Gary Anderson on how to prepare new Formula 1 stars

Gary Anderson, former race car designer and now The Race expert, has devised an interesting, albeit controversial, way for young and promising drivers to gain experience in Formula 1, and for teams to train future stars and create a real talent pool.

Opportunities to get into Formula 1 have never been too many, and in our time to achieve this it has become even more difficult – it’s almost impossible for a driver to get the chance to be behind the wheel if he can show his worth. has not proven by speaking in other categories.

Take Oscar Piastri: he won the Eurocup Formula Renault, then the titles in F3 and F2, but ended up on the bench. This year he will have the chance to do several practice sessions on Friday, doing tests on an old Alpine machine and training on a simulator.

But if you don’t race, don’t participate in tight competition on the tracks, you can easily lose the “killer instinct” needed to win races and championships. Young drivers have to work harder behind the wheel of a real car and ideally participate in races.

But in Formula 1 there are no conditions attached to this for a long time, although the championship teams should be interested in that. We are told all the time that 20 of the best riders are competing in the World Championship, although in reality this is not quite true. Half of them are really first-class masters, but for the rest there may be questions.

But after all, young riders are future stars, so it’s very important that the most promising among them get their chance. And there is such a way.

Formula 1 is aiming to hold more races, and the drivers aren’t too happy about the constant growing workload. What if we set up a rule that states that each rider can drive a maximum of 20 races per season? Therefore, they will miss three Grands Prix each, but according to the same rule, he must be replaced by a young rider in these stages.

It will be necessary to determine the choice of such stages before the start of the season, and information about this must be kept in sealed envelopes until the first race. And one more condition will have to be observed: both riders of the main team may not miss the stage at the same time. This will remove the concerns that most fans want to see celebrities racing on the track. In the worst case scenario, at least half of the starting field will be made up of riders who regularly compete in the championship, but the chances of that happening are slim.

Then young pilots, such as Piastri, get the chance to gain experience. If such a rule had been in place, he would have had the chance to show up six times already this year – he could replace Fernando Alonso three times, drive Esteban Ocon’s car three times. And then it would be easier for him to count on a place in Alpine or another team in the future.

There’s another plus: it wouldn’t let the main squad riders relax too much. In addition, young riders would play an important role in the teams’ battle for the Constructors’ Championship as they could earn up to 13% of the points, so the teams would be interested in inviting the very best.

It would even be possible to provide additional testing days for these young riders during the season, the cost of which would not be included in the budget cap. A few of these days would be enough, but it would already be a great advantage and allow such pilots to prepare for appearances in the Grand Prix.

However, it is clear that such ideas will meet with resistance from the teams and the championship organizers, as not all Formula 1 stars will start the races. At the same time, no one denies the problem associated with very limited opportunities to train new drivers. , which worsened afterwards, were reduced as much as possible.

It is time for Formula 1 to take decisive steps to give the next generation of drivers the chance to prove themselves and test what they can against Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, George Russell and other championship drivers.