Auto Racing: from karting to single seaters, formula renault, race craft


Question
hi  adam , im nearly 16 and have a growing ambition to compete and battle in karting upwards for the raceseat in f1, and first  of all i would like to say that i have found your past answers of starting karting at 15-16 very useful.I have  a question of that if a driver starts karting at  16 how long would you say that you remain racing in karts before you move single seaters- Formula Renault?

Answer
Thanks for your question Sami and for checking out my past answers.
I think a karting apprenticeship should last 2-3 seasons, it all depends on opportunity, breaks, funding etc. For an aspiring, ambitious driver, this traditional route is one of learning control and race craft, fitness and dealing with racing and qualifying etc. You can run a single seater apprenticeship in tandem too, so that you don't have to ditch one for the other, parallel programmes make good sense.
Good luck,
Adam