Two of the United Kingdom’s biggest motorsport organisations are set to join forces and aid the development of next-generation British drivers.
Motorsport UK and the British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC) will operate a new national academy from 2027 to create a unified development pathway for young racers into single-seaters, sportscars and beyond.
It is called the BRDC Driver Academy powered by Motorsport UK and is therefore merging the Motorsport UK Driver Academy with the BRDC’s Rising Stars and Superstars programmes.
The initiative will be run by former sportscar driver and BRDC Superstars director Andy Meyrick, who aims to develop youngsters by covering various aspects from racing to fitness to education.
“I’m just really genuinely excited,” Meyrick told Autosport ahead of this weekend’s British Grand Prix. “It’s the right thing to do as for the last few years we’ve been like, ‘we need to do this’. We can’t afford to stand still.
“We’ve got to move this forward and there is a danger, in any form of life, that if you keep standing still and your competition is moving forward, then you’re going to become outdated. The reality is that that’s very, very important in motorsport. So I’m excited for it to happen.”
Lando Norris, McLaren
Photo by: Clive Mason / Getty Images
The general consensus is that the merging of the various UK driver academies is long overdue, and there was a need to create something that continues the support from grassroots level.
“Going forward, to have Motorsport UK involved as well, we’ve got more resources and more money to help these young drivers,” Derek Warwick, BRDC vice president, told Autosport.
“More ability to do things we haven’t been able to do in the past. I’m very excited because I’m very aware that all the Formula 1 teams have got a young driver programme and that’s really why we stopped [the Autosport BRDC] young driver of the year.
“We couldn’t compete, they’ve got too much money, which is great for young drivers, but for us, Rising Stars, the British Racing Drivers’ Club, is important to me and joining forces with the powerhouse of Motorsport UK is just brilliant.”
So the long-term aim is to continue Britain’s standing as the most successful country in motorsport, with a record 21 F1 world titles and the reigning champions in F1 (Lando Norris), Formula E (Oliver Rowland) and the World Endurance Championship (James Calado).
A driver hoping to make that 22 F1 world titles is current championship contender George Russell, who won the Autosport BRDC Young Driver Award in 2014 and was part of the Superstars programme.
George Russell, Mercedes
Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images
“For myself, the BRDC has played such a huge role in my opportunities, my progression, I remember joining the programme when I was 16-years-old,” said the seven-time grand prix winner.
“Things are definitely different today compared to my time, because there weren’t as many young drivers on the programme of a Formula 1 team, 10, 15 years ago and we relied so much upon Motorsport UK and the BRDC to help guide us to the right people.
“That’s very much still the case today and there’s a lot of Formula 1 teams trying to sign drivers and it’s great just to have the right people around you to guide you through some difficult decisions.”
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– The Autosport.com Team
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