Although Lewis Hamilton had a weekend to forget in Baku, the results of the OK Junior Karting Championship made him extremely happy as he took to Instagram to celebrate the victory of Kenzo Craigie, a Mercedes junior driver.
As the only black driver to have ever raced in an elite sport like Formula 1, Hamilton had to face several challenges when he first came onto the racing scene in Karting. He faced immense discrimination and name-calling.
It is for the same reason that he has chosen to become one of the leading voices in F1 to promote inclusivity in the sport. Hence, praising another up-and-coming talented black driver like Craigie on his championship win reflects how much Hamilton cares about this cause.
Craigie himself has been a big fan of Hamilton since a very young age and having the 39-year-old’s racing number ‘44’ in the username of his Instagram and other social media handles shows that he indeed looks up to him as his inspiration. Hamilton shared the following message on his Instagram story with a snap of Kenzo’s winning moment,
“Seeing this has made my day. Well done @kenzocraiqie44, keep going .”
Lewis Hamilton congratulated Kenzo Craigie on his victory in the OK Junior Karting Championship.#lewishamilton #Formula1 pic.twitter.com/9G0Sbg1peF
— Formula World (@F1_Grand_Prix) September 17, 2024
However, Craigie’s win at the Ok Junior Championship finale was surrounded by controversies as many drivers received penalties and some were even disqualified from the rain-stricken and chaotic final race.
Red Bull’s junior Rocco Coronel, who has already been hailed as Max Verstappen’s successor by Helmut Marko, was also part of the grid this season. He was promoted to third place after Schaufler Niklas was disqualified for receiving help from more than one mechanic on the pre-grid.
Marko compares Coronel to Verstappen
Coronel recently had testing days with Red Bull in Jerez, where he drove a Formula 4 and a GP3 car, impressing the selection panel which led to his selection as a Red Bull junior academy driver. Dr. Marko personally identified the 13-year-old as a potential successor to Verstappen. Marko said;
“We were surprised with Rocco. He’s 13, so younger than we started with Max. He is quite mature, has confidence, and quite a dominant father [Tom Coronel]. That seems to be a Dutch thing… So, if one day Max retires, maybe now we have his successor.”
Rocco Coronel has signed with the Red Bull Junior Team
The 13-year-old Dutch driver made a strong impression with his performance in the F4 car such that he was given the opportunity to test a GP3 car the following day
[https://t.co/AbWcbZI3ne] pic.twitter.com/XdDcyGwxOb
— RBR Daily (@RBR_Daily) September 11, 2024
Coronel dreams of one day reaching the big stage of F1 and he expressed his gratitude upon receiving the contract to join the Red Bull Junior Team after the Jerez test. “I have always followed the Red Bull drivers and seen how they have developed in the sport. Now I will become one of them,” the 13-year-old said.
