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Why top racing drivers use karting to stay sharp

By:

James Newbold

Aug 9, 2017, 10:20 AM

Karting is traditionally viewed as the training ground for future stars, but several top drivers continue to use it to refine their skills

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Wind the clock back to September 2013 and the CIK KZ1 World Championship final in Varennes sur Allier, France. A highly-rated 15-year-old called Max Verstappen, the son of ex-F1 racer Jos and 1995 Andrea Margutti Trophy winner Sophie Kumpen, sits on pole. After a sluggish start, the factory CRG kart drops to third before fighting back to win, with ART's Monegasque prodigy Charles Leclerc heading a close battle for second.

Now the Formula 2 championship leader and with his feet under the table at Ferrari, Leclerc is widely-tipped to be an F1 star before too long, while Verstappen's meteoric rise to a Grand Prix winner aged 18 and 228 days with Red Bull is as well-versed as it is unlikely ever to be repeated.

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James Newbold Autosport Plus Editor

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James Newbold is Autosport's Plus Editor, responsible for coordinating website feature content.

In a sign of things to come, having completed his Politics and International Relations degree at the University of East Anglia in 2015, he left his graduation ceremony early to catch the last train to Brussels for the following day's Spa 24 Hours.

After a period as a freelancer, he joined the Autosport staff in 2018 and won the Motorsport UK young journalist of the year award. He initially edited Autosport magazine's Performance and Engineering supplements before joining the website team in his current role in 2020.

A keen enthusiast of anything that can be categorised unusual or niche, he enjoys unearthing little-known stories across all branches of motorsport, but has spent most of his career covering sportscars and is a regular part of the Le Mans 24 Hours reporting team.

He lives with his wife and children in Plymouth, England.