Louis Sharp learns from the sidelines at Donington Park season opener
Louis Sharp has travelled half way around the world from his home in New Zealand to contest this year’s ROKiT F4 British Championship certified by FIA but, still being aged just 14 years old, was forced to sit out the opening three races staged at Donington Park last weekend.
The talented young Kiwi rising star with his sights firmly set on Formula One must wait until after his 15thbirthday on 11th May before making his series debut at Brands Hatch in the middle of next month.
Sharp arrived in the UK after a meteoric rise through the ranks back home. Having made his mark winning multiple junior karting titles, and then winning five of his first 11 car races in Formula Ford single-seater machinery, his stand-out potential was spotted by David Dicker, the founder of Rodin Cars.
Renowned as a talent spotter, Dicker has helped to accelerate Liam Lawson, another promising young New Zealander, to race winning success in the FIA Formula 2 Championship and he is now giving Sharp’s career a similar springboard.
Since arriving in the UK a few weeks ago and joining the crack Carlin team which took Lando Norris to the title in 2015, the teenager from Canterbury has been learning the circuits and coming to grips with the latest generation Tatuus F4 car that he will be racing in the 27 remaining races on the F4 calendar.
Though not licenced to race until after turning 15, Sharp has been allowed to clock up the testing miles and in recent weeks has been lapping it up at Brands Hatch, Croft, Knockhill, Oulton Park, Thruxton and, most recently, at Donington Park last Thursday.
“Adjusting to life on the other side of the world isn’t easy but, in terms of the testing programme, it has gone really well,” reported the youngest and longest travelled on the 2022 F4 grid. “Each track has its own challenges and that’s great experience for me as a young driver. It’s been awesome to be on great tracks with either current or past F1 history like Silverstone, Donington and Brands Hatch and then you go to the roller-coaster of Knockhill in Scotland… I’ve never seen anything like that before!”
While forced to sit out last weekend’s opening three races of the season, Sharp was still busy furthering his education in and around the Carlin team.
On the eve of the event he also took his stand-out Rodin-liveried F4 car to Rodin Cars’ impressive European showroom, conveniently located in the paddock at Donington Park. Also present was a Rodin FZED single-seater track day sensation – the closest thing to an F1 car that you can buy.
“I was actually lucky enough to drive the FZED back in New Zealand (click here) and it was just unbelievable,” enthused Sharp. “The amount of power is just crazy. It has 675 horsepower and weighs next to nothing, so the sensation of driving it is something I will certainly never forget.”
While somewhat frustrated not to be racing, Sharp maximised the rest of the weekend to speed up his knowledge. “In some ways, of course, it was very different to be watching as I’ve never really done that before, but I was still learning and it gave me a great insight into what I can expect at Brands Hatch,” he acknowledged.
“It was an opportunity for me to analyse my competitors and see how they perform under pressure, and I was with the team in all the race debriefs and looking at all the data from my team-mates.”
His two fellow Carlin drivers – Oliver Gray and Ugo Ugochukku – are already on the radar of F1 teams as members of the Williams and McLaren junior academies respectively and thus will be great benchmarks for Louis as the season progresses. Encouragingly they were both on the podium at Donington.
“Having watched from the sidelines, I’m now even more excited about turning 15 and getting the best birthday present possible – a licence to go racing,” smiled Sharp.