Photo: Ida Wood
The Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 team has recruited karting legend Mike Wilson this year to help develop the youngest of its junior drivers.
Wilson was world champion of the Formula K kart category six times in the 1980s, establishing himself as one of the greatest ever talents to get behind the wheel of the sit-on vehicles which are the starting point for many single-seater stars.
In 2009, a mutual contact led to Lawrence Stroll – now the owner of the Aston Martin F1 team – getting Wilson to tutor his son Lance in karting. The Canadian was only 10 years old and in mini karting at the time, but Wilson headed to North America and took on the challenge.
Stroll was later brought under the wing of the Ferrari Driver Academy, won three titles in junior single-seaters and made it to F1 in 2017. He is now in his eighth season, and driving for his father’s team.
Wilson had run karts and assisted drivers once he stepped back from driving, and was back in the CIK-FIA World Karting Championship paddock this year in his new role coaching Mercedes-AMG F1 juniors James Anagnostiadis and Kenzo Craigie.
“This is the first year [I’ve worked with them],” Wilson explained to Formula Scout. “They’ve grown a lot, actually. I think every race has got its own story, every track is different. But I can see that the boys have step-by-step always got better. Which is, that’s our goal, basically.”
Gwen Lagrue, Mercedes’ driver development advisor, was responsible for recruiting Wilson and it was a canny signing since his two Wilson-backed proteges finished one-two in the OK Junior final of the world championship in September.
“When Kenzo got to second, I thought ‘okay, it’s a good result’, because in the world championship even second place is good. So we would have been second and fourth. But I knew [Kit] Belofsky was under investigation, so I thought ‘well, he’s going to get a five-second penalty for sure, which then moves James from fourth to third’. And then on the last lap what happened, what happened between them? And Baglin…”
Cragie secured victory in dramatic fashion after clashing with Prema team-mate Noah Baglin at the very last corner of the race, which stewards deemed him not at fault for.
“It’s racing, and you could see on the video, they said it was more Baglin who turns into Kenzo. Kenzo was on the gravel [on that last lap]. He couldn’t do anything. No grip, nothing.”
Formula Scout asked Wilson if the wet conditions of the OK and OK-J finals that weekend were among the worst he had ever seen when it came to standing water, and he replied with two yeses. He was therefore impressed by all the drivers who had managed to stay on track.
“[All] very good, yeah. Especially on this track, because it’s really, really slippery. I mean, we’ve got other tracks when it rains, yeah okay it’s slippery, but not as bad as this.”