Latest / Rusty's Garage / The Motorsport Brief - with James Wharton on the F1 pathway 🏎️

Transcript

The Motorsport Brief - with James Wharton on the F1 pathway 🏎️ · Rusty's Garage

• 0:02
  A listener production.
• 0:04
  Welcome to the Motorsport Brief.
• 0:06
  One of the Aussies abroad back home for a huge weekend.
• 0:12
  Hi everybody, Greg Russ with you here in the Garage Studios, ahead of the Australian Grand Prix.
• 0:17
  This is a special one of many that we're releasing this week.
• 0:19
  James Wharton is a name that you'll hopefully get to hear a lot more of.
• 0:23
  He's competing in Formula 3 again this season, has already tried his hand at F2.
• 0:27
  That's often seen, of course, as the final rung on the ladder to Formula 1.
• 0:31
  He's been living overseas in Italy, I think since before the pandemic, but is back down under...
• 0:36
  for his home race.
• 0:37
  In fact, he spent the better part of summer in this part of the world staying kind of match fit with some racing across the ditch.
• 0:45
  Hello, mate.
• 0:45
  Thank you for coming in for a chat today.
• 0:46
  Yeah, no, thanks for having me.
• 0:48
  I feel like it's a bit of a Judas chat.
• 0:50
  It is.
• 0:50
  Yeah, I agree too.
• 0:51
  Hey, you did duck away for a little bit of testing, which was important, but by and large, you were there for that entire series in New Zealand, Formula Regional.
• 0:59
  That was good, wasn't it?
• 1:00
  The roll-up of drivers we had there this year, the calibre of competition was good, wasn't it?
• 1:04
  Yeah, I think, as you said, the competition in 2026 was a lot higher than what I was expecting going to it, and I think a lot of other people didn't expect it either.
• 1:12
  It was something that not many people have done in the past since we've always gone to Dubai, and we've always been there.
• 1:18
  So going and having the opportunity to come to New Zealand, for me, it's much closer to home, and I could actually spend a bit more time at home, so I was a lot happier to do it, and then having the competition that we did just made it 10 times better, and
• 1:29
  For me, it was, I think, the best thing that's happened for me right now just to get ready for this weekend.
• 1:33
  And, yeah, the results were good.
• 1:34
  We ended up having a win with a team that was first year there.
• 1:37
  So I did a really good job with them and couldn't thank them enough for giving me the opportunity to do it.
• 1:41
  You enjoy occasionally a little bit of golf.
• 1:44
  I know it's not your priority.
• 1:46
  And you were more or less in my backyard at one point.
• 1:48
  You got to play at Cape Kidnappers.
• 1:50
  What did you think of that joint?
• 1:52
  That's pretty cool, wasn't it?
• 1:52
  Yeah, that was...
• 1:54
  Top two coolest days I've ever had.
• 1:56
  Really?
• 1:57
  Very favoured, favouritism towards my trainer for that one, just because he planned that whole day out from waking up at 5am, driving to Cape Kidnappers, playing the 18 holes, going to a winery after, going to the falls after that.
• 2:12
  And I will remember that day for a very long time.
• 2:15
  I know it was your backyard and I plan on going back very shortly, but...
• 2:19
  Golf is my hobby and the only thing that I enjoy outside of racing.
• 2:23
  So it was quite cool to do that.
• 2:24
  And on the course side, that was insane.
• 2:25
  Does it give you a breather from racing?
• 2:28
  Can you sort of shut down?
• 2:29
  Maybe you and you're trying to talk about stuff when you're wandering around the course.
• 2:31
  Yeah, to be honest, golf is my turn off.
• 2:34
  It's the sport that I don't think about racing at all.
• 2:36
  And my trainer is not very involved in racing.
• 2:39
  So that just makes it 10 times better.
• 2:40
  We can just talk about everyday life, which is very hard to do as a racing driver because it's so much a part of my life now.
• 2:46
  Yep.
• 2:46
  F3, the field, when you look at the lineup this year, I think the stat is something like a third of that field were racing in what we call Sietse Frott across the ditch in New Zealand.
• 2:56
  You all seem to get on so well.
• 2:58
  I think there's a little bit of jet skiing in there, you and Ugo and maybe Louis Sharp and so on.
• 3:03
  Can you all stay friends or does it get intense again now that you're back into F3?
• 3:07
  To be honest, there's a big group of us that stay friends no matter what happens on track.
• 3:11
  And I feel like that's super healthy and something that we need in our sport.
• 3:14
  Week in, week out, we're with the same people, the same drivers.
• 3:17
  And if you start having enemies off track, it's just going to make it worse on track.
• 3:21
  Like on track, we have good fights and I'll always have good fights with Hugo and Louis on track.
• 3:25
  And that's never going to change.
• 3:26
  But I feel like we're mature enough just to put it aside.
• 3:29
  At the end of the day, that's our job and outside of the track is where we have fun.
• 3:32
  And I feel like we do a good job of that as well.
• 3:34
  Peeling it back a little bit.
• 3:35
  Does the love of it come from your dad?
• 3:37
  I think it does, doesn't it?
• 3:38
  Yeah, a bit of it.
• 3:39
  But at the same time, his level of racing is so small to what I've done now that it's very hard to say that he put me into it.
• 3:46
  It was more of a drive for myself.
• 3:48
  And then just the support from them got me where I am today.
• 3:52
  Without their support, I wouldn't be here.
• 3:53
  And that's something that I have to cherish for my whole life.
• 3:56
  I wouldn't have been able to go to Europe without them.
• 3:58
  H8?
• 3:59
  Was that the first go-kart?
• 4:01
  First go-kart was racing.
• 4:03
  I was eight.
• 4:03
  The first ever go-kart was when I was two years old, but I wasn't meant to race.
• 4:07
  I was a bit too scared of doing it.
• 4:08
  So I was like a bit nervous to race at the start.
• 4:11
  And then I got lapped in my first ever race that I actually participated in.
• 4:14
  And then from then on, I'm like, I have to do this forever.
• 4:16
  Okay.
• 4:17
  At what point then did it become...
• 4:20
  obsession and kind of like a career choice for you can you remember the age to be honest I was around eight years old that second race it was already decided that this was going to be my life uh just because I got lapped and I didn't like that feeling I don't want to get lapped ever again and I feel like we went away for the next month racing interstate races instead of just the club days and then the goal was when we come back to the club day at the end of that month that we're at the front and that was our whole goal for that whole month to do as much racing as possible and
• 4:47
  teach you to yeah pretty much teach me to do the winner race at the start but more just throw me in the deep end into the interstate races and came back to my club day the next month and ended up winning so it was a huge step forward the cv around the karting stuff i think correct me if i'm wrong here there is like a cadet 12 title there is some success abroad too did that make you lean toward open wheelers or were you open to the idea of touring cars and supercars and things at that point
• 5:13
  I feel like when we moved to Europe and when I made the decision to race in Europe the first time, the goal was always Formula 1 and single-seaters.
• 5:20
  I feel like if you make that kind of sacrifice, you need to go for it 100%.
• 5:24
  Yeah, like if I...
• 5:27
  Didn't go to Europe.
• 5:28
  I feel like touring cars and V8 supercars would be number one goal.
• 5:31
  Supercars would be for sure the goal for me.
• 5:33
  And that was always the goal when I was in Australia.
• 5:35
  But as soon as I made that first flight to Europe, it was like, if we're going to go to Europe, we may as well stay there and do it properly.
• 5:40
  How old were you?
• 5:41
  And it's pre-pandemic or something.
• 5:44
  Way earlier than the pandemic.
• 5:46
  I've lived in Italy for nine years now, since I was 10 years old, so 2018.
• 5:51
  End of 2018, I lived there full-time.
• 5:54
  2019 was my first full season.
• 5:56
  And yeah, I've been there before the pandemic and just very, very young, living alone as well.
• 6:01
  Wow.
• 6:02
  Dad ended up leaving me at 13 years old, where he moved away from where I was, and he was around a three-hour drive away from me in Italy.
• 6:08
  So from 13, I was alone, and that's when I joined the Ferrari Driver Academy.
• 6:12
  Academy.
• 6:13
  Academy.
• 6:13
  in 2021, end of 2021, so fully by myself from then.
• 6:17
  Can you speak Italian a little bit?
• 6:18
  Yeah, I can understand all the mechanics at the track, and I feel like that's the only thing that I need to be able to do.
• 6:24
  That's an asset, right?
• 6:25
  Yeah, exactly.
• 6:26
  That's something that helps, especially with the mechanics.
• 6:30
  They work 12-hour days, and they don't want to be talking another language.
• 6:33
  They're already working too hard.
• 6:35
  So if you can work their language and speak to them outside of racing as well, they really enjoy it, and they take that for granted as well.
• 6:41
  So you don't have to tell me exactly where you live, but are you up in that kind of north-eastern part?
• 6:45
  I mean, like Prima, for example, they're up around, I think they're northeast of Bologna, directly east of Verona.
• 6:51
  They're in that sort of region, aren't they?
• 6:52
  Yeah, so I've lived in three parts of Italy now.
• 6:55
  I've lived in Maranello in Ferrari.
• 6:57
  Then I moved...
• 6:58
  to Dezinsano which is in between Milan and Venice and around 40 minutes from Prima and that's where the main karting races were in Europe and then now I'm living in Milan so center of Milan for flying it's so much better like to get to the airport is ten times better so I do that now and it's still only like two hour drive from Prima so it's perfect.
• 7:16
  Perfect.
• 7:16
  Beautiful part of the world.
• 7:17
  Not all that far from Lake Como.
• 7:19
  Winter Olympics were just there and stuff.
• 7:21
  Just amazing.
• 7:22
  Take me to the first time you drove a single seater.
• 7:25
  Where you were, the visceral experience, what it evoked in you.
• 7:29
  Yeah, for me, it was my first time was 2019, very, very young.
• 7:32
  Just I did a one day test in Sepang in Malaysia, just got the call up to go do it.
• 7:37
  And we said, of course, take the opportunity.
• 7:38
  And any time you get in the car is good.
• 7:40
  And to be honest, the first lap, I was so confused because from karting to cars, the step is crazy.
• 7:46
  I was expecting to be able to feel the same things and be able to...
• 7:50
  learn off what I have in my whole career and be able to put that into the first day.
• 7:54
  First lap, I was like, everything's out the window.
• 7:57
  All I know is how to overtake a car.
• 7:58
  That's all I've learned from karting.
• 8:00
  I feel like that's the biggest thing about single-seaters is it's so much different than karting just because of the seat position, the way you drive the car.
• 8:07
  You have front brakes that are locking every time you smash the brake and you're trying to work out what's going on.
• 8:11
  And there's a lot of, let's say, new variables and you feel like you can't see anything either.
• 8:15
  You go from karting where you can see the front tyres, see the track to absolutely no view at all, which was scary on the lap one, to be honest, it was scary.
• 8:22
  But then from then on, it's been very easy to get into.
• 8:25
  Addicted, daunted.
• 8:26
  I feel like it was daunted quite quickly.
• 8:29
  I felt like I've never driven a car before when I first did it.
• 8:31
  So to go from that to now where I am today, it took a while, to be honest.
• 8:36
  You've come from another radio station.
• 8:38
  We've got a massive week here at Albert Park.
• 8:40
  Will you stick around for a little bit longer?
• 8:41
  We're going to take a quick break here on the shortcast, and we want to talk a bit more with you about this weekend and the year ahead.
• 8:45
  Perfect.
• 8:49
  You're listening to The Motorsport Brief, joined for this edition by James Wharton, ahead of the season opener, Formula 3 on the streets of Albert Park.
• 8:57
  Huge year ahead for him.
• 8:59
  In the first part, we talked about what he was doing over summer in New Zealand, but we want to kind of drill down to the year ahead.
• 9:04
  Now, firstly, I reckon you and I ran into each other in Albert Park last year, and I could tell even at that stage you were gutted.
• 9:11
  You had real high hopes of what 2025 would be like, but even after that opening round, mate, you were...
• 9:17
  bit of that spark had gone hadn't it yeah 2025 was by far the toughest year of my career to date and i feel like that was needed i've had and not easy but i've had it uh quite simple over the last couple of seasons where i'd be fighting at the front be top three in the championship by the end of the season and just have a very solid year so 2025 was a let's say a big
• 9:38
  punch in the stomach and after Albert Park going to Albert Park really having big expectations to show the Australians who I am and that was my big motivation for 2025 but going to 2026 it's just giving me more motivation to do a good job in Albert Park I've got the team around me that I want I've put in place the best team I could possibly have made for myself and so comfortable with the people around me that for me 2026 is a redemption of 2025.
• 10:03
  I love that.
• 10:04
  It's great that you've been able to frame it like that.
• 10:06
  Is that a conscious choice by you?
• 10:07
  Maybe you've had conversations with your dad or either your trainer, good people around you.
• 10:11
  How have you been able to compartmentalize it like that?
• 10:13
  Yeah, it's very hard to make those decisions with a lot of people involved.
• 10:17
  You have a lot of older people.
• 10:19
  Your dad your trainer they're a lot more mature than you so you sort of have to listen to them But at the same time this year has been mainly my own choices when I made the choice to go to prema It's quite early on in 2025 and they were still on the back foot Let's say in the new car and not many people
• 10:34
  had confidence that they would get to the front.
• 10:36
  But you wanted to reunite with them, didn't you?
• 10:38
  Yeah, and that was me.
• 10:38
  Like, I understood that by the end of 2025, that would be at the front, and they showed me.
• 10:42
  The last two races, people were coming to me like, you've made the best decision you could have possibly made, and even drivers within the Premier team that were in 2025, I'm not going to say names, but they come to me and said, you've made the best choice ever, and the car's in a good spot.
• 10:55
  So...
• 10:56
  I was nervous at the start to make the decision, but I knew I had the trust in the team.
• 11:00
  And I went to Perma and said, I want this engineer, this mechanic, and I want this team manager.
• 11:04
  And they said, okay, let's do that.
• 11:05
  So the whole team is basically around me and that's all I can ask for.
• 11:09
  Can we just tap into a little bit of your open wheel success, if we can, in laying the foundation for what we hope will be a good year in Formula 3 for you?
• 11:16
  I mean, runner-up in the 2024 Formula Regional.
• 11:19
  I mean, F4 UAE crown in 2023.
• 11:22
  There were race wins in Italian F4.
• 11:24
  I mean, you come in...
• 11:26
  even though 25 was tough, you come in with some good credentials.
• 11:29
  Yeah.
• 11:29
  I feel like that's why the previous years are so important.
• 11:32
  Like yes, I had a tough 2025, but there is a lot of people in Europe know what I'm capable of.
• 11:37
  And there's teams like Prima that know I can win races with the right car and win races on the biggest stage.
• 11:42
  So,
• 11:43
  For me, that's just added confidence.
• 11:45
  But for me, I take 2025 as the biggest learning I could have ever had.
• 11:48
  And winning races is all good and that's very fun.
• 11:51
  But the down is where you see the right people around you.
• 11:54
  And the people that stick with you through that time is the people that you need when you win as well.
• 11:58
  So I've learned the ups and downs, but I feel like I know enough now to go and win some races this year as well.
• 12:04
  You touched on Ferrari Academy there and that chapter that you had with them.
• 12:08
  At your age and stage of your career, how beneficial was that?
• 12:11
  What things did you perhaps learn and get from that?
• 12:14
  Yeah, to be honest, sitting here today, I would have rather that when I was a little bit older, I feel like to be able to fully get the experience, I needed to be a bit more mature.
• 12:22
  I was definitely still too young.
• 12:24
  at the start and I progressed a lot throughout the four years there and the three, sorry, the three years there.
• 12:29
  And they helped me so much as a driver, but as a person as well, going to live by yourself at that age, you learn so many different things.
• 12:35
  And as I said, uh, just then I would rather be a little bit older when I did that stage of my life, but I'm still so honored to have had that, to have that experience already.
• 12:43
  And I'm only 19 years old is, is amazing, but I, uh, yeah, really motivated to get back in those kind of situations.
• 12:49
  That's my goal.
• 12:50
  I love that's a really important reminder there of your age, right?
• 12:54
  And then adding to the story, you get to not just sample, you get to play in Formula 2 a bit last year as well.
• 13:02
  Tell us about that, what that was like, and is that the clear target for you for 27?
• 13:06
  Yeah, to be honest, that race came out of nowhere.
• 13:09
  I was in Germany.
• 13:09
  It was Trident, wasn't it?
• 13:10
  It was with Trident.
• 13:11
  I was in Germany testing for one of our younger drivers in Prima, helping him out, driver coaching him, and I got the call like,
• 13:18
  you need to be in Milan tomorrow, we need to do seat fit.
• 13:20
  And for me, I was like, I didn't believe it at the start because I didn't know that one of the drivers got sick.
• 13:25
  I had no idea.
• 13:26
  So I was like, okay, it's time to lock into an F2 car.
• 13:30
  My brain had to switch off from the resting off-season to straight back into a Qatar I've never been to and a car I've never been in.
• 13:37
  I did 30 laps in the old F2 car, old-style F2, and that's it, straight into Qatar.
• 13:41
  So one of the coolest experiences I've ever had in a race car just on...
• 13:46
  a night race night qualifying for the first time uh in a car that's that powerful is insane and I couldn't think tried enough for giving me that opportunity but at the same time it gave me confidence that people still know what I'm capable of and when opportunities come up they call me which is all I can ask for yeah nice so the immediate focus then is what you do in F3 this year how important to come out of the blocks at Albert Park strong and and set that tone for the year
• 14:10
  Yeah, exactly.
• 14:11
  As you said, F3 is not a very long season.
• 14:13
  So if you don't start well, you're not going to be able to get results.
• 14:16
  And for some reason in our sport by June, July, all the decisions are made for the next year.
• 14:21
  So that's why you need to start strong.
• 14:24
  The goal is F2 in 2027, as we just said before, and that's the motivation in these first two races is to put my name back at the front where people know it should be.
• 14:32
  And then, yeah, obviously understanding what 2027 is going to bring.
• 14:36
  Do you enjoy Albert Park and what's it like in an F3 machine?
• 14:39
  To be honest, an F3 machine I think is better than F2.
• 14:42
  Really?
• 14:42
  Just because it's a little bit more nimble, the F3 car.
• 14:45
  And having a street track but a normal track as well and the same is something that we don't have for the rest of the year.
• 14:51
  And there's no other track like it.
• 14:52
  And I love the Ford DRS owns.
• 14:54
  It gives the racing a little bit more fun and makes it a little bit easier to overtake.
• 14:57
  It's been a nice addition to Albert Park, hasn't it, having F2 and F3 there?
• 15:00
  That's, I think, something that was needed.
• 15:02
  Australia needs to see what the European...
• 15:05
  Formula three and Formula two alike.
• 15:06
  Get to see that with their own eyes and experience that.
• 15:09
  Will you have family and friends coming this weekend?
• 15:11
  This is one of the races where I can say that there's a lot of family there.
• 15:14
  In Europe, there's no one.
• 15:16
  There's maybe my dad, my parents, but it's very hard for my cousins.
• 15:20
  They're very young.
• 15:20
  I'm the oldest cousin.
• 15:22
  So for the little ones to come over to Europe is too much.
• 15:25
  So they came this weekend and they're supporting me.
• 15:28
  So if you win in front of the family, it makes it better.
• 15:29
  are there budding or inspired potential races among them?
• 15:33
  To be honest, they're so young that we don't know yet, but there's definitely a couple of little ones that I'm pushing for it.
• 15:38
  And I have an old mechanic who now has four grandchildren.
• 15:41
  I'm trying to get one of them into racing.
• 15:42
  Oh, well done.
• 15:43
  Okay.
• 15:43
  Can I finish with a fun yarn?
• 15:45
  With Rusty's Garage, I love at times to tap into either things that people might one day love to have in the garage or the shed, right?
• 15:53
  Or things that are already currently working on.
• 15:55
  You chatted with a colleague in Jason Skyless on his pod today,
• 15:58
  very recently, the podium.
• 15:59
  And I learned something about you that I didn't know.
• 16:01
  You have a 1979 Toyota Ute.
• 16:04
  Is this true?
• 16:05
  Yes.
• 16:06
  How restowed is that?
• 16:07
  What have you done to that thing?
• 16:09
  So yeah, me and my dad have a little bit of a side gig with 79s.
• 16:15
  And we now have eight of them in the garage right now.
• 16:19
  We have a couple that are
• 16:21
  not being touched with zero kilometers.
• 16:23
  And then we have mine, we'd have souped up a little bit with different rims, lifted it up a little bit.
• 16:27
  Nice.
• 16:28
  But my dad just bought a single cab as well.
• 16:30
  So we've got a bit of a variety, but I love my 79 and- Floor shift, what are we talking about?
• 16:35
  Yeah, floor shift.
• 16:36
  We're trying to, let's say, keep a couple non-touched, keep them in the shed for me when I'm older, but my one that's my personal one, I'm definitely trying to make it into a bit of a beast.
• 16:48
  Awesome.
• 16:49
  Hey, mate.
• 16:49
  Time is going to beat us here.
• 16:51
  I just want to say a massive thank you for coming in today.
• 16:53
  We have shared only a little snippet of your story, a chapter, if you will, and you've got plenty more that I know you want to write.
• 17:01
  Thanks for a fun summer.
• 17:02
  There was a lot of variety there.
• 17:03
  You had a race win there, which is great, and I hope that's given you the impetus, the groundwork for a great year in 2026 go well.
• 17:10
  Yeah, no, thank you for having me.
• 17:11
  And as I said, it's overdue, Chad, and I can't wait to speak again soon.
• 17:14
  There you go.
• 17:15
  That is it for today's edition.
• 17:16
  If you've enjoyed this one, you can find fellow F3 drivers, Louis Sharp and Freddie Slater, in our library.
• 17:21
  Recorded in January this year, the Kiwi and the Brit both have great stories and dreams, just like James, of making it big in motorsport.
• 17:28
  Keep an eye out for more EPS during the week of GP at Albert Park and the days after.
• 17:32
  Bye for now.