Hot on the heels of a superb top ten championship finish in his maiden campaign of European competition, highly-rated young North Wales karting hotshot James Singleton was given a glimpse of what he hopes the future may hold for him – with a VIP outing to the Italian Grand Prix at Monza to see his F1 heroes in action.
James earned his place on the trip for having been awarded one of the coveted ‘Driver of the Day’ accolades in the Lewis Hamilton and Bernie Ecclestone-backed 2009 Formula Kart Stars (FKS) Championship – the same series as had first set the sport’s youngest-ever world champion himself on the fast track to superstardom.
He might have attended the British Grand Prix at Silverstone before, but Monza was the first race the Conwy-based speed demon had been to outside the country, and after watching Friday F1 and GP2 Series practice from the Curva Parabolica grandstand, things really revved up a gear or two.
“You can definitely feel the history at Monza, and the track is just awesome – really fast and flowing,” he enthused. “That really allows you to get a sense of just how quick F1 cars are, although I didn’t remember them being that loud – in fact, I didn’t think it was possible for them to make that much noise!
“Towards the end of the day we were given VIP passes to go into the F1 paddock – that was something pretty special. We went into some of the team garages and got a look at how it all works. We met the two Hispania drivers Bruno Senna and Sakon Yamamoto, who are both really nice guys and signed all our caps and T-shirts.
“The F1 paddock was just amazing, with drivers walking around and celebrities everywhere – it almost didn’t feel right being there with them all! There weren’t that many people in there in total, but practically all of those who were seemed to be famous!”
The following day, the 14-year-old watched practice and qualifying from the grandstand again and looked around the ‘F1 Village’ shopping complex, buying something for his dad – who handily doubles up as his expert mechanic on karting weekends – and a cap that he thought bore the McLaren logo but in fact turned out to be one endorsing Michael Schumacher. Nothing wrong with that, only James is a Hamilton and Jenson Button fan...
Another VIP paddock visit afforded the opportunity to see inside the Lotus garage as well as that of McLaren – manna from heaven for a Button and Hamilton supporter. Better yet, the Penmaenmawr ace got to meet the two most recent F1 World Champions – Hamilton for the first time, having been presented with his trophy for finishing a brilliant third in the 2009 FKS Mini Max class title standings by Button earlier this year – as they chatted about all the ins-and-outs of a grand prix weekend. And then James was given a privileged sneak peek behind-the-scenes at current world championship leaders Red Bull Racing...
“That was just a different world compared to Hispania!” he confessed. “It was amazing how clean everything was kept – everything they took off the car had to be cleaned. There are so many people working on each car, and everything is linked up to the pit wall and to the truck, where there are another 15 people or so processing the data – which itself is fed to the engineers back at the factory! It’s all incredibly complex. It was a real hive of activity, too – I can’t even begin to imagine what it must be like on race day! The amount of commitment that goes into it all is indescribable.”
A barbecue that evening subsequently gave James the chance to meet Red Bull duo Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel – the latter having registered his breakthrough grand prix victory at Monza two years earlier – and he admitted that he almost had to pinch himself at times, finding it hard to believe that he was literally rubbing shoulders with leading F1 drivers. And then on Sunday, it was time for the race.
“I really enjoyed that,” he affirmed. “I do wish Jenson had won, though I was happy for Fernando Alonso on Ferrari’s home turf. The atmosphere was unbelievable! On the last lap, all the fans went running over to the 30ft fence separating the grandstand from the track and just started climbing it until they were hanging over the other side! The sheer amount of noise and number of people who flooded onto the circuit after the race was quite something – the Italians are certainly passionate about their motorsport!”
Making a special point of thanking the whole FKS team for the unique opportunity, he reflected that ‘it was just a really good experience overall, and one that I probably won’t ever get the chance to do again – unless I’m there to race, of course...’ Watch this space, as they say.
Indeed, on the basis of his form in the recently-concluded 2010 Euro Max Challenge, James is certainly on the right track. With four of the five circuits on the calendar being new to him, he adapted magnificently, regularly proving capable of more than holding his own up against the veritable crème de la crème of international opposition, including the defending Junior Rotax World Champion.
Despite what was billed at the outset as a ‘learning year’ in Europe, the Coles Racing star laid down an immediate calling-card with pole position and a podium finish on his debut in the Winter Cup at Malaga back in February. Along the way there were many more excellent results and performances, finishing half of the eight finals inside the top seven out of some 50-plus competitors, with an inspired charge to the runner-up laurels in the teeming rain at Wackersdorf in Germany the undisputed highlight.
Having entered the Genk finale lying third in the points and primed to clinch his place in the prestigious Rotax Grand Finals, James was well on-course to deservedly progress when cruel ill-fortune intervened following a trio of strong heat showings as his engine refused to play ball at the beginning of the pre-final, effectively scuppering his hopes in one fell swoop and causing him to fall to an unrepresentative seventh in the standings. Still, he had, he acknowledges, made his mark.
“It’s been an enjoyable championship, with some good, clean racing and tough competition,” he summarised. “I really liked the tracks we visited and the driving standards were very high, which helped me to learn a lot and improve myself as a driver, too. I’m definitely glad we did it and overall I think it was a pretty good season, but if it hadn’t been for the bad luck we had at Genk, it could have been a really good one...”
James is seeking sponsors to help support him in 2010 and beyond; if you are interested in backing North Wales’ brightest young F1 hope, please contact his father Mark on 07795 297350 or at: gwyneddforklifts@ukf.net
