The new Lewis Hamilton? Ferrari sign British racing star

Lewis Hamilton may be Ferrari’s present, but the Formula 1 team are already looking to the future after signing a young British talent to their driver academy.

The Ferrari Driver Academy was founded in 2009 and is responsible for developing and promoting young talent, ushering in the likes of Charles Leclerc, Sergio Perez and Ollie Bearman into F1.

Jerome d'Ambrosio is currently the head of the academy, and Dino Beganovic will be the first Ferrari youngster to take part in a FP1 session in 2025 at the Japanese Grand Prix, where he will drive Leclerc’s SF-25.

Ferrari have recently added a sixth driver to their academy, with 13-year-old Noah Baglin joining Beganovic, Maya Weug, Aurelia Nobels, Tuukka Taponen and Rafael Camara in the F1 team's young driver pipeline.

Who is Ferrari's new driver Noah Baglin?

Baglin began racing karts aged six and in his first season won the 2019 MSA Le Conti Cup, and was also runner up in the British Bambino class and in the Time Trials category.

In 2023, Baglin began racing in Italy and on the international stage where he won the ACI & Trofeo Delle Industrie championship, and finished on the podium in the SKUSA Supernats in Las Vegas.

Last year, the youngster was the highest placed rookie in the European OKJ FIA championship, also boasting the accolade of the number 1 driver in the FIA Karting Ranking.

It is impossible to ignore the similarities between Baglin and Hamilton, who also burst onto the karting scene in the 1990's and achieved multiple titles.

Like Baglin, Hamilton also signed his first contract with an F1 team when he was 13-years-old, joining McLaren's young driver programme in 1998 where a decade later he would win his first F1 world title.

Baglin will continue his karting career in 2025, and if successful could move up to single-seater racing series in regional championships, where he will have to prove his abilities before he can progress further into Formula 3, 2 and maybe even one day Formula 1.

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