Complete at Age Six: What I Learned from Coaching a Future F1 Driver

What makes racing prodigies different and how you can close the gap

Welcome to Terence Dove on Racing Drivers. In this week’s article I’ll tell you why a 6 year old can be an obvious F1 team pick, and indeed became one. What the attributes are, and how to develop them yourself. Then why you might have a bit more to offer than the drivers who seem to be born ready to go.

A week or so ago RedBull chucked one of their young drivers Arvid Lindblad, into a surprise F1 test at Imola, one of those private tests they do with an older model car. It looks like he will be the next on the list for full F1 tests because he sufficiently impressed the right decision makers there.

Now, I’ve been fortunate enough to have worked with a few drivers who got that far before, which gives me some insights into what these drivers having going for them when they are first starting in racing.

But Arvid is a bit more interesting for us.

I did a couple of coaching days at Tattershall with him over ten years ago when he was about 6.

I believed at the time he was such an obviously complete racing driver, ready to go at age 6, that I did myself out of a few quid by telling his parents that there isn’t much I can add to such a complete driver.

And that they should just get on with going up the ranks because he’ll attract the necessary people with no problems, as he sweeps up all the championships before him.

With hindsight, I reckon they probably thought I had lost the plot! And perhaps I had because I probably could have jumped on the bandwagon, and today I would be positioned to claim to be the genius karting coach who got him there…

But really, his path was so obvious that he didn’t require me at all. Here’s why…

The Complete Package: Breaking Down Natural Talent

Arvid arrived with all the following at age 6. Who knows where it all came from, but whatever it was all there - and I’m not sure if he could even tie his shoelaces at the time!

This is what he exhibited immediately in his little Bambino kart, running around Tattershall on his own on a normal mid-week open track day.

1. Immediate speed and kart control. Instinctive feel for maximum speed attainable through every turn Instinctive and fast oversteer control, late braking and smoothness to facilitate fast exits. All the stuff I write about was there already.

2. Very low, or perhaps zero, self-preservation instinct - or extreme bravery.