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Australia’s next Piastri has exposed a glaring issue with F1’s pathway
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Exclusive: For motorsport fans, Brad Majman might still be a new name, but it’s one guaranteed to make headlines.
The 17-year-old driver from Melbourne is charting a course reminiscent of Oscar Piastri’s meteoric rise.
Brad Majman after his win. USF2000
However, instead of chasing the traditional European ladder, Majman is forging his path on the other side of the world, the IndyCar circuit in the United States.
Majman is a member of A14 Management, the elite junior academy founded by two-time F1 world champion Fernando Alonso. He races in the USF2000 category - the first step to IndyCar - and completes online school from the same institution Piastri boarded at during his younger years, Haileybury College.
With the added US backing of former IndyCar driver Oriol Servià, the young Australian is quite literally being mentored and following the road of motorsport royalty.
“To be able to be even associated with someone like Fernando, it’s an honour for me. It’s an honour for my family,” Majman said exclusively to nine.com.au.
“And to be recognised in the same light as someone like that, at such an early stage in my career.
“Just being able to pick up little things. Obviously, he’s got his own racing commitments and his own life. But even when I do (talk to him), it’s just the little nuggets of knowledge that I can pick up from him.
“To know that I’ve got a guy like him in my corner, does heaps for me (and) for my confidence. It tells me that I’m also not doing a half-bad job because not everyone gets noticed or picked up by a guy like him.”
Alonso isn’t the only one who Majman has caught the eye of.
Australian IndyCar driver Will Power is another mentor of Majman’s, a shoulder to lean on when things get difficult in the series.
“It’s amazing…because obviously they’ve got a lot more experience,” the 17-year-old explained.
“They’ve got a lot more to offer to me than I do to them. I speak to guys like Will Power. I speak to him a little bit...just (to) be able to bounce ideas off them and see kind of what they’re thinking, how their view on the tracks are.
“If I’m struggling with a track, maybe I can go give them a call, give Will a call and see what his experiences are on it, see if I can pick up anything from that.
“Someone like Will, he’s got like say 20-odd years of knowledge and picks up all these little nuances. So it’s great for me to be able to kind of take some of that stuff and already be applying it now, where I would otherwise have no idea and it would probably take me (another) 20 years to get that knowledge.”
Team owner Roger Penske congratulates Will Power after he won the IndyCar Series in 2018. Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
As of late, the junior categories on the Formula 1 ladder such as F2 and F1 Academy have copped heavy criticism for their inability to provide a pathway to genuine career progression.
The junior motorsport pipeline is entwined with sponsorship, and it’s vitally important for drivers to be in the best teams to have any sort of pathway to the top.
Those that aren’t connected to an established team are more likely to be washed away at the end of the season due to low scoring options and lack of funds.
Majman sees the American system as a much fairer fight.
“I’m racing in USF2000 and there’s a scholarship system in (the category) at the moment, and the winner gets… I think it’s $410,000 to move up to the level up which is USF Pro2000,” Majman said.
“Now that’s not full budget, but depending on the team it’s at least 50 per cent of the budget for the next year.
Oscar Piastri was mentored through the ranks by F1 driver Mark Webber. Joe Portlock
“It just helps out those families and people that don’t have the tens of millions of dollars to be able to rely a little bit more on their talent rather than the rest of it completely.
“Obviously, you still have to be able to back it up a little bit, but it rewards talent a little bit more than I think it does in Europe.
“Where you look in Europe, even guys winning F2 - they’re not necessarily getting into F1.”
Majman won’t be following the well trodden path of Alonso to F1 as the 17-year-old harbours no illusions to the realities of motorsport.
Instead, the Aussie is sitting second in the USF2000 standings and recently picked up a victory at the famed Indianapolis circuit, so Majman’s sights are locked solely on glory on American soil.
“In my opinion, you spend three million…four million euros and even if you win (F2), you’re still not necessarily guaranteed a seat,” he said.
“In IndyNXT, which is the F2 version of IndyCar, for the most part you are most likely to get a seat one way or another in IndyCar the next season.
“It’s never guaranteed, but there’s a bit more of an established pathway that rewards winning in America, whereas I don’t think Europe necessarily rewards winning as much as America does.
“I’ve always wanted to do IndyCar. That’s my thing, since before I even met Fernando, I want to succeed in IndyCar, I want to win a championship, I want to win the 500.
“If later down the track when I’m in my late 30s, 40s, I do get the opportunity to maybe go run Bathurst or do Le Mans or something like that, then yeah, I’m not gonna say no for sure.
“I’ve never really been interested in driving in Formula 1 per se.
“I know enough to tangibly know that it’s really not realistic to make it to F1. And half the reason I wouldn’t really want to drive in F1 necessarily is because…unless you’re in the best car at the right time and you’re the best driver, then you’re not going to win.
“Look at Alonso. No one debates how good of a driver he is, yet he hasn’t won since 2013.”
