Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff believes steps should be taken to make basic and entry-level racing classes cheaper so that motorsport becomes more accessible.
Lewis Hamilton recently announced that things have to change because, according to him, Formula 1 is more like a billionaires club these days. Hamilton made it to Formula 1, although he grew up in a social neighborhood in Stevenage and it cost his father blood sweat and tears to fund his son’s racing career.
It’s a nice story, but it’s rather exceptional that someone from a working-class family makes it to the highest echelons of motorsport. Toto Wolff, like Lewis Hamilton, believes that steps should be taken to make the sport more accessible.
The Austrian already thinks that the basic and entry-level racing classes should be cheaper. With that, he doesn’t want to point fingers at riders like Stroll, Mazepin or Latifi, who have wealthy parents.
“What makes the sport so appealing is that it also provides a story for a good soap outside of racing,” said Wolff. “Riders have always come from different backgrounds, everyone has their story and things to process.”
“I doubt that children from a more privileged background always have it easy. They fight against their own demons.”
“What I think we can do is make the basic races more affordable so that kids who don’t have a financial background can really be successful in the junior formulas.”
“All the big Formula 1 teams should be able to find those kids, instead of making it so expensive that a good karting season costs €250,000, an F4 season €500,000 and an F3 season €1 million,” added the motorsport boss. from Mercedes to it.
“That’s totally absurd and that has to stop, because we want it to be accessible.”
“I think we should give kids who are interested in karting the chance to race for a much more affordable budget.”
Wait and see if anything indeed changes because former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone once said the following prophetic words: “The best way to become a millionaire in F1 is to step into it as a billionaire”.
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