Learning to change gear in a formula racing car
Benjamin Mazatis races around the track in his kart at speeds of up to 120 kilometres per hour. But that's still not fast enough for the 13-year-old: his stated goal is Formula 1. He recently got to drive a Formula car for the first time – despite never having operated a manual gearbox before.
Even at the age of three, Benjamin Mazatis would sit in front of the television, intently following the races of his great idol, Michael Schumacher, in Formula 1. Since he was six years old, the Bruckmühl native has been racing on tracks himself: he competes in karting, just like Schumacher did back then. And like the seven-time world champion, he too has talent.
Benjamin Mazatis wants to get into Formula 1. He has already gained his first experience in a Formula car: In February, the young talent was allowed to test a racing car for a weekend in Valencia, invited by BMW Motorsport. The young man from Bruckmühl sped around the track with 140 HP and up to 230 kilometres per hour, on which his great idols from Formula 1 had completed their laps half an hour earlier. “I was a bit panicked,“ says the 13-year-old, "because I had never driven a racing car with a gearbox before."
The young racing driver doesn't lack ambition: he has a fitness coach with whom he trains every week – and he also goes jogging daily. It's hard to imagine there's still time for school with so much effort. “On race weekends, homework sometimes has to be done in the car or at half past five in the morning before the races,„ says the student, “because as soon as I'm on the track, I can't think about anything else."