Remember the name: the next-gen drivers aiming to emulate Bearman

The six-round Formula Winter Series (for Abarth-engined Tatuus Formula 4 cars) has been running in Portugal and Spain these past two months, offering a taster to a new batch of fresh karting graduates taking their first steps in car racing. Most I saw out in Barcelona will race on through 2024 in either the Spanish or Italian championships, while some of the Formula Academy racers such as McLaren-affiliated Bianca Bustamante and Williams junior Lia Block (daughter of the late Ken) also used earlier rounds to get their F4 eye in.

On Sunday, a young Aussie called Griffin Peebles won both races with a cool poise again we take for granted to claim the FWS title. The field also included René Lammers, 15-year-old son of the great Jan Lammers, and Thailand’s Enzo Tarnvanichkul – the 2022 world karting champion – who runs in full Red Bull livery. A quick catch-up in the paddock confirms he has the required confidence and polish that will serve him well in the rapid ascent he’s likely about to make.

There were 36 cars on the Barcelona grid, 38 in the rounds I’d also witnessed in Valencia and MotorLand Arargón – and it was chaos. The three 30-minute races each weekend were peppered with safety car interruptions, severely limiting the actual racing laps completed – and perhaps proving that not all teenagers at this raw stage are as fully formed as we (or perhaps they) would like to think. Some of the racecraft and decision-making left a great deal to be desired. Although of course, F4 is all about learning and the inevitable growing pains of transitioning from karts to cars, so it shouldn’t really be a surprise to see lots of mistakes. But given the budgets these drivers are expected to bring, they amount to expensive mistakes.

Plus from what I could see, the most they got to practise in these races was how to take a restart after a safety car. Big grids are great, but it probably would have been better to split the field and run to a heats and final format to help them avoid crashing into each other and too regularly beaching themselves in gravel traps.

But kudos to all for getting out there. It must be intimidating, no matter how much confidence your privileged upbringing has gifted you, to roll down the pitlane for such hurly-burly in a din of engine noise. But is it worth it? Only if you ‘make it’. I asked one racing parent for an estimate of how much it now takes to lift a kid from karting to the edge of F1. About a dozen years ago I asked the same question of one whose son had made it to the pinnacle (briefly as it turned out) and he reckoned between £6 and 8 million. The dad I spoke to on Sunday reasoned it at about £15m now – and he was probably being conservative.

How do young drivers and their families even think about making the sacrifices they do to chase a distant dream? I always have been, and remain, in awe of any who dive into the crazy shark-infested world of junior single-seaters. But dropping into the winter series paddock was also a reminder that motor sport remains a sport for the elite. Kids from council estates? They don’t have a chance, and are better off kicking a football, because even those from the gilded side of the tracks and with access to a well-stocked Bank of Mum and Dad need a heavy dose of luck to stand out in this infernally ferocious world. Talent just isn’t enough. Probably never was.

What gave me greater cause for optimism was the number of teenagers I met with that familiar burning desire who have already figured out single-seater racing has a glass ceiling they’ll never crack. Instead, they’re focusing on building a life and career in endurance sports car racing. Yes, both the GT4 and GT3 winters series I watched featured a hefty quota of rich middle-aged white men of limited driving talent indulging themselves because they could afford to – but the racers leading the way, doing the winning and gaining far more racing miles than their colleagues in F4, were the kids.

In GT3, there was Finn Wiebelhaus, just 17, who has turned away from F4 to join Haupt Racing. Mentored by two-time Le Mans winner Manuel Reuter, Wiebelhaus won a sprint and the main endurance race in a burly Mercedes-AMG GT3, and at a canter too. The plan this year is for a season in the German GT Masters series, in the hope AMG recognises the potential and pushes him up its roster. Judging by how easy he made victory look against a decent grid of cars we’ll hear that name again.

But the best race of the weekend in Spain was the GT4 enduro on Sunday afternoon. Actually I’d go as far as to say it was one of the best races I’ve seen in years. A pair of British teens, Jamie Day driving an Aston Martin Vantage for new British team Forsetti Motorsport, and Tom Lebbon in Elite Motorsport’s McLaren Artura took over from their respective team-mates and slugged it out, nose-to-tail for a good half-hour. It was a mesmerising display of fast, skilful and mostly fair race driving. Credit to both of them. Even if they were both far too young to drive hatchback hire cars back to the airport!

Forsetti has generally been on top in the series, the team, Day and his team-mate Mikey Porter having wrapped up the GT4WS titles earlier in the weekend. But Lebbon and Zac Meakin had won the enduro at Valencia a couple of weeks earlier and wanted another.

Lebbon emerged from his stop just ahead of Day, but the Aston having come in a couple of laps earlier was fully up to speed and swept into the lead. Still, Lebbon was right on him. A baulking backmarker gave him his chance and the yellow McLaren dived for the inside at the circuit’s fast penultimate turn, with all four wheels on the wrong side of the kerb. He had to give the place back. But the move had sparked an idea.

On the last lap, Lebbon again cut the turn – but then so did Day, although not quite so severely – and the McLaren had the greater momentum for the final right-hander on to the straight. He was through for a fabulous win. I must admit, I expected him to lose it via a track limits penalty – but the result stood. A tinge of controversy perhaps, but what a race it had been. And surely a far better and more satisfying experience than those in F4 had endured. For most young racing drivers with a level head and a sense of realism, GT and endurance is a far more sensible way to go because there’s a greater chance of a career out of it. Chasing the dream has worked out for Bearman, but for most it won’t.

What I loved was the post-race interview. Those of us who had been watching were a little breathless in excitement, but Lebbon – true to his age – just took it in his stride and shrugged it off with glorious teenage understatement. No big deal.

Again, remember these names. That old adage if you’re good enough, you’re old enough has never rung more true.