Sports

Saturday November 7, 2009

A plan to develop Malaysians as F1 drivers

By SHAMSHUL FITRI

SUBANG JAYA: 1Malaysia Racing Team Sdn Bhd have taken upon themselves the task of nurturing young talents so that the country will have a pool of race car drivers in the future.

The company, who is behind the Lotus F1 Racing team, will set up two development programmes soon.

Team principal Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes said one of the programmes involved the formation of more go-kart circuits and having more youngsters taking part in competitive karting scene.

“The idea is to reinvigorate the kar­ting scene ... to make it more ac­­­­ces­­­si­ble and affordable to all,” he said. “With more competitive local races, we can select those who are really talented and send them to Europe for more exposure.”

Future hopes: Fernandes speaking to go-karters (from right) Muhammad Nabil Jan-Al-Jeffri, 16, Gilbert Ang Ding Feng, 13, Irfan Mohamed, 15 and Bryan Home Mehta, 15, before a go-kart race at the Speedway PLUS Karting Circuit on Friday. — GLENN GUAN / The Star

Fernandes said go-kart racing in Europe was much more competitive and he hoped that the Malaysian youngsters would naturally progress with that.

“The second programme will involve developing single-seater drivers from Formula Three and all the way to Formula One,” he said.

“There is a clear lack of such programmes in the country right now and, with this, those who have excelled in go-kart racing should rise up the ladder to be Malaysia’s race car drivers.”

With all the hype of Malaysia getting into F1 with a homegrown team, Fernandes said it was important not to have only one or two drivers to bank on.

“This is the final piece of the puzzle. In five to 10 years’ time, we want to have 20 people capable of being Formula One drivers,” said Fernandes.

Chief executive officer Riad Asmat, meanwhile, said it was important for young talents to have a clear path to become professional race car drivers.

“Before this, those who excelled in go-kart races had nowhere to go unless they forked out their own money to race in Europe before progressively moving on into the single-seater races,” said Riad.

“We will provide assistance to those who prove to be talented drivers in the programmes so that they will have a clear direction and not fade out along the way.”

  • E-mail this story
  • Print this story

Sports Poll