Charles Leclerc, George Russell and Lando Norris arrived in F1 as outstanding rookies within a year of each other, sporting brilliant junior records that had already marked them out as likely frontrunners.
Oscar Piastri – with Formula Renault Eurocup, F3 and F2 titles scored in consecutive seasons – seems to be the next in line, but he’s already had a tumultuous time around the sport’s pinnacle. Unlike his predecessors, the Australian wasn’t able to jump straight into an F1 race seat after his stellar F2 campaign, and then there was the unsavoury tug of war for his services between Alpine and McLaren.
Alex Kalinauckas explains why Piastri is so sought after in the first part of our cover feature, while Matt Kew hears from another champion who surely deserves an F1 berth following his impressive debut in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza: Nyck de Vries.
World Rally Championship competitors have to take on an even more varied set of challenges than those in F1, and this week Tom Howard joins Toyota to take on one of motorsport’s toughest jobs: co-driving in a 500bhp Rally1 machine.
It’s also 50 years since the last race meeting at Crystal Palace. Marcus Pye takes a look back at the popular venue, while Gary Watkins reveals the part it played in Formula E’s quest to race in London, decades after it closed.
The British Touring Car Championship provided the big action last weekend. Marcus Simmons was there to see the title fight hot up and Colin Turkington suffer a disastrous event before the Brands Hatch finale.
There was similar drama elsewhere in National competition. Stephen Lickorish reports on the title fights in the TOCA supports as part of our 19-page National section, which also includes the big Ginetta news for 2023 and the banning of a senior clerk of the course following “utterly unacceptable” behaviour.
Our guest column comes from rising BMW GT star Dan Harper, who is targeting a seat in the German manufacturer’s new LMDh sportscar.
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