A day with Dino Chiesa, the man who made Hamilton

Lonato is a little town located in northern Italy, near Lake Garda. For motorsport fans Lonato is the epitome of karting and still represents the most important academy for those young drivers keen to undertake a career in F1.

If you ever decide to travel to Lonato there is a good chance you may stumble across some F1 drivers : Riccardo Patrese, Jarno Trulli, Rubens Barrichello, Juan Pablo Montoya -just to mention a few, they’re all there mentoring and cajoling their sons to follow in their footsteps and carry their great tradition of perhaps one day producing an inner family world champion F1 driver.

Lonato is also synonymous with Dino Chiesa, considered the “Kart Guru” of the region. Many now great F1 drivers were mentored by him, Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, Danil Kvyat are but a few, so when next in this wonderful little city of Lonato, just ask for Dino, they all know his whereabouts.

Ferrari had a terrific start and put both Hamilton and Mercedes under pressure.

This is true, but knowing Lewis I can tell you how talented he is. His ability to manage races has improved considerably and that has made a difference at this point of the season.  For Ferrari it will be impossible to catch-up, it’s also impossible for Vettel to catch up and make any sort of difference at this late stage. It’s a shoe-in that Lewis will be World Champion.

There is one thing that we know for sure ahead of the Mexican GP. Officially Danil Kvyat has lost his seat and Toro Rosso will end the season with Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley. You nurtured the Russian driver for about six months, what is your comment about this move from TR?

There is a lot of politics when it comes to these decisions. With Red Bull trying to leave Renault and Honda supplying the engines to Toro Rosso, it is obvious that drivers are affected. I would imagine Honda might be anxious to have a Japanese driver in Toro Rosso; with this scenario, Kvyat would be the redundant driver. It is a shame to see a driver like him ending a F1 career so soon; he has a lot to give F1 and he is not a 40-year-old man.

Many young drivers deserve a chance in F1, nowadays it seems to be more difficult than in the past?

Certainly there are many young drivers who would deserve a place in F1. There are many political dynamics at work here, also inappropriate managerial decisions stop talented drivers entering F1. This is the sad part of this industry unfortunately. Being talented is not enough in Motorsport, there are many other, sometimes, factors at work.

Who has the best chances to get a seat in Ferrari once Raikkonen retires?

For sure Charles Leclerc will be the one. He won both GP3 and Formula 2 and it seems he will be the driver who replaces Kimi. He will race in 2018 with Sauber and then he will be ready for Ferrari.

How do you foresee the 2018 season?

In F1, things take time and do not change overnight. At the start of this season Ferrari was better than Mercedes, perhaps they made some mistakes in terms of development whereas Mercedes’ improvement was considerable. However Ferrari will finish second in the constructors’ championship, which is a great result. I was impressed by Ferrari this year and I believe the Scuderia may even be the favourite for the 2018 title.