The next wave of speed is on its way!

We are halfway through the first season of a new era for Formula 3 worldwide. The halo is here, GP3 is no more and FIA F3 is giving F1 teams a biweekly reminder of the future of the sport. Young drivers seeking to make it to F1 are now racing in front of their future bosses at every round and the principals are definitely taking note.

Having FIA F3 as part of a Formula One weekend is a strong reason for F1 one to take note, but so too is the success this season of the new crop of young F1 drivers giving the likes of Seb, Kimi and Lewis a run for their money.

Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, George Russell and even Lance Stroll are young, fast and have come through the ranks very quickly. This means they are inexpensive, yet reliable, marketable and perhaps most importantly, an investment for the future of any F1 team.

One only needs to watch Alexander Albon at Hockenheim last weekend to know that for Toro Rosso, this is money well spent on a kid that has it all. He is not afraid to fight and pass his sister Red Bull team driver Pierre Gasley with ease.  

Then there’s Esteban Ocon. A formidable talent shuffled out of play this season by the mere fact that he is tied to Mercedes contract and Stroll’s dad now owns his former team. Relegated to earphone wearing and simulator work, Ocon is surely going to be back into the fray next season either next to Lewis, on loan to Williams or even Haas.

The success of the young guns of Formula One means that the F2 and F3 series around the world are working well as feeder categories to F1. It also means that the team principals in F1 are watching the junior series very closely, including the Super Formula Series in Japan and any other series that has super license qualifying points.  

The New Zealand Toyota Racing Series fits into all the above because of its timing, format, plus the new halo and FT60 car for 2020. It will have more attention than ever this coming season.

So who are the next Ocon’s, the next Verstappen’s? Well TRS in the last few seasons has already given us a pretty good idea.

Ex TRS drivers Stroll and Norris are already established in Formula One with Norris having already signed again for McLaren for 2020. New Zealand’s Marcus Armstrong is at the sharp end of the FIA 3 and in line to win the series or at least finish runner up as he currently sits fourth overall. Fellow TRS graduates Robert Schwartzman, the 2018 TRS champion, leads the FIA 3 series with fellow TRS grad Jehan Daruvula only ten points behind.

Both Shwartzman and Armstrong are Ferrari Academy drivers while Racing Point (formerly Force India) has had Daruvala on the books for a couple of years.

Red Bull F1 Racing has always had a good junior programme as Vettel, Ricciardo, Verstappen and more recently Gasley have proved.

Of the current crop, Juri Vips in FIA F3 is definitely one to watch. Currently third in the series, the Estonian is blindingly fast, determined and has already won an F4 title. Obviously, his teammate Kiwi Liam Lawson, at just 17, is making his way in this pedigree stable. He heads into the second half of the FIA F3 season with a podium under his belt from his last outing at Silverstone.

Don’t be surprised if Red Bull sends Liam home this summer to defend his TRS title – picking up some more valuable Super Licence points and then deciding to send him to Japan to follow the Gasly route in Super Formula. Or he could head back to F3 to follow in Juri Vips footsteps as the next in line for the Toro Rosso squad.

Talking of Red Bull and Japan, look at the contrast between the fates of Lucas Auer of Austria and Dan Ticktum of Great Britain. In Auer’s case, Red Bull sent him to New Zealand last summer to sharpen up for the current Japanese Super Formula season which seemed to work well. Previously he had been driving DTM in Germany and is now a contender every weekend in Japan, currently in the top ten.

As for “Desperate Dan”, the two time Macau F3 Grand Prix winner, Ticktum finds himself out on his ear and out of both Super Formula and the Red Bull programme.

For those that have followed his career, it’s not really a surprise.  Despite being one of the world’s best up and coming talents, he appears to be his own worst enemy. This is not the first time his out-of-car antics have let him down and I fear he is running out of golden tickets and a life on the Willy Wonker shop floor may be fast coming.

His replacement though is completely the opposite and I really feel that the Mexican with an Irish name Pato O’Ward, is the real deal.

At 20-years old, he narrowly missed out on the Indy Lights title to Colton Herta. Last season he qualified in the Fast Six for his first senior IndyCar Series race, finishing in the top ten at Sonoma.

This season he’s gone from IndyCar to Formula 2 and now Super Formula in the space of four months. If this young man from Monterrey, Mexico, finally settles into a championship, he will turn heads and may well be on Toro Rosso’s radar as early as next season.

Of course, he will have to beat the irrepressible Kiwi Nick Cassidy who continues to impress in both Super Formula and Super GT where he is currently second in both championships.

The beauty for Cassidy is the world is truly at his feet professionally. He’s young enough and marketable enough to go through to F1. Toyota can send him to Le Mans or anywhere else they race such as NASCAR, IMSA or WEC. Or he can stay in Japan and carry on being a superstar to the adoring Japanese fans and teams alike.

Outside of the feeder series to both IndyCar and F1, there are several drivers worth noting who may well find themselves eating the odd southern toastie this summer in TRS back in New Zealand.

The USA’s  Road to Indy has signed an incentive package with TRS so watch out for Kyle Kirkwood from the USA, or Rasmus Lindh of Sweden. In the Super Licence scoring, F3 Americas Dakota Dickerson, the former F4 champion, is tearing up the tracks and his teammate Benjamin Pederson of Denmark is doing it in both the States and the BRDC F3 championship in the UK. Anyone of these drivers could be making their way on to the international scene soon and have the talent to go all the way.  

Finally, as we look to the future there’s a little deja vu in play as well. Mick Schumacher driving his dad’s car at Hockenheim reminded everyone that the kid who shined at Macau last year is serious about following in the greatest footsteps of all. 

So too is young Alesi jr, Piquet the 3rd  and Fittipaldi the 4th.  All chips off the old block. Then there’s Colton Herta, Harrison Newey, (Adrian’s son) and Jack Doohan, son of 500cc motorcycle legend Mick.  

So there’s plenty to look forward to in the future and if you sprinkle in a couple of names that aren’t as well known such Sacha Fenestraz of France, Clement Novalak of England and Japan’s Marino Sato I think F3, F2 and eventually Formula One are in for a great decade of superb talent coming through in the next few years.

So grab a new race hat and a sharpie and head down to one of New Zealand’s tracks this summer and look for the new halo of TRS as you never know who may be sitting in the cockpit underneath it.