Ilott might be hailed as the pied piper of the future. Some of the world's best drivers are stuck on the fringes of Formula One and could be the agent of change that leads them to reconsider their final destination.
Ilott was on the same path as most drivers who believe life begins and ends with F1 when he first started. Racing's most exclusive series has made it nearly impossible for the top young talent to graduate to F1 in recent years.
Ilott, who was runner-up to Mick Schumacher in the 2020 Formula 2 championship, was signed by Ferrari as a test driver in 2021. The native of Cambridge has a legendary F1 team.
Despite the honor of his selection for the Ferrari Driver Academy, the lack of opportunities to take that talent and go racing in a reasonable period of time was a painful realization. Ilott was given all of the cool driving gear and the chance to sample an F1 car a few times a year, but he was nowhere to be found.
Scores of drivers who are worthy of racing in F1 have similar stories. Most in Ilott's previous situation chose toil away, growing older while filling secondary roles as test, reserve and simulator drivers, clinging to a fading belief that they're destined for race seats.
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Ilott didn't want to waste years of his life waiting for a chance to compete in F1, just as Nyck de Vries didn't want to waste time waiting for a chance to compete in F1, just as he didn't want to waste time waiting for a
He broke from the norm and decided to go to Indianapolis to pursue his passion for F1.
"We're born and bred to try and get to F1, at the very least," Ilott said. It is hard to accept how it actually is. It is possible that the reality of getting to F1 is different to what they think.
International drivers whose F1 careers reached modest heights before flaming out or flopping to ignominious ends have usually found a home in the Indy 500. Many of the junior drivers on F1's training ladder have brought millions of dollars to buy their way into a seat, which has been a fallback position for them.
Rarely has the series gotten a driver of Ilott's caliber in their early 20s. Ilott went from being an unexpected pick by a small team to a driver who was heavily courted by some of the Championship's biggest teams over the summer before signing a new contract that will keep him with the Juncos Hollinger team through the middle of the decade.
There's life and fulfillment to be found outside of grand prix competition, as evidenced by his second place finish at the season finale.
The racing is very competitive and there's a lot to see and do. I didn't know how competitive it was until I did it. If it isn't Formula One, it's something that is often less spectacular. It gives you a positive view on what can be done. You're no longer limited to Formula E or the WEC if you're willing to look somewhere else.
"Only a few years ago, I know it wasn't something that would be considered if you'd positioned yourself into a 'F1 or nothing' mentality, but it can really give a driver an opportunity to show what they can do, which I think parallels really well back to
Four F2 drivers who've won races in 2022 are known to be in active discussions with teams about part- or full-time seats in the future. A fifth, who was in the running for a championship-contending Indy car ride, decided to pay millions to not race in F1 next year, and will play the test and reserve game.
It's the first time in recent memory that a large amount of F2's leading talents are all looking to move directly to an open-wheel series that isn't F1, following in the footsteps of Ilott and Christian Lundgaard. The phenomenon could continue if the gates to F1 remain closed to everyone.
They have to decide if there are enough seats in Indy to accommodate the interest. Only a few of the best F2 drivers are expected to make the move to the U.S. during the off-season. There is a new precedent being established that should lead to more Ilotts and Lunds going straight from the top step of the European open-wheel ladder to launch their careers in the U.S.A.
Younger drivers are asking if they should go to the American ladder where a lot of prize money exists to go to the next stage in their careers because of the opportunities that exist. F1 teams will be ringing if I win the next four years as an Indy champ. That would be hilarious.
Some of them don't want to leave what they're in. If it's a choice between doing another year of F2 and not being able to get into F1 after that, most will stay and take that 5% chance. It's not as high as 5%.
There is nothing like it for those who want to try it. I thought it might be a year or the rest of my life, but I will never know if I tried it. It has become my new place of residence.
If the Ilott trend continues, the series will only get faster and more competitive with the addition of the world's next generation stars.
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