The Formula One Ladder

Many people are envious and jealous of Formula One drivers, and the status and position that they enjoy. People often also think that there is nothing much to it and its just a case about driving a car, but let me tell you that the while driving at the pinnacle of the sport is tough, reaching there is even harder. The emotional and physical test drivers have to go thro to reach this level of racing is also an extremely arduous task. I will explain this in detail little later.

Racing in India has picked up a great deal in the last couple of years with the rise of Karun Chandhok, Narain Karthikeyan and last but definitely not the least is the Force India team owned by Vijay Mallya. A lot of credit has to be given to the JK Tyre organization, who have been promoting racing for more than a decade now. Hats off to Sanjay 'Hardy' Sharma who has been instrumental in the rise of Karun, Narain, Armaan Ebrahim and Parthiva Sureshwaran. JK Tyre has been sponsoring these drivers and have helped them with initial funding to take their careers to the next level.

There are more opportunities for youngsters wanting to take up the sport now with regular karting and racing championships. The Indian National Racing Championship comprises of Formula Maruti and Formula LGB with a new series also being introduced last year. Karting is the first step towards building your career in racing. Karting is considered the first step in any serious racer's career. It helps in preparing the driver for high-speed wheel-to-wheel racing by not only helping develop quick reflexes but also precision car control and decision-making skills. In addition, it brings an awareness of the various changes that can be made to try to improve the competitiveness of the kart .

INRC is the second step towards reaching the Formula One dream. While this will the normal step for Indians, Europeans will take the Formula Ford route. Formula Ford is one the most competitive series with 30 guys battling wheel-to-wheel. As India is still a small player in the motorsport world, the series is not the most competitive one and it is hard to judge on the talent front. However, it has produced stars like Karun, Narain and Armaan.

The next logical step is to move up to Formula Renault V6 Asia, which was introduced three years ago. Karun re-ignited his racing career by winning the championship that year which has helped in establishing it as a highly credible championship. The budget for this series ranges from $250,000 to $300,000. Another option is the British Formula Three Championship, another exciting and competitive feeder series. Winners in F3 who have gone to Formula One include the late great Ayrton Senna, NASCAR refugee Juan-Pablo Montoya, Reigning Indy Racing League Champion Dario Franchiti and F1 veteran David Coulthard. Narain and Karun have both won races in the British F3 Championship.

While the British F3 series is a good option, it is also a very expensive option with budgets close to @1.2 million. Other series which are a better option budget-wise include F3 Euroseries, Italian F3, German F3, and All Japan F3 Championship.Formula Three cars use slick racing tyres with 2-litre engines, with Dallara chassis dominating majority of the F3 cars.

A highlight at the end of every year is driven on the narrow streets of Macau, the old Portuguese settlement in China, a single race which has made careers. Past winners include Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, David Coulthard and Ralf Schumacher. India's Narain Karthikeyan was leading the Macau GP comfortably when he crashed. That was probably the worst moment of his life as he was driving like a champ all weekend.

Faster classes than Formula 3 cannot be used in Macao, because the street track is partly so narrow that only guard rails separate racetrack from spectators. There is no room for turning outs and during crashes the whole track is often totally blocked. The entry list comprises drivers from the Italian, British, German, Japanese and European F3 series.

The next step in one's racing career is the World Series Renault. The budget for this series is about $ 700,000 and lost some of it's competitive edge with the arrival of the GP2 series. Nonetheless it is a fierce competition with former champions such as Robert Kubica, Heikki Kovalainen and Toyota test driver Franck Montagny.

GP2, the brainchild of Bernie Eccelstone and Flavio Briatore is the last step before reaching the doors of Formula One. The series takes place on the Formula One weekends, lending credibility to the series, giving drivers the advantage of learning the circuits, and use of the Formula One facilities. They use a 4 litre Renault V8 engine with 580 horsepower.

The budget here is about $1.7 million. These cars are about 4-5 secs slower than the slowest car on the F1 grid, thus ensuring the jump to F1 is not that difficult for drivers and that they are well prepared. Former Champions include Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg and Timo Glock. This is the ultimate step before reaching the doors of F1.

Kimi Raikkonen might be the only driver in recent history to make the jump to Formula One after a mere 23 races. After winning 13 out the 23 races in the Formula Renault UK series he was drafted in by Peter Sauber to drive for the Sauber team in 2001, amidst concerns over granting a inexperienced driver a super license. Kimi is a natural talent and always has been. However all the other drivers have taken the normal steps up to the pinnacle of motor sports.

So if you think reaching F1 is an easy ride, think again. Karun is one driver who has taken all these steps and let us hope he gets reaches the final step..