How far can a father’s love go? How about selling his rare supercar to support his son’s racing? That’s exactly what Jean Alesi did as the ex-Ferrari F1 driver sold his F40 to help fund his son Giuliano’s HWA Formula 2 programme.
After making his Formula 2 debut with Trident in 2019, Giuliano finished 15th overall in the season with a best finish of fifth place. The French driver has now switched to HWA, which will replace the competitive Arden, who had left the category after the tragic passing of Anthoine Hubert at Spa last year.
Alesi was also vocal about the high budget needed to run in Formula 2 as despite being someone who has contacts in the environment, he had to resort to selling his prized supercar to remain competitive in the sport. Unlike F1 which implements a cost cap, F2 does not do the same and one will need a budget of 1.8 million Euros to be able to race in F2.
“We talk about the budget cap but nothing was for Formula 2, they didn’t change the price of the fee of anything. So I’m sure a lot of drivers will not finish the season and that will be a disastrous season for the Formula 2 and Formula 3 drivers,” said Alesi.
“So I hope in this big mess something will change and will give the opportunity of these drivers who make a big investment not only on the money side but also in the life side because they quit school, they quit university because they dream to be a racer and nobody is looking after them.”
Alesi’s F40 was a gift from Ferrari as a part of his original contract when he raced for them from 1991-1995. The F40 is now priced around 1 million Euros in the used car market.
