Tim, who owns a go-karting track in a suburb north of Houston, financed his son’s racing career, and by 10 Jak had finished as the runner-up in one of the biggest international karting competitions. Over time, the activity progressed from hobby to craft after Tim began entering his son in races and Jak began beating older children, displaying a precocious talent for maneuvering karts through corners. Tim Crawford remembers the day he surrendered the ability to guide his son’s journey.Ī decade earlier, Tim had taken 4-year-old Jak Crawford to empty parking lots to practice driving a kid kart. After that, only a select few will be chosen to fill any openings in Formula One.įormula Two driver Jak Crawford. If they improve and play their cards right, they may earn one of 22 seats in Formula Two. Generally, drivers progress from a Formula Four or regional Formula Three series up to the Formula Three championship, in which Frederick currently competes for a French team called ART Grand Prix against 29 other drivers. Neither cost accounts for additional expenses, including coaches, trainers and insurance policies to cover race damage.įrederick is traversing the “global pathway,” a series of minor league racing tiers leading up to F1. A seat in F3 costs around $1.3 million per year, depending on the team. Where most F1 drivers are paid to race, F1 hopefuls typically pay teams to race in feeder series. That funding helped sustain his career as he became skilled enough that Formula One dreams evolved into discussions about making them a reality.

He’s been great supporting us because otherwise we wouldn’t be able to do it.” He’s been following my journey since karting and has been helping us out a lot.

Frederick describes him as “an investor who’s been a family friend of ours and is really into racing. Frederick’s parents benefit from a family friend who is the principal investor of Pilot One Racing, which sponsors their son. To finance professional ambitions, some young drivers sell a percentage of their potential F1 earnings to family friends or acquaintances in exchange for immediate funding. “The cars are very different the knowledge of how you drive the cars and even the culture around the simulator and how heavily you have to use that is a lot different in Europe.” “In order to make it to F1 under the current circumstances, you have to be over here,” he said before referencing the virtual technology drivers use to prepare for races. Kaylen Frederick stepped up to Formula cars at age 13 before moving to Europe four years later.

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