a good opportunity for me in IndyCar.

“I think I’m going to target probably another four years in IndyCar and see what position I’m in and where I’m at and where the championships are, and then look at what else I might be able to do. I might stay in IndyCar for the long term. I might have maybe won the championship and have an opportunity in F1, which I may or may not turn down out of spite.”

An F1 call-up, even if from a team running towards the back of the field, would definitely bring a dilemma up in Ilott’s head.

“It depends on what I’ve got lined up in IndyCar or in Hypercar [in the future]. I think with currently one of the top two or top three teams in IndyCar, that’s a great long-term career and opportunity. For one year in F1, is it worth the trade? Probably not. But because it was something that I worked at for many, many years and still got turned down for, just to be able to do it and see what it’s like, you know, a lot of people would be like you’d be crazy to turn down the opportunity.

Photo: Juncos Racing

“But it really depends on how settled I am, and how much I’m enjoying IndyCar.

“So, I’m not going to write it off, but at the same time it’s like I’ve got to be in the position to be able to have that decision. And it would be a nice decision to have, that’s for sure.”

You can listen to the full interview on Google Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Castbox, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and below.

The post IndyCar star Ilott: “I lived 2020, ’21 off of hope” while in F1 seat limbo appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: FIA F3 European Championship

Callum Ilott has revealed he struggled with mental health during his junior career, especially in 2016 when he also suffered from chronic fatigue

The IndyCar driver recently opened up on the Formula Scout Podcast about the feelings he had in his junior single-seater career, how he dealt with it and why he now sees overcoming such a tough period as a strength whereas at the time he didn’t.

“It’s one of those things [mental health] that sometimes people speak about it more. Lando [Norris] obviously dove into it quite a lot,” Ilott said as he admitted to also have struggled himself.

“An athlete is, it’s a weird life. You know, your mood is dependent on your results most of the time. And of course, those results can change during the weekend, weekend to weekend, year to year. When we were doing Formula 3, there was three races on a weekend, and you could do a great first two races and mess up the third race, and you leave that weekend feeling like you’ve done a shit job in a certain way,” he explained.

“There’s obviously up and down of emotions, which is in some ways is probably quite healthy and in some ways really isn’t healthy. And then having to deal with personal setbacks. This is life-changing things.

“It’s like exams. If you fail your exam or your university degree, you don’t get the opportunities that you want to and that affects you. In the same way if your family put all their savings into your university degree and you fail your university degree, I think that’s a lot of pressure and a lot of stress to deal with. And on a year-to-year basis, of course it’s not the same, but it’s a similar feeling and weekend to weekend it changes.

“So the answer is yes. I have struggled at times. I’ve had to see people to help with that,” he affirmed.

“I mentioned earlier that in 2016 I had chronic fatigue for almost nine months of the year. I was sleeping 14 hours a night, going to school and racing.

Photo: FotoFormulaK

“And still like every free period I would have at school, I’d be sleeping because I was so tired. And that was including the 14 hours a night, so whatever I could on top of it.

“I look back and I go ‘fuck, that’s not really, that’s not ideal, but I got through it’. I somehow recovered quite well thanks to the help of some people. These are the hidden things. Like I didn’t mention it at the time, I just got through it.

“To be honest, I didn’t even know what was wrong with me at the time. I just knew I was really struggling. And that year I got really depressed because of it. Because when you’re so tired, there’s nothing you can [do], mentally you’re tired as well.”

Ilott, who was 17 at the time, balanced school with competing in the FIA European F3 championship. He finished sixth in the standings driving for Van Amersfoort Racing, and won two races. The year before had been his first in single-seaters, and he did it as a Red Bull junior, driving in the Toyota Racing Series and then joining Carlin in FIA European F3.

“So with the exams at school, with school, every day was super tough for me [in 2016]. And of course I had parted ways with Red Bull the year before, the year was super tough driving-wise, racing-wise. So yeah, the answer is yes. And I think it’s very common, but again I wouldn’t speak about it all the time because that stuff is viewed still to this day as a weakness.

“Now I view that as a strength coming on from it that I got through 2016. But at the time, even later on, with the pressure and the stress you have that your whole career and your whole family is behind you on this, and you suffer at home because of everything behind. I would never speak about it because – I always thought it was a deemed as a negative, so that’s something I had to deal with myself. And I had to keep my world separate, if you know what I mean? Racing couldn’t mix with what I was feeling or the people I had to deal with to help with that.

“And most people can’t help with it. It’s not something that’s as simple as seeing someone, you’ll be fixed. I don’t operate like that. I have to be at peace of mind first before I can even start thinking things. And that’s very tough when you are in the position of the stress that you have on all of this, and especially with the way that some of the championships were formed. I mean, you had two months between Sochi and Abu Dhabi, which was the final round of the championship on a normal year without the COVID-19 stuff.”

You can listen to the episode on Google Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Castbox, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and below.

The post Ilott recognises struggles with mental health during junior career appeared first on Formula Scout.

In this week’s upcoming episode of the Formula Scout Podcast, the Briton described how the two young driver programmes worked during the time he was part of them.

“Red Bull was very singular,” Ilott said. “So you have this person [saying] ‘you’ll do this and you’ll do that, good luck’ kind of thing. It’s obviously not that simple, but that was kind of the feeling and you’re like ‘okay’. And you get feedback every now and then.

“FDA was very like you’ll join these other kids, you’re going to be doing this, this is your training schedule. Like, we’ll do this together, a bit more family orientated,” he stated.

Ilott joined the RBJT ahead of his car racing debut in 2015, and would depart the programme after just one season, having finished 12th in the FIA European Formula 3 Championship with Carlin. In October 2017 he was signed by the FDA, becoming an active member of it until he left Europe to compete full-time in IndyCar in 2022.

“You know, with the Red Bull stuff, I rarely went to the factory, whereas with Ferrari, I was living at the factory. So you get to see all of this stuff, and it was also a bit of a learning exercise because the FDA was changing with people and the insides of it. So it was a bit more of a journey of like ‘what do they give you as a driver?’. So that was changing year after year [in terms of] what you were doing and all of this sort of stuff.

“With Red Bull, it was very much ‘okay, you’re driving Carlin F3’,” Ilott affirmed before explaining he had more freedom at the FDA regarding the decisions he made.

“With Ferrari, I mean, I made a lot of the decisions myself with teams and stuff like that. Obviously you have to get their approval, but it wasn’t like they were doing it for me. It was like ‘here’s the opportunities I have, what do you think?’.

“‘We think this’. And then I go ‘okay, but I think this, this, and this’.”

During his time at the FDA, Ilott also got given a test driver role at Ferrari’s Formula 1 team in 2021, and was made the reserve driver of its engine customer Alfa Romeo Racing through that year and also on occassion in 2022.

He already had a relationship with the latter, having doubled up as a junior driver of its operating company Sauber during his rookie Formula 2 season in 2019 when it had its own team in the series via a tie-up with Charouz Racing System.

The post Ilott compares the Red Bull Junior Team and Ferrari Driver Academy appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Alpine F1 Team

Alpine looks like it’s about to lose its F2 title-winning young driver Oscar Piastri just as it was about to promote him into a F1 seat. In the case that he does depart, which other young drivers should it consider?

It’s not clear if Oscar Piastri will be racing in Formula 1 next year, nor if it will be with Alpine or another team – most likely to be McLaren – and provisionally there is a vacancy in Alpine’s 2023 line-up.

Following Fernando Alonso’s departure, the manufacturer clearly considered it was the time to give a young driver a chance and so decided to promote its reserve driver. But Piastri and his management had already made their move elsewhere, having previously bided their time and seen a proposed move to Williams not happen (twice), and he has rejected a seat.

Given a driver of Piastri’s calibre but F1 inexperience was set to be signed by a team that is at the front of the midfield in the constructors’ standings, which other young drivers would potentially fit the bill for Alpine to sign? We considered the matter and came up with five candidates:

Christian Lundgaard DENMARK 21y/o
Currently 15th in IndyCar, 12th in 2020 F2, 7th in 2019 F2, 4th in 2019 Macau GP, 6th in 2019 FIA F3, 2nd in 2018 FR Eurocup, 11th in 2018 FR NEC, 2017 Spanish and North European Zone F4 champion

Photo: James Black

Photo: Joe Skibinski

Christian Lundgaard is no longer tied to Alpine, but his career record could well make him emerge as a candidate for the team’s vacant seat.

The Dane joined the Renault Sport Academy in 2017, the year of his car racing debut, and remained a member of it until he became a professional racing driver in 2022. In that period, he claimed the 2017 North European Zone and Spanish Formula 4 championships, came second —best rookie— in the 2018 Formula Renault Eurocup and claimed pole positions, podiums and wins in both FIA Formula 3 and Formula 2.

He rocketed to the top of the F1 feeder ladder and it was only there did he spend more than one year. Competing for ART Grand Prix in FIA F3 and F2 when it wasn’t dominating the series might have impacted the size of Lundgaard’s trophy cabinet, but still gave him the chance to showcase his talent.

Lundgaard also proved to be a quick adapter in his IndyCar debut in 2021. He qualified fourth and finished 12th on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course, having just one test day of previous experience in the car. He stayed with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in IndyCar for this year, and is pursuing 2023 deal. But until that is signed he is a future free agent.

He is no stranger to the Alpine F1 Team procedures either, having completed extensive simulator work and a number of private F1 test days, where he impressed, with the Enstone-based team between 2019 and ’21. The only issue is Lundgaard doesn’t hold an F1 superlicense as he himself stated last week, but Alpine could always seek for an exemption based on his vast experience and excellent track record.

• Feature: The Alpine Academy has a winning vision, but lost its drivers

Callum Ilott BRITAIN 23y/o
Currently 20th in IndyCar, 11th in 2021 GTWCE Endurance Cup, 2nd in 2020 F2, 11th in 2019 F2, 3rd in 2018 GP3, 4th in 2017 FIA European F3, 4th in 2016 Masters of F3, 5th in 2016 Macau GP, 12th in 2015 FIA European F3

Photo: Alfa Romeo Racing

Photo: IndyCar / Joe Skiblinski

The name of Callum Ilott quickly comes to mind when one thinks of drivers who deserved a chance in F1 but missed out on it in recent years. It is true that Ilott never won any of the championships he competed in during his junior single-seater career. However, he has always shown great speed wherever he took the track.

Having had a successful karting career, Ilott was thrown into the 2015 FIA European F3 Championship in an attempt by Red Bull Racing’s advisor Dr. Helmut Marko to emulate what Max Verstappen had done the year before. With only 16 races of car racing under his belt, Ilott went up against what has arguably been the most talented grid in junior single-seaters’ recent history. Results weren’t as good as expected, but skills were definitely there.

Since then, poles, podiums and victories have been a constant in Ilott’s career. After not landing a F1 seat in 2021, he was forced into GT racing and was fast straightaway, and from there to IndyCar, where he currently shines with single-car outfit Juncos Hollinger Racing who has already extended his contract into 2023.

• Read more: Formula Scout’s Class of 2020

His capacity for switching teams and being fast in no time, and his experience working with the Ferrari and Alfa Romeo F1 teams definitely make Ilott a desirable option for Alpine despite his ongoing Ferrari and Juncos ties.

Theo Pourchaire FRANCE 18y/o
Currently 2nd in F2, 5th in 2021 F2, 2nd in 2020 FIA F3, 2019 ADAC F4 champion, 2018 French F4 Junior champion

Photos: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Having junior single-seaters’ most eminent Frenchman make it to F1 with a French team makes a lot of sense, and it would be a big surprise if Pourchaire hasn’t already contacted Alpine since Piastri’s rejection.

He’s convinced he won’t be in F2 again next year, but his confidence in that statement is contrasted by his lack of confidence right now in landing a seat at Alfa Romeo Racing for 2023 despite essentially being lined up for that over the past two years. A bit like Piastri at Alpine.

If Pourchaire has an idea that he could be heading elsewhere, then Alpine would logically be the place to go and being able to rebuild his belief that he’s off to F1 may boost or hold back his F2 performances as has previously been seen.

• Feature: How Pourchaire’s F1 bubble burst, and why it’s helping his F2 focus

But why should Alpine sign Pourchaire beyond a shared nationality? For one, he’s the prodigal talent that Esteban Ocon was supposed to be before he turned into a solid and dependable midfield F1 performer, and also he’s so young and full of room for improvement that a rookie season of hard knocks would not be of much concern as long as he can maintain confidence.

Pourchaire is already used to, although maybe still can’t quite handle, the pressure of having a lot of attention on him and for Alpine’s commercially-driven superiors he would be a strong promoter of the brand as he’s already established a sizeable media presence at home and been invited on to various television shows including Top Gear. Combining top F2 results with good looks and a genuine interest in road cars makes Pourchaire a winning choice for Alpine’s F1 team and its car sales.

Last year, former Formula Scout writer Craig Woollard wrote a piece on Pourchaire after speaking to him about his stunning F2 pole position at the Monaco Grand Prix. The title was ‘Is a schoolkid destined to replace a F1 world champion in 2022?’. It may not be as originally envisaged, with the ‘destiny’ of Vasseur’s protege now looking quite ‘undestined’, but it could hold true for 2023 if two-time champion Alonso finds himself being replaced by Pourchaire.

Sacha Fenestraz FRANCE/ARGENTINA 23y/o
Currently 1st in Super GT and 3rd in Super Formula, 17th in 2021 SF, 4th in 2020 Super GT, 2019 SF Lights champion, 3rd in 2018 Macau GP, 2017 FR Eurocup champion, 5th in 2016 FR NEC, 2nd in 2015 French F4

Photo: Formula E

Photo: Super Formula

Fenestraz is set to join the wider Renault family imminently when he is announced as a Nissan driver in Formula E, and that is part of the same automotive group as Renault and Alpine so a buyout from that contract would be easier than when Red Bull did the same with Alex Albon a few years ago.

The Franco-Argentinian has really established himself well with Toyota in Japan, winning in Super Formula and Super GT, and he’s also already got lengthy roots in the FE paddock having been part of Jaguar for three seasons.

• Read more: Ten of the best FR Eurocup seasons

He’s also already known to Enstone, having spent a season as one of its juniors after winning the 2017 FR Eurocup. That he then got dropped after a single season in FIA European F3 was down to bad results, but it was clear had Renault held faith a little longer it would have been rewarded by a driver capable of far more.

For 2019 he switched to Japan in SF Lights and a convincing title win there helped him into SF, while an impressive job with Kondo Racing in Super GT300 convinced Toyota’s top team TOM’S to hand him a GT500 berth too for 2020. He’s been doing a great job with Kondo in SF and TOM’S in Super GT ever since, and actually leads the latter championship right now.

• Read more: Why 2020 could have propelled Fenestraz back into F1’s view

Pandemic travel issues shortened his 2021 campaigns and there’s still some difficulties in competing in Japan which have contributed in part to his decision to move to FE. With that willingness to commit to a global schedule again, it makes Fenestraz well prepared to step into F1 too. Being able to race under a French flag would also be a good look for Alpine.

Jack Doohan AUSTRALIA 19y/o
Currently 9th in F2, 2nd in 2021 FIA F3, 2nd in 2019 & ’19-20 FRegional Asia, 11th in 2019 Euroformula, 5th in 2018 British F4

Photos: Formula Motorsport Limited

If Alpine’s attempts to promote a driver from its own academy to a race seat are thwarted by Piastri and his people’s will to go somewhere else, could it reasonably turn to another of its existing juniors in order to prove a point? And another Australian, at that?

After years of Red Bull patronage, Doohan entered Alpine’s arms over the winter in the belief it offered him better opportunities to develop than Marko’s overcrowded pool of potential talent. That decision has already been vindicated to a degree when he joined Piastri for tests in Alpine’s 2021 car earlier this year, and now he could already find himself at the front of its queue of young talent.

On track, Doohan has not always looked like a potential superstar in his own right, but he has been building strong momentum, putting a tough rookie FIA F3 behind him with an impressive run to second place last year, and then adapting immediately to F2. His second place to Piastri in qualifying in Abu Dhabi last year was followed by pole positions in Bahrain and Barcelona in the early rounds of this season. Turning that form into results has been more difficult, with his two wins having come in reversed-grid sprint races.

But with four rounds to go, the potential is there to start putting it together more consistently. Ninth in the standings is certainly not F1-ready form, but there’s only 12 points separating him from fourth.

The question is, even if Doohan drives right himself into contention in the three weeks immediately following the summer break and gives Alpine a plausible option from within its own ranks, would a promotion be the right thing for his development, and by extension the academy’s objectives? Taking a gamble on an inexperienced driver on the basis of a few good weekends would be a very Red Bull thing to do, given Doohan currently looks like someone who could benefit from another year at this level to refine some of his weaknesses.

Perhaps, in that case, the best thing Alpine could do is give a chance to the F2 driver who has been performing most consistently and assuredly of all in 2022: Felipe Drugovich.

Written by Alejandro Alonso Lopez, Ida Wood & Peter Allen

The post Five young drivers Alpine should take a F1 chance on appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photos: Penske Entertainment / Chris Owens

In the latest Formula Scout Podcast, The Race‘s IndyCar correspondent Jack Benyon joins Craig Woollard to discuss this year’s rookie crop in the United States’ top single-seater series

There will be four drivers arriving from the junior ranks in IndyCar in 2022, and each of them has an interesting story around their career to date and the behind-the-scenes negotiations and dealings that has brought them onto the IndyCar grid.

Kyle Kirkwood and David Malukas disputed the Indy Lights title last year in front of the IndyCar paddock, and now they get to do it all over again slightly further down the grid at AJ Foyt Racing and Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports respectively.

• Podcasts with: Kyle Kirkwood and David Malukas

Also racing against them in Indy Lights was Devlin DeFrancesco, who steps up with the Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport team he raced for in his two years on the Road to Indy. There’s some interesting insight from Benyon into how that deal was the starting point of the silly season for the young drivers trying to open the IndyCar door for 2022.

Two drivers who got some brief IndyCar experience last year and now get to tackle the series full-time are Callum Ilott and Christian Lundgaard. The former Formula 2 rivals stay with the teams they debuted with in 2021, with Ilott racing for a Juncos Hollinger Racing team that is rumoured to be creating a technical partnership with Carlin for the upcoming season while Lundgaard has a multi-year deal with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

Despite not racing in America during their junior single-seater careers, both have experience of Indianapolis Motor Speedway as it’s where Lundgaard remarkably qualified just 0.0286 seconds off pole position on his sole IndyCar start last year and is where Ilott went from hero to zero in the Intercontinental GT Challenge as he earned Ferrari team AF Corse the Indianapolis 8 Hours lead lead in a dicey battle and then threw away victory by misjudging a gap as he went to lap a car.

The sixth rookie is Colombia’s Tatiana Calderon, who will do the road and street course races for Foyt. She raced in Indy Pro 2000 over a decade ago, and after two part-time Super Formula campaigns now returns to America. The driver who will contest the oval races in her car is yet to be announced, but could well be IndyCar’s seventh rookie of 2022, such is the intensity of IndyCar’s driver market in the modern era…

Listen to the podcast below, or find it on Breaker, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Castbox, Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

The post Podcast: How IndyCar’s 2022 rookie crop will fare feat. Jack Benyon appeared first on Formula Scout.

Having annually ranked the top 50 drivers in junior single-seater racing since 2011, Formula Scout also now recognises the achievements of the very best of those who ‘graduate’ into the world of professional racing each year.

For 2021 there were some honourable mentions who landed either professional drives or reached a top level outside of single-seaters, but then continued their junior single-seater careers at the same time.

Jack Aitken was supposed to spend this year allying his Williams Formula 1 reserve driver duties with a GT World Challenge Europe drive in a Emil Frey Racing-run Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo, but a decision by Matteo Nannini to focus on his FIA Formula 3 Championship campaign meant Aitken ended up replacing him in HWA Racelab’s Formula 2 line-up.

It was a fruitless stint stopped when he broke his back in a crash in the Spa 24 Hours, with a best finish of fourth in his Lambo shared with Formula Regional European Championship graduate Konsta Lappalainen prior to that.

Racing against him in F2 was Liam Lawson, who in a Red Bull-branded AF Corse-run Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo rocked the DTM. He won on his debut, becoming the series’ yongest ever winner aged 19, and was on course for the title until a highly controversial Norisring finale. Also racing in the DTM were Toyota Racing Series race-winner Esteban Muth and former F3 racer Sophia Floersch who also impressed in LMP2 machinery in the World Endurance Championship.

The standout rookie of endurance racing this year was Franco Colapinto, now effectively a protege of G-Drive Racing, and the Argentinian was arguably the fastest driver on one-lap pace in both the Asian and European Le Mans Series in the top LMP2 class. He impressed so much that W Racing Team then called him up to race for it in the Spa 24H, despite having no GT racing experience, and came 22th in an Audi R8 LMS GT3. Later that month he came seventh in the Le Mans 24 Hours’ LMP2 class in a car shared with G-Drive team boss Roman Rusinov and Nyck de Vries, and then his form in FREC went up.

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

He ended a disappointing sixth in FREC, and is expected to move up to F3 next year alongside more endurance racing.

Over in Japan there were double programmes in Super Formula and the supporting SF Lights for Giuliano Alesi and Kazuto Kotaka, with SF Lights title runner-up Alesi taking a surprise win from pole at a wet Autopolis while standing in for Kazuki Nakajima at TOM’S. He will now take over the former F1 driver’s seat full-time for 2022.

Ramus Lindh was a frontrunner in LMP3 before landing an Indy Lights drive in the final quarter of the season, and Jorge Barrio was Argentinian Formula Renault 2.0 champion for the second year in a row while also winning Argentina’s second-tier TC2000 tin-top championship.

But none of these names could make the cut, so here is Formula Scout’s Class of 2020… Key Wins (W), poles (P), fastest laps (FL)

10. Charles Milesi FRANCE 20y/o
LM24H LMP2 winner, LMP2 Endurance Trophy winner (3 W), 10th in IMSA Endurance Cup LMP2, 17th in ELMS (2P, 2 FL)   2020: 21st in Super Formula, Ret in LM24H   2019: 9th in SF Lights   2018: 7th in FR Eurocup (2 W, 2 P, 1 FL)

Injury in 2019 and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 delayed Milesi’s progression into the professional echelons, but three SF starts last year warmed him up well after his 2019 season was curtailed by a broken wrist that required intrusive surgery.

Rather than stick with SF for 2021, Milesi forewent the difficult travel restrictions and he landed a seat in WEC with the debuting WRT in a LMP2 car shared with Ferdinand Habsburg and Robin Frijns.

Despite the line-up’s near-total lack of LMP2 experience, they gelled perfectly and after inheriting victory from their team-mates in heartbreaking style at Le Mans (more on that later) they won both races in Bahrain to claim the class title.

That was a result based on teamwork, but there was also individual magnificence from Milesi who did the last two ELMS rounds with Cool Racing in a Pro-Am car. He took pole and fastest lap for both events, but with a Bronze-graded driver in the car it meant race results were hard to come by. However Milesi still lifted the team to its best results of the year.

9. Kiern Jewiss BRITAIN 19y/o
3rd in Porsche Carrera Cup GB (4 W)   2020: 13th in BRDC British F3 (1 W)   2019: 4th in BRDC British F3 (1 W, 2 P, 2 FL)

Photo: Porsche GB

Photo: Porsche GB

One of the most exciting young drivers to watch over the last few years has been Jewiss. He pulled off incredibly bold overtakes on his way to the British Formula 4 title in 2018, sometimes going too far in his rivalry with Ayrton Simmons, but it pushed the envelope for the category in terms of racecraft in the same way Max Verstappen is finding the limits of F1’s sporting rules today.

There was a Ferrari Driver Academy invite for an evaluation camp, and the Autosport BRDC Award even lowered its age limit to encompass the Mark Blundell protege, but the budget simply wasn’t there for a prolonged single-seater career.

He managed to return to his old Ginetta Junior team Douglas Motorsport to step up to what was then called BRDC British F3, but the combination struggled for pace in the first half of the season and meant Jewiss eventually came fourth in the series.

He returned for a second season, or at least the first half of it, and his career was practically revived when he signed with Team Parker Racing for this year’s Porsche Carrera Cup GB and as team-mate to the reigning champion Harry King who had won the title as an official Porsche GB junior.

The series runs on the same bill as British F4, meaning it has live UK television coverage of every round, and that exposure was important for Jewiss. He made the most of it and his team-mate too, winning on just his second start and taking three more victories across the season to come third – not too far off highly-rated champion Dan Cammish – and ahead of King.

8. Ritomo Miyata JAPAN 22y/o
10th in SF, 11th in Super GT   2020: SF Lights champion (12 W, 6 P, 15 FL), 17th in SF, 17th in Super GT

Photo: Super Formula

Photo: Super GT

Miyata qualified second on his SF debut last year, as a stand-in driver due to pandemic-enforced absences, and scored points in both of the races he was given the chance to race in by TOM’S. He was clearly something special.

So to get a full-time seat this year with the title-winning team put a fair bit of pressure on the 2020 SF Lights dominator.

He mostly did what was expected of him, scoring in his first eight races before that run came to an end in the season finale with a lowly 14th place finish after a spin and meant he finished two points up on rookie part-time team-mate Alesi.

Miyata’s best finish was fourth and he only qualified in the top three once, but he was consistent. His qualifying average was 6.14, and average race finish was 7.86, with only one outlying result for each. He also had to lead the team on set-up with Nakajima mostly absent, and was usually quicker to make the most of it in qualifying against his team-mates. There just wasn’t the pace to be further forward though.

In Super GT he helmed WedsSport Bandoh’s resurgence, having actually completed his rookie season in the top GT500 class last year. The 2021 season featured two poles and two second places, highlighting Miyata’s one-lap pace, and he chased Naoki Yamamoto hard at Twin Ring Motegi in a performance that really impressed. In both series the results weren’t quite there with his machinery, but TOM’S and Toyota have their faith in Miyata and he’s now landing a top sportscar seat for 2022.

7. Yuki Tsunoda JAPAN 21y/o
14th in F1   2020: 3rd in F2 (3 W, 4 P, 1 FL), 4th in Toyota Racing Series (1 W)   2019: 4th in Euroformula (1 W, 3 FL)

Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

Photo: Scuderia AlphaTauri

In both the first and final races of the 2021 F1 season, Tsunoda was looking like the real deal. Quick, aggressive, bold, feisty and crafty, he smashed in a couple of outstanding results. Unfortunately, for much of the rest of the campaign, his car was often left smashed up after an unnecessary incident.

Those troubles, and the expected onslaught of criticism that followed, massively knocked the Red Bull junior’s confidence. So bad was it, that he was surprised when he kept his seat for 2022, despite there not really being another F2 graduate on the verge of a step up.

It took him a very long time to rebound, eventually culminating in a fine fourth place in Abu Dhabi (with a mega lunge on Mercedes-AMG’s Valtteri Bottas to boot). The qualifying gap, race pace gap and points gap to flying Frenchman Pierre Gasly in the same car was astronomic across the year as a whole, but there were underlying glimpses that Tsunoda is the same brilliant driver we saw in the past three years in the junior ranks.

But his team on occasion did have one of the fastest cars in F1 this year, and he couldn’t make the most of it.

6. Mick Schumacher GERMANY 22y/o
19th in F1   2019: F2 champion (2 W, 2 FL)   2019: 12th in F2 (1 W, 2 FL)   2018: FIA European F3 champion (8 W, 7 P, 4 FL)

Photo: LAT/Haas

Photo: LAT/Haas

Schumacher looked by far the most comfortable and most consistent of the drivers to graduate to F1.

The Haas VF-21 he wrestled was, frankly, a rather disastrous car but there were glimpses of Schumacher producing a bit of a spark to place it in positions it didn’t deserve to be in a race or two. However, despite looking the most comfortable, he also had some hefty shunts, which goes against him.

Obvious highlights included scraping into Q2 at Istanbul Park and a defensive masterclass at a jumbled up (and damp) Hungaroring, showcasing his ability to pounce when there’s a chance of something. It resembled a bit of his F2 career in a way, just with far better adaptability (one of his key junior weaknesses), and some very fine qualifying performances.

This is a somewhat reserved placement given the up-and-down year, as well as the rubbish machinery at his disposal, but he’s showcasing the ability to build and adapt the team around him as he did with Prema for so many years coming up the ranks and which was noted by others in the F1 paddock.

His fellow rookie team-mate, who does not make this list, was regularly thrashed in qualifying and races.

5. Louis Deletraz SWITZERLAND 24y/o
ELMS champion (3 W), 20th in WEC LMP2, NC in LM24H   2020: 4th in LM24H, 8th in F2 (2 FL)   2019: 8th in F2 (2 FL)

It became a bit of a light-hearted joke during Deletraz’s F2 career that he couldn’t win, with 94 races returning six second places and one front-row start. Before that he took a far more efficient two wins and three poles from 20 Formula V8 3.5 races.

From the previous five years the only instance where Deletraz looked truly spectacular was when he was called up by Rebellion Racing to contest the 2020 Le Mans 24 Hours, looking immediately comfortable in free practice and then running in contention for second place in the race when a worn clutch during his final stint led to several issues and an eventual finish of fourth.

That debut put Deletraz on the endurance racing map, and with no F1 doors opening for 2021 he joined crack GT racing outfit WRT as it started its first venture into prototype sportscars. He ended up sharing a car with Robert Kubica and Yifei Ye.

Deletraz won on his LMP2 debut at Barcelona, and the trio followed it up with a second ELMS win at the Red Bull Ring. Inter Europol Competition then took on Deletraz for a WEC round, and he finished fifth in class, before WRT attacked Le Mans.

He was nominated to qualify the car, and ended up as the second-fastest LMP2. He was in that position after 12 hours of the race, behind the Milesi entry, and the car twice moved into the lead in the morning while Ye was at the wheel. It looked like Deletraz would be a Le Mans winner when on the final lap of the race Ye encountered a throttle sensor issue and the car stopped. Their race was over.

It was heartbreak for the crew, but they then went on to win another ELMS round and the title, guaranteeing themselves another shot at Le Mans next year.

4. Niklas Krutten GERMANY 19y/o
2nd in ELMS LMP3 (2 W), 5th/2nd in Road to Le Mans, 12th in IMSA LMP3 (1 P), NLS BM240i (1 P, 1 FL)   2020: 5th in Euroformula

LMP3 is the F3 of prototype sportscars, and so it wouldn’t usually be considered for drivers ‘graduating’ from junior single-seaters. But like LMP2, sometimes a driver is signed to do a job, which at the same time is a breakthrough opportunity, and from there they establish themselves to make appearances with others in the category.

Krutten landed in LMP3 this year just as an opportunity to continue his racing career, having initially been set to stay in single-seaters after coming fifth in Euroformula, but soon became the star of the category and was a de facto pro by year’s end.

He won his first two races in Europe and only missed out on the ELMS title by a single point, and also contested the Road to Le Mans support races at the 24-hour race, coming fifth and second in the sprint races, then got called up by Zak Brown’s United Autosports team for two IMSA rounds.

Krutten rounded out his season by taking Petit Le Mans class pole, but a crash and a fuel pump failure ruined his race. He also put in two appearances in the NLS series on the Nurburgring Nordschleife, where he shared a BMW with fellow ADD Management client Jake Dennis and finished second in class on debut.

ADD also got Krutten into the Jaguar garage in Formula E’s Berlin finale, and will surely find the 19-year-old even more endurance racing opportunities for 2022. The feedback from the team bosses he’s had so far has also been excellent.

3. Callum Ilott BRITAIN 23y/o
3rd in LM24H GTEAm, 11th in GTWCE Endurance Cup, 38th in IndyCar, NC in Intercontinental GT Challenge   2020: 2nd in F2 (3 W, 5 P)

Photo: Juncos Racing

Photo: IndyCar / Joe Skiblinski

There was a very embarrassing incident at Indianapolis in the Intercontinental GT Challenge that cost AF Corse victory, but otherwise Ilott looked totally at home in a GT car this year after Ferrari overlooked him for a F1 drive.

Ilott had taken the Indianapolis 8 Hours lead in a dicey battle, going from third to first in one move at a restart, with just over 90 minutes to go. He then looked comfortable out front until with 52 minutes to go he misjudged lapping a GT4 car and squeezed himself against the outside wall. The result was a collision, crash and immediate retirement.

Away from that, Ilott was mostly fast, faultless and formidable. In the GTE version of the 488 he made the Le Mans podium in the GTEAm class, then in the GT3 car he picked up some strong GTWCE Endurance Cup results early on but there was just misfortune after that as team-mate Antonio Fuoco crashed the car at Barcelona.

Alongside his F1 reserve and test driver duties, Ilott was also able to head to the USA to kickstart his IndyCar career. He contested the final three rounds with the returning Juncos Hollinger Racing team, which he will drive for full-time next year.

Ilott qualified a respectable 19th for his debut at Portland, but failed to finish, ended up on row 13 of the grid at Laguna Seca and spun into the barriers during the warm-up session before coming a lapped 22nd, but looked more on the pace in Long Beach before a spin that combining his and team’s inexperience meant his year ended very flatly.

It didn’t look impressive on the surface, but given drivers at bigger teams didn’t go trouble-free either but had more races to show their worth, it was a respectable arrival by Ilott and sets him up for 2022.

2. Sena Sakaguchi JAPAN 22y/o
7th in SF, 14th in Super GT (1 P, 1 FL), 16th in Super GT300   2020: 2nd in SF Lights (4 W, 5 P, 2 FL), FRegional Japan champion (11 W, 8 P, 8 FL), 18th in Super GT, 16th in Super GT300

Photo: Super GT

Photo: Super Formula

Despite dominating the Formula Regional Japanese Championship last year and coming second in SF Lights, you would be forgiven for not expecting much of Sakaguchi as he replaced the retiring Hiroaki Ishiura in INGING’s SF line-up.

But he spent 2021 exceeding all expectations. In SF he beat team-mate Sho Tsuboi convincingly, finishing second twice in changing weather and ending up as the second-best rookie in the points thanks to a strong partnership with his engineer Kotaro Tanaka.

He made the top three in qualifying twice, and in a season where the Honda-powered teams tended to have the advantage on one-lap pace it was still an impressive return and he had an average starting position of 7.29 and average finish of 7.14.

Due to travel restrictions he also ended up standing in for Sacha Fenestraz at TOM’S for the first five Super GT rounds. There, once again, he exceeded expectations.

He took pole, led the early running and took fastest lap on the way to third in the very first race of the season, then made the podium again next time out. Once Fenestraz could make it to Japan, Sakaguchi moved down to a Super GT3000 drive but again immediately landed on the podium. Of all the drivers on this list, the one who had the biggest breakout year.

1. Yifei Ye CHINA 23y/o
ELMS champion (3 W, 1 FL), ALMS champion (2 W), NC in LM24H   2020: Euroformula champion (11 W, 12 P, 12 FL)

Photo: Alex Goure / ACO

Thinking better of a post-season SF test, but not having the budget for F2, Ye’s single-seater career came to an unintended standstill after his sublime Euroformula title, but once he got an LMP2 chance he grabbed it with both hands.

He became the first ever driver to win the ALMS and ELMS titles in the same year, should have won Le Mans, and then used his rising stock to orchestrate a move into Porsche Asia Pacific’s line-up and a 2022 GT racing programme.

There was no pre-season testing for Ye before he jumped in one of G-Drive Racing’s Algarve Pro Racing-run LMP2 cars, but he mastered not only the car but the format of endurance racing in the top class and during his stints was outclassing far more experienced drivers.

Ye was signed to Williams Esports and crack sportscar Rebellion Racing to contest last summer’s Virtual LM24H during the first global lockdown period.

The simulated car he used in the rFactor 2-based Esports event was the same Oreca 07 he raced in ALMS, and other appearances in major Esports competitions brought him into contact with people in the real-world sportscar paddock.

That helped him then go from ALMS, where he won his first two races in sportscars, to WRT’s ELMS line-up and the combination of himself, Deletraz and Kubica (both teaching Ye a lot) did the exact same thing with two wins on the trot. Two further wins were arguably lost to ill-timed safety car periods.

Ye was not considered the pro driver in the line-up and so was often looked over for qualifying and the more lucrative race stints, which had some influence on his 2022 contract negotiations and ultimately led to him leaving the outfit once manager Neel Jani used his Porsche connections to push Ye in that direction. Importantly though, every time Ye was in the Oreca 07 he was a driver the other teams had to look out for because of how potent he was proving to be.

At Le Mans he passed Milesi in the night for the LMP2 lead, and he did actually end up at the wheel for the all-important final stint. And so most of the pain was felt by the Chinese when the car turned off on the final lap.

His Porsche move is with one goal in mind: an LMDh seat in 2023 and overall Le Mans victory.

Written by Ida Wood and Craig Woollard

The post Formula Scout’s Class of 2020 appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: IndyCar / Joe Skiblinski

Ferrari junior Callum Ilott has secured a full-time IndyCar drive for 2022 with Juncos Hollinger Racing, the team he recently made his series debut with.

The team returned to the IndyCar grid for the final three races of 2021 ahead of a planned full-time campaign next year, and after putting Ilott in the car for those races they have decided he merits occupying the seat on a permanent basis.

Ilott’s IndyCar debut at Portland earlier this month ended in retirement, and he finished 22nd at Laguna Seca last weekend. His third and final race of 2021 is on the streets of Long Beach this Sunday.

“Coming into the final weekend of our three-race run on the West Coast, it’s great to announce that I will be continuing next year with Juncos Hollinger Racing for the 2022 IndyCar season,” said Ilott.

“Obviously, we have had a steep learning curve here the last few races to try to put everything together. We have had some real positives and know the things we need to work on.

“Knowing what Ricardo Juncos and Brad Hollinger have in place for next season and especially over the winter of what we can do in testing, I definitely feel we can put ourselves in a great position to start off the 2022 season strong.

“I look forward to continuing the work that we are doing and heading into the winter to start a new journey over here, and I would like to thank the Ferrari Driver Academy for allowing me to take this opportunity.”

After finishing second to fellow Ferrari junior Mick Schumacher in Formula 2 last year, Ilott landed two Formula 1 roles: reserve driver at Alfa Romeo Racing, and test driver at Ferrari.

He was also handed a sportscar seat in an Iron Lynx-run Ferrari 488 that has included the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup and then the Le Mans 24 Hours in the GTE version of the car. The 22-year-old made the class podium at Le Mans, and is currently ninth in his GTWCE Endurance programme.

The post Ferrari junior Ilott lands full-time IndyCar drive with Juncos for 2022 appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: James Black / IndyCar

Ferrari junior Callum Ilott is set to complete the current IndyCar season with returning team Juncos Hollinger Racing.

The 2020 Formula 2 runner-up initially signed a one-race deal with the outfit, which last raced in the series in 2019 when it famously bumped Fernando Alonso from the Indianapolis 500.

Juncos was keen on trying a number of drivers out in the final rounds of the IndyCar season at Portland International Raceway, Laguna Seca and Long Beach – but it has now been announced that Ilott will do all three.

• Feature: The young drivers whose mid-season IndyCar debuts Lundgaard followed

“On top of starting my debut weekend in the IndyCar Series with Juncos Hollinger Racing, we will also be finishing off the championship together,” Ilott said. “Let’s see what we can achieve in the next couple of weeks at some awesome circuits.”

Ilott tested for the team at the start of September on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course (pictured above), but his first competitive IndyCar action will come this weekend in the Grand Prix of Portland.

“The entire Juncos Hollinger Racing organization is thrilled to keep Callum Ilott onboard for all three races to finish off the IndyCar season,” team co-owner Ricardo Juncos said.

“We are looking forward to a great debut as a team tomorrow on track and to build on each session throughout the next few weeks.

“Callum brings a great deal of talent, and we have all been working hard together over the past few weeks to build our program, so it feels great to carry this relationship as a team for the rest of the season.”

Ilott is the second recent F2 driver to debut in the series following Christian Lundgaard’s impressive debut at the IMS Road Course in August, where he qualified fourth and finished 12th despite a bout of food poisoning.

The exention of his IndyCar deal means that Ilott will be ruled out of his Formula 1 reserve duties with Alfa Romeo Racing at the Russian Grand Prix later this month, and therefore Robert Kubica – who deputised for Kimi Raikkonen at the Dutch Grand Prix last weekend and the Italian Grand Prix this weekend – will takie his place.

The post Ilott’s IndyCar deal extended to end of season ahead of debut appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Juncos Racing

Callum Ilott, the 2020 Formula 2 runner up, will debut in IndyCar next week at the Grand Prix of Portland with the returning Juncos Hollinger Racing team.

The Briton missed out on the F2 title last year to fellow Ferrari junior Mick Schumacher, who graduated to Formula 1 with Haas. Ilott, despite being linked with a move to that team as well as Alfa Romeo Racing, missed out on a drive.

He became Alfa Romeo’s reserve driver and Ferrari’s primary test driver, taking part in free practice sessions for Alfa at two grands prix this year. His main 2021 campaign has been GT World Challenge Europe with Ferrari customer team Iron Lynx.

“Super excited to be racing IndyCar for Juncos Racing next week in Portland,” Ilott said on social media on Wednesday.

“First experience driving the beast on track tomorrow at Indianapolis. Big thank you to Ricardo [Juncos] and Brad [Hollinger] for the opportunity.”

Ilott also made his Le Mans 24 Hours debut last month with Iron Lynx, finishing third in the GTE-Am category, and his first IndyCar race will also be his United States racing debut.

“Callum brings a lot of experience and incredible talent to the team,” said Juncos team boss Ricardo Juncos.

“We are confident that he will make a good transition to the IndyCar series when we hit the track for our final test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway tomorrow before making our official debut together in Portland next week. ”

Road to Indy and sportscar team Juncos has not appeared in IndyCar since 2019, but is contesting the remaining three rounds of this season ahead of a full-time 2022 return with new partner Brad Hollinger.

The team has previously run Rene Binder, Kyle Kaiser and Alfonso Celis Jr in its sole (mostly) full season back in 2018 in IndyCar, while in 2019 Kaiser famously bumped Fernando Alonso out of the Indianapolis 500.

Ilott is only confirmed for the Portland round, with the identity of the driver for the Laguna Seca and Long Beach races yet to be determined.

The post Ferrari’s 2020 F2 runner-up Ilott to race in IndyCar for Juncos appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Haas F1 Team

It’s 30 years to the day since Michael Schumacher took F1 by storm on his debut. Could any young driver grasp a similar opportunity today? 

There has inevitably been much interest in the 30th anniversary of Michael Schumacher’s amazing debut weekend for Jordan in the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps. Beyond the significance of the anniversary itself, this weekend, of course, will be son Mick’s first Formula 1 start at the demanding Ardennes circuit – and he’s even been driving his father’s Jordan 191 (pictured) to mark the occasion.

Schumacher senior was famously called up by Jordan at short notice in the aftermath of regular driver Bertrand Gachot’s incarceration in a British jail following an altercation with a London cabbie.

From today’s perspective, the decision to give the drive to Schumacher seems like an inspired judgement, cementing Eddie Jordan’s reputation as a talent-spotter in the junior single-seater ranks. In truth, Schumacher was effectively a pay-driver for the weekend and Jordan’s decision was driven by financial more than sporting considerations. Jordan himself has subsequently admitted to having little idea about Schumacher or his record up to that point.

However, as the reigning German F3 champion and winner of both legs of the 1990 F3 Euro-Macau-Fuji Challenge, Schumacher was one of the top names in the junior single-seater ranks at the end of that year. By the time of Spa, his F3 rival Mika Hakkinen was already established within F1 with Lotus. Schumacher’s only single-seater appearance so far that season had been second place in a Japanese F3000 round at Sugo.

As a member of the Mercedes Junior Team, Schumacher had been gaining experience and attention with the marque’s Group C sportscars over the previous two seasons. Mercedes were keen to give him his Grand Prix debut and provided the financial support to place their man in the cockpit of the highly-competitive Jordan 191 for Spa.

Schumacher’s performance has been well-documented; eighth fastest in qualifying, beating experienced team-mate Andrea de Cesaris’s time by almost 0.8 seconds. Despite, or maybe because of the Jordan’s clutch failing within a few hundred metres of the start, a legend had been created.

Photo: Williams Racing

In 2021, it is COVID-19 self-isolation rather than enforced imprisonment that is more likely to rule a driver out of action and necessitate a one-off replacement. During 2020, Sergio Perez, Lance Stroll and Lewis Hamilton were all forced to sit out races for that reason. Racing Point called up Nico Hulkenberg on both occasions whereas Hamilton’s absence opened the door indirectly for Jack Aitken (pictured above) to make his debut with Williams. In addition, Pietro Fittipaldi started the final two grands prix of the year following Romain Grosjean’s horrific accident in Bahrain.

In modern F1, teams’ choice of a potential emergency replacement would, in practice, be motivated by existing reserve driver arrangements, academy affiliations, availability and, most significantly, eligibility for a superlicence.

The current points-based system for a driver to qualify for a superlicence makes it close to impossible for an up-and-coming star to jump straight from F3 to F1 in the way that Schumacher himself did (and, of course, more recently, Max Verstappen). Indeed, under the current rules, Schumacher’s results in F3 and sportscars would not have qualified him for a superlicence, although it should be noted that a national F3 championship in 1990 had a very different status than such a series does in 2021.

But if a hypothetical scenario arose in 2021, with a team needing to fill a vacant seat for this weekend’s Belgian GP and no automatic reserve driver available, who from the junior single-seater ranks might a team-owner with a point-scoring and potentially race-winning car turn to?

For the purposes of this “what-if” scenario let’s assume that the team owner has decided to give a chance to a driver with no previous F1 race experience…

Nyck de Vries

Photo: Formula E

Having just clinched the Formula E world championship title, Nyck de Vries is currently on a high. In some respects, he is in a similar position to Schumacher 30 years ago – a works Mercedes driver competing in a series outside F1.

Before first practice at Spa, Schumacher had no experience of driving at Spa. De Vries, on the other hand, brings a strong record from his F2 days: pole position and a dominant feature race win in 2018 (ahead of two of the stars of the 2021 F1 season, Lando Norris and George Russell) followed by another pole in the tragic F2 weekend in 2019.

Of course, de Vries has not necessarily been groomed by Mercedes for a F1 berth and at 26 is four years older than Schumacher was in 1991. But rumours persist linking de Vries to a Williams seat for 2022 and it’s not difficult to see Mercedes chief Toto Wolff using his clout to push for a well-deserved chance in F1. At the same time, de Vries’ FE team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne – a veteran of 41 F1 starts – might be preferred for any one-off outing at his home circuit.

Mercedes does have a further junior on its books with the necessary superlicence: Frederik Vesti. Vesti is currently in his second season of FIA F3, having won the inaugural Formula Regional European Championship in 2019. However, the step up from F3 is a demanding one and Spa 2021 may simply be too early without any previous taste of F1 machinery.

Callum Ilott

Photo: Alfa Romeo Racing

Any team looking to maximise chances of a strong points finish by taking a top 10 result in qualifying would do well to consider Ferrari Academy driver Callum Ilott. Ilott’s ultimate speed was never in doubt in F2, taking more poles than any other driver in 2020, but mistakes and bad luck allowed Mick Schumacher to take the title.

As the reserve driver for Alfa Romeo he has experience of the current generation of F1 machinery during a GP weekend. He also has a parallel with Michael Schumacher in that he’s now racing sportscars – albeit GT cars rather than prototypes – and last weekend claimed a class podium at the Le Mans 24 Hours.

Another driver with recent mileage for Alfa Romeo is Theo Pourchaire, but the F2 rookie star is a few points short of his superlicence.

Oscar Piastri

Photo: Alpine F1 Team

Current F2 championship leader Oscar Piastri has made a stellar rise through the junior categories and, if he goes on to win the 2021 F2 title, faces some difficult career choices. As a member of the Alpine Academy, Piastri is strongly supported although opportunities with that team appear limited in the next couple of seasons.

As such, Alpine may be keen to play the Mercedes role of 1991 and secure the drive for one of their next generation of stars. He has shown himself to be a quick learner and brings sim experience of the current generation of F1 cars, as well as recent tests with older cars.

Juri Vips or Liam Lawson

Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

Red Bull junior drivers, Juri Vips and Liam Lawson, have both scored wins in the 2021 F2 championship. Indeed, Lawson took victory in the first round of the season, admittedly from a reversed grid, and was unlucky to lose a win in the second round at Monaco due to a technical infringement. Juri Vips took two wins in Baku after a more difficult start to the season.

Helmut Marko has never been afraid to throw a rookie into a mid-season F1 debut, even if it’s with another team, and is unlikely to pass up the opportunity to evaluate either Vips or Lawson as he works out where their futures lie.

In the light of his later achievements, Schumacher’s incredible performance seems almost inevitable. Undoubtedly, the Jordan was an ideal chassis to make his debut, and was perfectly suited to Spa. By all accounts at the time, Schumacher was not overawed by his surroundings. The rest, of course is history…

Given a competitive car, is it fanciful to believe that any of those named above would be able to qualify strongly, even reaching Q3, and to score points on their debut?

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