Diagonal Diary: How Diagonal Comms gives young drivers a leg up in thriving junior formulae
Excitement for the start of the 2025 Formula 1 season is rising as we edge closer to lights out on 16 March at the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne, Australia, which will host the F1 season opener for the first time since 2019.
All 10 driver line-ups – which include six fresh-faced youngsters who will be making their full-time debuts – have been confirmed, cars are already out on track as part of the Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) and Pirelli tyre test programmes, and photographs of Lewis Hamilton draped in Ferrari red are plastered all over our social media pages.
Rather poetically, we publish this week’s edition of the Diagonal Diary 44 days from the start of the 2025 season.
Aside from 20 state-of-the-art F1 machines and their respective world-class drivers, present at Albert Park in just over six weeks will also be the classes of Formula 2 and Formula 3, which will begin their 28 and 20-race seasons respectively at the high-speed 5.303-kilometre (3.295 miles) venue. At Diagonal Comms, the start of the junior single-seater season is of equal interest to that of F1 due to our team’s rich experience and expertise working with young drivers.
Our Managing Director, Matt Bishop, had a significant and influential role in the McLaren Young Driver Development Programme during his time at the Woking-based team as Director of Communications. Matt worked with drivers such as Kevin Magnussen, Stoffel Vandoorne, and Nyck De Vries. Diagonal Comms Senior Consultant, Ann Bradshaw, worked at Formula BMW during the series’ heyday, which saw future Formula 1 drivers such as Sebastian Vettel, Nico Hulkenberg, and Marcus Ericsson pass through its paddock. In addition, Diagonal Comms Business Director Joe Downes was Communications Manager at W Series, helping the fledgling woman-only motor racing series negotiate the COVID-19 pandemic and support F1 thereafter. As a result, our team is uniquely well-versed in delivering a multitude of PR, comms, digital marketing, and content creation services to young drivers, which you can learn more about on our website.
While F2 will enter its second campaign using the Dallara F2 2024 chassis, which was introduced last season and led to a dramatic shuffle of the expected pecking order, F3 teams will head out on track with their new chassis, the Dallara F3 2025, for the first time.
The car features a stronger emphasis on ground effect, a cleaner aerodynamic package that aims to improve overtaking, and larger 16-inch wheels and Pirelli tyres. Similar to the Dallara F2 2024, the Dallara F3 2025 shares noticeable styling cues with F1’s latest generation of cars, promises a more accessible driving experience due to reduced steering effort, and will run using 100% sustainable fuels – a significant environmental advancement that will also be made by our client, the British Touring Car Championship, in 2025.
As usual, a new wave of talent will populate the grids of both championships, promising another exciting year of racing around the globe on the road to Formula 1.
In similar fashion, the United Kingdom’s domestic junior single-seater scene is set to reach new heights in 2025 having produced a growing number of Formula 3 and Formula 2 drivers in recent years. The GB3 Championship, the UK’s premier single-seater series, is introducing a new car in 2025, the Tatuus MSV GB3-025, and its feeder category, the GB4 Championship, will also receive a new vehicle based on the well-regarded outgoing GB3 tub, which assures growth for both series.
The GB3-025 chassis is predicted to produce 35% more downforce than its predecessor, the Tatuus MSV-022, thanks to ground effect-focussed aerodynamics, it is the first car at the modern Formula 3 regional tier of competition to feature a drag reduction system (DRS), and it is expected to be faster and lighter than the cars utilised in rival series such as Formula Regional Europe and Euroformula Open.
Pair the prospect of such an exciting new car with an eight-round calendar that now features five F1 venues – Silverstone Circuit, Circuit Zandvoort, Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, and Autodromo Nazionale Monza, which will stage the season finale – GB3 is poised for a particularly mighty 2025.
The Diagonal Comms team is especially well acquainted with the GB3 Championship having provided numerous drivers and teams with our PR, comms, content creation, and digital marketing services last season. We supplied a comprehensive media package to 18-year-old Australian driver Patrick Heuzenroeder, turbocharging his rookie campaign in the championship. We also took the online presence of the acclaimed American team VRD Racing’s GB3 campaign to new heights across 2024 with bespoke videography and photography content.
Our team also worked with 21-year-old British driver John Bennett, who will be competing in Formula 2 this year with Van Amersfoort Racing, 21-year-old British driver James Hedley, who recently participated in post-season Super Formula testing with KONDO Racing Team, 18-year-old rising German star Hugo Schwarze, 22-year-old American driver Noah Ping, and 18-year-old Polish talent Tymek Kucharczyk, all of whom we provided video content with last season.
Although the first race on the GB3 calendar is over 3 months away (26-27 April), the grid is already taking shape, and it features a selection of talented drivers who will be aiming for the title. One standout contender is reigning British F4 champion Deagen Fairclough, whom Diagonal Comms worked with last season. Fairclough’s career is an incredible success story even though its next chapter is still being written. While his family did not have the money to enter single-seaters, he won the ROKiT Racing Star sim-racing competition in 2022, which earned him a full-time drive in British F4 courtesy of ROKiT in 2023. Since his debut at Brands Hatch two seasons ago, he has taken 17 race victories in the category and scored a record-breaking 14 wins in 2024. To add to his accolades, Fairclough recently won the prestigious Silverstone Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year award, which means he will receive £200,000 and a test with the Aston Martin Formula 1 team. He is undoubtedly one to watch as he ascends the single-seater ladder this year.
However, Fairclough is not the only driver who is graduating from British F4 to GB3 in 2025, owing to the continued strength of the TOCA package, which is headed by the BTCC, as a positive environment for young drivers to make a name for themselves and refine their skills. British F4 race winners Reza Seewooruthun, Alex Ninovic, and Abbi Pulling, who also won the F1 Academy title and thus earned a fully-funded GB3 seat with Rodin Motorsport, are all set to take another step towards F1 from the category this season.
British F4’s 2025 grid is already 15 drivers strong, including two F1-affiliated entrants in Red Bull Junior Team member Fionn McLaughlin and McLaren Driver Development Programme member Ella Lloyd. The younger brother of Haas F1 driver Ollie Bearman, Thomas, is also on the grid which is expected to grow significantly before the season begins at Brands Hatch in April to tee up another exciting campaign.
Diagonal Comms is proud to continue to support young drivers and teams on the junior ladder via our comms, PR, digital marketing, social media, content creation, and sponsorship acquisition services which help turbocharge their campaigns and nurture their talent.