When F1 isn't enough: Current drivers who've contested other series
F1's altered calendar this year is giving drivers the chance to look beyond the sport for racing opportunities, but it's by no means a new phenomenon...
Despite the trend in recent years of F1 drivers focusing more purely on F1, which at least partly comes down to the gruelling typical 24 race calendar, a driver looking to other series for opportunities to broaden their experience and success mid-season is not uncommon, historically-speaking.
This year, the five week gap in the calendar and the mixed success for some teams under the new regulations is bringing the phenomenon back, which not only gives us racing action to enjoy in F1’s absence but a chance to deep dive how others who’ve raced elsewhere before have fared…
Lance Stroll - GT3, Daytona
Lance Stroll is set to use this break in the calendar to contest the first race of the GT World Challenge Europe season at Paul Ricard from April 11th-13th, but it actually won’t be the first time he’s run in a different category during an F1 season.
Back in January 2018 when he was set to begin a second season at Williams, Stroll ran in the 24 hours of Daytona for the second time. With Jackie Chan DCR JOTA alongside Rosenqvist, Juncadella (now Verstappen’s 24h Nurburgring teammate!) and Frijns in an Oreca 07-Gibson, he finished 15th overall and 11th in the prototype class.
The aim of that outing was to, in his words, “step back and do something that’s a bit less high pressure” which is remarkably similar to his reasoning for entering into the GT World Challenge Europe race this year.
“I get to share the car with friends, so we laugh outside the car, enjoy ourselves inside the car, and the team is really great,” he told the series.
Equally though, with Aston Martin languishing at the rear of the F1 field at the moment, Stroll believes there’s an opportunity to win out over the “very competitive field” “even if it’s our first time and we lack experience” - something that isn’t really possible in F1.
“That’s also a big motivation for me to be here."
He’ll run an Aston Martin Vantage alongside Roberto Merhi and Mari Boya, which he tested for the first time at the Nurburgring last week.
Max Verstappen - GT3
Max Verstappen could perhaps be credited with bringing the potential for competing in other series during an active F1 season back to the forefront of the drivers’ minds. He’s always had an interest in racing beyond F1 which he fulfils with his Verstappen.com Racing and Verstappen Sim Racing teams, and last year that offered him the opportunity to contest his first GT3 race.
To earn his Permit A for the Nordschleife, Verstappen ran in the seventh round of the NLS season in a horsepower-restricted, ‘Permit B spec’, Porsche Cayman GT4. It was a race entry that came after ‘Franz Hermann’ had taken to the Nordschleife for a test earlier that year.
With that all important permit secured, Verstappen was able to make his GT3 debut later that month in a Ferrari 296 alongside Chris Lulham. They qualified third and ran to a victory on debut, with a 24 second margin back to P2.
The goal however remained to contest the 24h Nurburgring event which is something he’s set to achieve this year, and in preparation Verstappen contested the NLS2 race last month. With Verstappen Racing now a Mercedes-AMG customer, he team ran in the Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo alongside Juncadella and Gounon to a pole position in qualifying and win on track.
They were later stripped of the victory and disqualified for a technical infringement relating to their tyre use in qualifying which saw them use seven sets on race day as opposed to the permitted six.
Nevertheless, he and his teammates will return to the Nordschleife on April 18th-19th to run in the qualifiers for the 24-hour race before contesting it in May.
Fernando Alonso - IndyCar, Le Mans, IMSA, Dakar Rally
It’s well known that Fernando Alonso’s long F1 career has been broken up by a stint away from it in 2019 and 2020 to allow him to explore other series. But even before then, he had competed in IndyCar, Le Mans and IMSA.
His 2017 entry into the Indianapolis 500 was the first of these, coming during his F1 season with McLaren and actually on the weekend of the Monaco Grand Prix. Running a Honda engine in the back of his No. 29 McLaren-Honda-Andretti Dallara DW12 went about as well as his time running a McLaren-Honda combination in F1 had at that time, with a failure forcing his retirement with 21 laps to go after having led for a total of 27 laps to that point.
During his 2018 F1 season, which was his final with McLaren, he began a World Endurance Championship campaign with Toyota alongside ex-F1 drivers Buemi and Nakajima. The team entered all rounds that didn’t class with F1 weekends which saw them claim victory at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps and then the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The campaign continued in 2019 during the first of his two seasons away from F1, and they claimed a second consecutive victory of Le Mans before ultimately winning the 2018-19 LMP1 Drivers’ Championship with five victories and seven podiums from eight entries.
Over the rest of his F1 hiatus, Alonso went on to run in the Dakar Rally, the Indy 500 again, and won the 2019 24 Hours of Daytona. It’s a career outside of F1 that’s largely been driven by his ambition to complete the triple crown - Monaco Grand Prix victory, 24 Hours of Le Mans victory and the Indy 500 victory - with the Indy 500 still being the final piece of the puzzle Alonso needs for the accolade.
Nico Hulkenberg - Le Mans
Nico Hulkenberg is another driver who’s tried his hand, very successfully, at the World Endurance Championship during an active F1 season.
In 2015, he ran in two rounds with Porsche - the 6 Hours of Spa and the iconic 24 Hours of Le Mans. Driving alongside his teammates Tandy and Bamber in the latter, he took Porsche’s first victory in the event since 1998.
Lando Norris - Daytona
Norris trying his hand at another series didn’t exactly come during an F1 season, but just slightly before his maiden one.
In 2018 he ran in the 24 Hours of Daytona in a United Autosports Ligier JS P217 alongside none other than Fernando Alonso and Will Owen. It’s a race that largely goes under the radar alongside his achievements in F1, but one that earned him credibility and confirmed his potential at an elite level as he managed worsening, wet conditions overnight to take them to the lead over his stint.
While they eventually dropped to 38th overall and 13th in class, Norris proved he could match the pace and ability of his more experienced teammates over the outing, which Zak Brown has said was a key part of the decision making process in putting him up into an F1 seat at McLaren.
Bonus: Kimi Raikkonen - WRC
He may not be on the grid anymore, but we can’t look at F1 drivers racing elsewhere without mentioning the Iceman, Kimi Räikkönen. It’s a nickname that came from his cool, calm, quiet personality rather than his racing record necessarily, but in 2009 the Iceman took to racing on ice for real.
He ran in the World Rally Championship from 2009 to 2011 in a total of 21 rounds, making his debut at his home rally in Finland in 2009. While he ran to 15th overall, it prompted a full move away from F1 and to the championship for 2010 with the Citroen Junior Team. In 2011, he took part with his own team, ICE 1 Racing, earning 10th in the standings by the end of the season.
Alonson's pursuit of the triple crown has been my favourite side quest to follow.