Devlin DeFrancesco has learned a lot about the art of racing in just a few years on the go-kart track. But as he lined up for a championship race in Europe recently, the 11-year-old from Canada realized there was one more skill he'll need to acquire fast – command of another language.
With dreams of becoming a Formula One driver by his early 20s, DeFrancesco is part of a small cadre of Canadian-born kids making the jump to competing in Europe very early in their racing careers.
Not unlike the trend of European hockey players coming to the Canadian junior ranks to boost their exposure to scouts and increase the chance of making the NHL, DeFrancesco wants to show he can drive among the best young drivers in Europe, having proved he can make the podium consistently in North America.
"I can show them Canadians are some of the best drivers in the world," DeFrancesco says of the daunting jump for a kid his age. "There's very good Canadians out there as well."
But having just wrapped the season in Italy, where racing is a top youth sport, there's one thing DeFrancesco hadn't bargained for when he landed overseas. Sitting on the grid before a recent competition in Ortona, an Italian town on the Adriatic Sea, he struggled to understand what the race announcer was saying over the loudspeaker.
"The announcers speak in Italian. It's quite hard to understand to be honest," he says.
The language of racing has been less of a problem. His seventh-place finish in the Final Cup, Italy's championship race that draws the best 60 to 90 young drivers from across Europe, was a promising sign for next year. With a top-10 finish under his belt, DeFrancesco now wants to place higher in the category next year and hopefully move up an age category to compete against older drivers.
In shifting his focus to Europe, DeFrancesco follows Montreal-born Lance Stroll, the 13-year-old who was signed by Ferrari at 11, and now spends much of the year racing in Europe. While Stroll drew global attention as the youngest person ever signed to an F1 team, the younger DeFrancesco has been making a name for himself as another top emerging talent from Canada.
In the past 12 national-level races he entered in North America, DeFrancesco made the podium every time – a record, his coaches point out, no other driver his age can boast.
With a new wave of Canadian talent now cracking the ranks of professional racing – namely Toronto-born Robert Wickens, 22, who is on the cusp of Formula One, and 24-year-old IndyCar rookie of the year James Hinchcliffe of Oakville, Ont. – younger racers such as DeFrancesco and Stroll may represent Canada's future 10 years from now if their promise is realized.
DeFrancesco has the same pro ambitions as his older predecessors. Racing in Europe has raised his game, he says over the phone from Florida, where the family now lives.
"I've got a lot more aggressive. It's helped me a lot with passing and everything," DeFrancesco says. "The drivers are a lot better there, and a lot more aggressive."
Adjusting to the larger, louder crowds has also been a change. Much like a Canadian town will pack a junior hockey rink for a game, thousands of fans in Italy will turn up at the track on race day.
"This was a building year in Europe to get used to the European driving," says his father, Andy DeFrancesco. "We're putting him with the sharks at all times, and he's got to fight his battles."
The European go-karting circuit is a who's-who of F1 names. Hugo Hakkinen, the 11-year-old son of two-time F1 world champion Mika Hakkinen, is among DeFrancesco's rivals. And five-time F1 champion Michael Schumacher's 13-year-old son, Mick, has also raced the circuit before, often under his mother's maiden name to avoid drawing attention.
The move to Europe is not something every up and coming North American racer can do, though, since the costs are astronomical and the logistics are complex. Andy, a financier in the mining and energy sector, has spent tens of thousands of dollars or more to set up Devlin's racing career overseas, including a teacher who travels with him on the road.
However, the payoff could be huge, since there is a history of North American drivers who eventually cracked the pro levels after training against drivers in Europe.
Back in Florida on a rare break from training this month, Devlin is busy getting ready for the coming season, which means catching up on schoolwork. Italian lessons may be next on the priority list.
"Poco," DeFrancesco says, when asked how much of the language he has picked up at the track (that is, not much). The rush to learn Italian will be one of many races he'll be running next year as he looks to compete on a much bigger stage.
Grant Robertson