As Simon Pagenaud perches on a picnic bench watching the likes of Michael Jordan and David Beckham stroll past him in the Miami Grand Prix paddock, he’s a contented man. An IndyCar champion and Indy 500 winner, it’s not the fame and fortune of the A-list celebrities in America that he might have been dreaming of, but the chance to be a regular in the Formula 1 circus.
The Frenchman hit headlines in the F1 community during the first Covid-enforced lockdown in 2020, crashing into Lando Norris during an online race. But he could well have been on the grid himself long before Norris – who he calls “an amazing talent” – was even karting had he been taking his real-life racing more seriously at an early age.
“For every kid growing up in Europe, the dream is Formula 1,” Pagenaud admits. “And it starts in karts. I did go-karting but at a very low level with zero pretension to become a professional driver. We used the same chassis for seven years, and I think we had one engine for five years. It was really low budget.
“But it taught me to work on my go-kart myself, and it taught me to work hard with tough equipment. So I didn’t get it all at once. Then my chance was really when I won
