“Take your time, think a lot, think of everything you’ve got, for you will still be here tomorrow, but your dreams may not.”
Cat Stevens’ 1970 hit ‘Father and Son’, is all about going your own way and chasing your dreams. Fathers are often proud if sons follow in their footsteps, but sometimes it’s the last thing they want – especially if those footsteps tread a dangerous path. And the reverse often applies too, as sons are normally eager to carve out their own identities.
Carlos Sainz Junior, for example, said that he would never have set out to be a rally driver – even though he likes the sport – as the inevitable comparisons with his two-time world champion father would be too much. But now that Carlitos has proved a point in Formula 1, he won’t discount rallying in the future. Perhaps the first step was when he drove the zero car on Rallye Monte-Carlo in 2018: a course-opening road car that goes through the stages before the competitors. “My dad told me about 100 times to be careful, but I really loved the experience: it was a dream come true,” said Carlos Junior. “It’s definitely made me more excited to try and do something with rallying in the future, although it’s not the time yet…”
As the song goes: “I was once like you are now, and I know that it’s not easy to be calm, when you’ve found something going on…”
Here are a few more Formula 1 fathers and sons (inspired by Cat Stevens):
KEKE AND NICO ROSBERG
While completely different characters – the father was known as a chain-smoking playboy, the son a clean-living family man – in some ways Keke and Nico had parallel lives, each winning one Formula 1 title with the dominant team of the day before finishing their careers. However, Keke struggled on for four seasons after winning his 1982 title, never quite hitting the heights he had achieved before. Maybe that was one of the reasons why Nico decided to stop immediately after winning his title in 2016, but according to Nico himself it was simply that he had finally fulfilled his dream. Just like his father had 34 years earlier.
GRAHAM AND DAMON HILL
The Rosbergs of course were only the second father and son duo to win the Formula 1 World Championship. The first was Graham and Damon Hill: Graham won the title twice, in 1962 and 1968, while Damon clinched it in 1996. The relationship between Damon and his father was undeniably complex; complicated further by the fact that Graham died long before his son ever got to race. But race he did – on bikes before switching to cars – and Damon too achieved his lifelong dream. The whole story is beautifully chronicled in Damon’s autobiography ‘Watching the Wheels‘: one of the most intelligently-written and thought-provoking books that a racing driver has ever produced.
JAN AND KEVIN MAGNUSSEN
While Keke Rosberg was famous for his cigarettes, Jan Magnussen also holds the distinction of probably being the last full-time smoker in Formula 1, part of the Dane’s gloriously unconventional approach to the top level of the sport. When contracted to Ford (through Stewart Grand Prix) he appeared in a press conference in the Czech Republic to promote the Ford Ka and was asked what he thought of the car. “It’s one of the worst cars I’ve ever driven,” was his reply. Kevin, while more politically correct, also risked having his Formula 1 career cut short but made a remarkable comeback with Haas last year – and hasn’t looked back since.
SATORU AND KAZUKI NAKAJIMA
Satoru was born into a farming family, but soon looked beyond tractors to end up in Formula 1, where he made his debut in 1987 at the relatively ripe age of 34, courtesy of Honda. The bad news was that his team mate was Ayrton Senna, which led to the Japanese driver’s reputation getting unfairly trashed. Nonetheless, Satoru’s son Kazuki came into Formula 1 full-time in 2008 as team mate to Nico Rosberg at Williams (and outqualified Rosberg at their first race together: which was actually at the end of 2007, following Alex Wurz’s retirement). Since leaving F1, Kazuki has proved his speed in sports cars with Toyota, winning Le Mans twice. At the end of 2021 he retired to take up the role of vice chairman at Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe.
MICHAEL AND MICK SCHUMACHER
It was the perfect story; perhaps a little too perfect. Mick, a former F2 champion, was brought into F1 by the Ferrari Academy, testing a Ferrari and an Alfa before being placed at Haas, with the expectation that one day there would be a Schumacher back at Ferrari to win many more titles and add to an enduring family legacy. The unspoken expectation was enormous, but because of Michael’s tragic skiing accident, Mick couldn’t even benefit from his father’s hands-on advice as to how to fulfil it. So, things didn’t quite work out. But as one door closes another one opens – and that was Mercedes; as much an integral part of the Schumacher story as Ferrari. Mick drove the car at a Pirelli test in Spain for the first time this year in June, and also tried out a McLaren, the car of the moment, in Portugal one month later. Who knows where that will take arguably the greatest name in Formula 1 next…
NELSON PIQUET AND NELSON PIQUET JUNIOR
Nelson Senior will always be remembered for his three world championships and a rivalry with Nigel Mansell that was one of the great duels of the sport’s history; his son unfortunately will always be remembered for crashing into a wall. That’s somewhat unfair on Nelson Junior, as what happened in Singapore in 2008 was unquestionably not his fault. But it tarnished the reputation of a driver who definitely had talent; Nelson Junior finished second only to Lewis Hamilton in the 2006 GP2 series, was on the podium at the 2008 German Grand Prix and won the inaugural Formula E championship in 2015.
GILLES AND JACQUES VILLENEUVE
He was only 11 when his father died, but Jacques no doubt remembers being bundled into Gilles’s helicopters or sports cars as a boy, and so being exposed to the sorts of speeds and antics that for him became an entirely normal part of growing up. Probably for that very reason, he adapted seamlessly from Formula Atlantic to Indycars to claim the title in 1995. From there, he finished second in his first Formula 1 season (1996) and went on to claim the title in 1997. Since leaving F1 at the end of 2006, he’s turned his hand to pretty much everything: from Le Mans, to rallycross, to Formula E, to pop singing. His 2007 album, Private Paradise, is still available for purchase now.
JOS AND MAX VERSTAPPEN
No story of this nature would be complete without a mention of Jos and Max Verstappen. Both set Formula 1 on fire: Jos when his Benetton famously burst into flames during a pit stop at Hockenheim in 1994, Max with a sensational win on his Red Bull Racing debut in 2016. His victory taken when only 18 years and 228 days old is just one of the many records that Max has already broken…and who knows how many more the runaway championship leader will establish in future?