Trevor Carlin: Formula 1’s Norris has talent of Senna and Verstappen
You know that feeling when you’ve helped someone out, given them advice and seen them go on to do something special? Well that’s a feeling motorsport team manager Trevor Carlin must have daily about his roster of Formula 1 alumni.
Carlin Motorsport, founded in 1996, can lay claim to six of the current 20 F1 drivers – including the likes of Carlos Sainz Jr, Lando Norris, and George Russell – as well as former multiple world champion Sebastian Vettel and fan favourite Daniel Ricciardo.
And who does the man behind it rate the highest? Well, British rising star Lando, of course.
Formula 1 roster includes Norris
“Any time you put him in a car where he has to be competitive and be fast, he is fast,” Carlin tells Morning Wire
“There’s a great story I tell the youngsters that drive for me. Lando did the British F4 with us in 2015, he then did the Toyota race series in New Zealand at the end of 2015 and the beginning of 2016.
“He then did the Renault Euro Cup in 2016 and he did some British F3 races with us. He did four different championships with three teams over a two-year period.
“He qualified on the front row in 98 per cent of those races, over different circuits all around the world, in different weather conditions, with different setups.
“There’s no way he always had the best car but he managed to always put it on the front row. That’s not a coincidence. It’s not luck. Even if you haven’t got the best car at McLaren, he outperforms it.”
Norris finished fourth in Austria at the weekend, a best for the season, and is 10th in the 2023 driver standings.
But Carlin describes the Brit in the same sentence as world champion Max Verstappen and F1 legend Ayrton Senna. And the 60-year-old can not speak highly enough of the current F1 leader from the Netherlands.
Money, money, money
“What would be your best racing driver? Well, the talent of Ayrton Senna, Max Verstappen or Lando Norris and the money of Nikita Mazepin,” he adds.
“I watch driving in Formula 1 now and everyone says it’s the car. And of course the car is incredible, but his driving is perfection.
“He just doesn’t make mistakes, he doesn’t do anything silly, he just drives around at high speed watching on the big screens.
“Usain Bolt was the fastest man in the world because he was born to be a sprinter. These top drivers are the same.”
F1 continues to expand. Wrexham AFC owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney recently invested in Alpine, Netflix’s Drive to Survive continues to captivate new audiences, and this year will see a trio of races in the United States for the first time since 1982.
But how does that impact the British pyramid, which is already congested and spearheaded by those with the cash to compete?
“[British motorsport is] actually riding the crest of the wave from Drive to Survive,” Carlin adds.
Lounge
“What’s happened is it started to put motor racing in everybody’s lounge so every young man and woman, hopefully, are thinking ‘God, I’d love to be a racing driver’.
“So poor old dad, when his son comes into the kitchen after watching Drive to Survive, goes and does some karting.
“The base of people wanting to be racing rivers has grown hugely, and racing of any form, even go-kart, is expensive.
“After a while most drop off, but if 50 per cent [of the new breed] stay you’ve doubled your base and another 20 per cent stay on, then the next level of F4 racing will be bigger.
“We’re noticing that people wanting to do Formula 4 has doubled in the last three years. If your pull at the bottom is bigger then you’re going to have more good drivers coming through.”
Some 30 per cent of the current F1 grid have graced Carlin Motorsport’s ranks. He is not keen to say who will be next.
But while you may not know Zane Maloney, Oliver Gray and Ido Cohen now, there’s a good chance you will one day.