Secret driver: Beware bad management

Recently I got asked, 'If I had the chance to retrace my footsteps from karting to Formula 1, how would I do it today? What formulas would I aim for'?

For many young father-son partnerships this is the million-dollar question. In fact, I could see this particular individual waiting and hoping for me to deliver some magical advice, but in truth, I actually felt sorry for him and his son.

With the benefit of hindsight I am now very well informed, but surely there should be a structure in place today whereby the right advice is readily available to everyone, not just those with key contacts in the sport?

Sadly there is no such structure so young drivers and their parents are still having to learn by their mistakes, wasting huge amounts of money in the process.

Motorsport is different to most other sports. It's not like football, rugby or cricket, which are easily accessible at a grass-roots level.

Derek Warwick works with young drivers via the McLaren AUTOSPORT BRDC Award © LAT

Unless you have a parent who knows and understands the sport it's very difficult to progress past having an interest. Involvement is expensive and, should you be lucky enough to progress your hobby into being an owner/driver, the sport thereafter has little or no structure to follow, leaving you exposed to poor decision making.

Couple this with there being no governance over the personnel allowed to work in the sport and suddenly you are very vulnerable to believing the wrong advice.

This leaves today's young hopefuls with a maze of opportunity and few clues about what move to make next. If this wasn't counter-productive enough, enter stage right 'The Driver Manager'.

Driver managers, or agents, as they are known in other sports, are individuals who are normally employed with the responsibility of being able to guide and advise young drivers and their parents in the right direction.

Unfortunately this is not always the case. There are plenty of individuals offering bad advice and guidance, and, worryingly, making money out of promising the world and delivering nothing.

Chasing a dream can lead us, or those around us, to become blinkered and detached from reality. Staying grounded and realistic is very important when making career-defining decisions. Determining what is good advice and what is bad advice when you have no experience within the sport is tough.

Don't be scared to recognise that you know very little about what you're trying to achieve. That doesn't mean jumping into bed with the first timewaster who knocks on your door (and there will be many), but actually carefully researching who to speak to and why.

There are myriad starter series to choose from for karting graduates © LAT

Approach individuals who do not have a hidden agenda and so will offer impartial advice. Remember: there are only a handful of individuals capable of picking up the phone to an F1 team, and nine times out of 10 they will not be knocking on your door, you will be knocking on theirs.

This is why, personally, I'm not that keen on young drivers having managers, unless they have the necessary knowledge and communication skills to develop young talent.

Performance development is an in-depth science but, sadly, this is not recognised by all in this side of the sport, which is precisely why national governing bodies should police the personnel offering their services in this area.

I would much prefer seeing young drivers and their parents opting for a positive support network to help them manage the responsibility of good practice. The benefit of having a good support network for a young driver and his father is to obtain good advice.

Certainly moving from karting to a single-seater environment can be quite tricky. You can't always trust the teams. Primarily they are looking after themselves, not necessarily the long-term development of your career.

Learning is crucial to your development at the beginning of your career; not results. Your learning will be shaped by those you have teaching you, meaning the wrong environment will be extremely detrimental to your progression as a young driver.

I hope in time that a structure will be put in place whereby the father-and-son-versus-the-world scenario no longer exists and good advice and clear progression becomes common practice.