Young drivers are having a tougher and tougher time breaking into Formula 1 regardless of their achievements in junior racing series.
Oscar Piastri is the last Formula 2 champion to earn a full-time F1 seat but still had to sit on the sidelines at Alpine for a year before being hired by McLaren.
Speaking on the CameronF1 YouTube channel, Peter Windsor talked about one youngster he feels particularly sorry for after making one misjudged career decision.
In the past, young drivers would think that they had the best chance of breaking into F1 if they were part of the Red Bull set-up.
However, Yuki Tsunoda will enter his fifth year with Visa Cash App RB in 2025 and his current teammate is 34-year-old Daniel Ricciardo.
Other teams – such as Ferrari – very rarely promote from within such is the pressure on their drivers, although Oliver Bearman thrived in his one-off cameo earlier in the season in Saudi Arabia.
Windsor has now said that as soon as eight-time F2 winner and Formula 2 champion Felipe Drugovich signed with Aston Martin, his chances of earning an F1 race seat were as good as over.
The Brazilian has been waiting in the wings with the British team since his triumph in 2022 but appears to be no closer to a race seat at this stage.
Peter Windsor believes Felipe Drugovich shouldn’t have signed for Aston Martin
The pathway from Formula 2 to Formula 1 has become much more difficult to navigate since the trio of George Russell, Alex Albon and Lando Norris were all promoted together in 2019.
Since then only a handful of new drivers have entered F1 and aside from Piastri have struggled to adapt.
This has made teams wary of calling upon young talent even when they’ve achieved everything they can at the level below.
Felipe Drugovich raced in F2 for three seasons, eventually cantering to the title in 2022.
He saw off the likes of Theo Pourchaire – who succeeded him as champion – Liam Lawson and Logan Sargeant.
The latter two drivers have since made their debuts although Sargeant’s time in F1 may be coming to an end soon.
However, Windsor believes that the decision for Drugovich to join Aston Martin was his biggest error.
The team have only been on the grid for a few years in their current guise and the line-up has been pretty stable ever since.
Aston Martin in no rush to promote young talent to Formula 1
Speaking about the academy system in F1, Windsor said: “We have a lot of academies now and a lot of support for younger drivers to come into Formula 1 but we don’t really have a proper progression once they’re kind of on the block and ready to go into Formula 1.
“You’ve got Formula 2 champions who are having to look elsewhere for their racing.
“I mean in the case of Felipe Drugovich, the millisecond he signed that Aston [Martin] deal I said, ‘What a complete waste of time that’s going to be’ and it’s so sad to see him standing in the garage doing nothing.
“Theo [Pourchaire] bless him, he’s in IndyCar now and enjoying it and making a go of it but he deserves to be given a proper Formula 1 opportunity.”
Drugovich is faced with the prospect of trying to dislodge two-time world champion Fernando Alonso from his team or Lance Stroll, the son of the current chairman.
The Spaniard has already signed a deal until at least the end of the 2026 season while Stroll’s on a rolling contract.
Drugovich is already expected to miss out on a 2025 seat but was briefly in contention to replace Sargeant at the end of last year.
That move never panned out and the longer he goes without impressing outside of F1, the less likely he is to make that final step up despite the support of the Brazilian public.
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