In class with Francesco Pon

Published on 31 January 2014 by Stefan Meens

As part of the four day workshop in between the first Florida Winter Series rounds in Sebring and Palm Beach, Max Verstappen joined the other drivers in the school bench. Whatever their age difference, they are all class mates for the day. The talented youngsters were given a theory lesson on the requirements of being a professional racing driver, by a special teacher, an engineer with the Ferrari Driver Academy, Francesco Pon.

The morning session covered general topics relating to the basic links between the car, the driver and engineer. Then in the afternoon the subjects were the technical principles of driving and the most important sections of the sporting regulations.

"We want to help the drivers become aware of everything that, to date, they have done based on instinct," commented Pon. "It's a long process that will lead to them understanding their technique in a conscious manner."
As with any school worthy of the name, there had to be some work for the students in class and the day ended with a short test to see how they had taken on board the raft of information from the lessons.

"We're not interested in seeing who did best," said the teacher for the day. "It was more a case of seeing what the kids had retained from today's lessons and how we can improve the way we put across the ideas that we believe are important for them to progress professionally."

Niels Hendrix