Eight future F1 champs to watch in 2021

Oscar Piastri, 19

2020: F3 Champion

2021: Racing in F2

Starting with the new graduates to the top step of the F1 feeder series ladder. The Australian clinched the F3 title in a dramatic final round at Mugello, a race which saw four drivers in with a shout of clinching victory. Such is the close nature of FIA F3 that a champion rarely runs away with the title; indeed Piastri only won two races all season, but consistently finishing in the points showed not only his talent, but an already strong head on the youngster from Melbourne. His title-clinching drive was also worth watching, as Piastri worked his way through the field to a title-winning position as title rivals failed to capitalise on his lowly starting position. Piastri hasn’t come from nowhere either, the Renault junior was Formula Renault Eurocup champion in 2019 and runner-up in British F4 in 2017 aged just 16.

Theo Pourchaire, 17

2020: F3 runner-up

2021: Racing in F2

Piastri took the title, but by just three points from Theo Pourchaire. Pourchaire also won two races in 2020, but will curse an awful opening round to the season (in which he failed to finish above 13^th and took no points) as he just missed out on the championship. Pourchaire’s season was mixed, with his two wins coming back-to-back early in the season, but he found a significant increase in consistency as the season went on, and was on the podium in each of the final four races. The 2018 French F4 and 2019 ADAC F4 champion is two years his Australian rival’s junior, but has already made his debut in F2, with four learning races at the end of the 2020 season with HWA. As part of the Sauber junior team we can expect to see a lot more of this young man through the next two seasons, and don’t be too surprised if he makes a pretty quick impact on the F2 season, aping the likes of the next man on this list by taking to a new Formula with little issue.

Robert Shwartzman, 21

2020: Fourth in F2

2021: Racing in F2

The Russian Ferrari junior made an instant impact in F2 when he graduated at the start of 2020. He finished third in his first race, won his third and was leading the championship after a second win in Hungary in race five. That he hit a couple of patches of rough form can be put down to his rookie status in the series, but Shwartzman rallied from runs of poor results to record victories at Spa and Sakhir. In fact, at the end of the season, the 2019 F3 champion had won more races than the three drivers ahead of him in the standings, two of whom make their F1 debuts in 2021. If Shwartzman can add consistency to his bow in 2021 it will be hard to see who can stop him from his current peers. What should worry his competitors in F2 is that it was consistency that clinched Shwartzman his F3 title, when he comparatively cantered to a more-than 50-point victory by finishing on the podium in more than 50 per cent of the races. Expect to see Shwartzman linked to any Ferrari-linked drives that come up through 2021 if he has the season we expect.

Dan Ticktum, 21

2020: 11^th in F2

2021: Racing in F2

OK, I know what you are thinking. Ticktum finished 10^th in 2020, was booted from his Red Bull-funded drive in Super Formula after three races in 2019 and was once banned from racing for punting Ricky Collard out of a race on purpose, but hear me out here. Ticktum has a lot of demons, and they seem to be ones he struggles at times to control. He’s hot headed on the radio and potentially hot headed in the cockpit. But under it all there is a talented racing driver, one that, with the right coaching and mentoring, could become the next big thing. Carlin has a long history of nurturing talent, and the switch from DAMS to a team he knows from his younger days might help Ticktum control his less enjoyable urges. Clinching his maiden F2 victory at his home round at Silverstone was a highlight of 2020 for Ticktum, with his radio outbursts and various incidents the obvious lows. But as well as the outright speed, he also showed a willing to try alternate strategies, running high up the field on numerous occasions after opting to go against the grain on tyre choice. His latter season pace was poor, but Ticktum was a consistent point scorer in 2020, and he is almost the opposite of Schwartzman; turn some of those points finishes into podiums and he becomes an instant championship challenger. This could be Ticktum’s final shot in single seaters.

Jonny Edgar, 17

2020: ADAC F4 Champion, 4^th in Italian F4

2021: Racing in F3

Once upon a time it was the British junior series that were the hotbed for talent scouts to find the next Senna or Schumacher. Now the British scene has been usurped by the pan-European series. Which why our first new graduate to the F1 ladder on this list, is British, but has never raced here. Jonny Edgar is the current champion of ADAC F4 (the German Formula 4 series) was the 2017 European Karting champion, and has raced in the Italian and Spanish F4 series, but never the one in his homeland. Edgar has shown a keen willing to find racing opportunities, helped by his status as a Red Bull junior driver. Last season he completed an impressive double-pronged F4 assault, winning the German series by two points ­– he won two more races than anyone else – and finishing fourth in the Italian series despite missing two of the seven rounds due to his ADAC commitments. This season he will step into the F1 ladder as he joins Carlin for a season of FIA F3.

Ayumu Iwasa, 19

2020: French F4 champion

2021: Racing in F3

While Edgar was attacking two of the regional F4 championships, Aymu Iwasa was cantering to the French F4 title. The Japanese won an impressive nine races in the 21 race series, only failing to finish on the podium six times as he beat fellow countryman Ren Sato by 81 points. After such an impressive season Iwasa has been picked up by the Red Bull junior team and will race in F3 with Hitech in 2021, the same team that helped George Russell to his title, when the series was still called GP3. Iwasa made the jump from Asia to Europe after finishing a strong karting career in Japan, he raced against Yuki Tsunoda in the Japanese F4 championship in 2018 aged just 16. Like all who hit the top of the pyramid that is the junior ladder below the F1 circus the task for Iwasa now will be to take on champions from across the globe and see if he can continue his dominant streak from F4.

Arthur Leclerc, 20

2020: Formula Regional European Championship runner up

2021: Racing in F3

If you think you recognise that name, then of course you do. Arthur Leclerc has a brother called Lorenzo, and another called Charles. Like his brother, Leclerc is a part of the Ferrari Junior programme but has had a mixed junior career, hence the relatively late switch to F3, when already into his 20s. But while he has been racing in various series for three years now (French F4, then German F4, then Formula Regional), at each step he has advanced his standing. A third in ADAC F4 in 2019 was followed up with second in Formula Regional (which uses F3 cars) in 2020. In fact it is easy to argue that Leclerc should have won the Formula Regional title last year. He started on pole for each of the first four races, won six of the first 12, and finished on the podium 15 times in a 23-round season. But despite a storming start to the season, Leclerc faded through the second half, with a slightly worrying lack of consistency showcasing that the young Monegasque still has a long way to go before he can be compared to his older brother. Interestingly, he was not the only one to struggle through the second half of the season, with the eventual championship winner, who we come to next, also struggling with his form. Leclerc will race in F3 with Prema, the same team as he was with in Formula Regional, and the chosen Ferrari junior team through the ladder. If he can find consistency he has a clear path joining his brother in F1.

Gianluca Petecof, 18

2020: Formula Regional European Champion

2021: Racing in F3

He sounds Italian and he’s in the Ferrari junior programme, but Gianluca Petecof is actually the latest prospect from Brazil. Like Jonny Edgar, Petecof has spent time doing double duty in the ADAC and Italian F4 championships, eventually finishing as runner up in the Italian series in 2019. Last year he moved to the Formula Regional championship and, as a member of the Ferrari junior ranks, was placed in the mighty Prema team, alongside Leclerc and fellow title contender Oliver Rasmussen. The Prema trio dominated the championship, finishing within 15 points of each other but 53 points clear of their nearest non-Prema rival. It was Petecof who came out on top, only winning four races to Leclerc’s six, but bagging more podium and points finishes over the course of the season. In fact Petecof scored points in every race, while his team-mates both failed to score at least once. That kind of consistency at a young age is the perfect platform to build upon as Petecof moves forward. He will be racing in F3 in 2021, with Campos Racing rather than Prema, the first time he has left the Prema stable since he arrived in Europe. How he adapts not only to the global F3 conditions, but also to a new team, will be key to his future.

Edgar and Iwasa images by Red Bull, Petecof image by Ferrari, other images courtesy of Motorsport Images.