Rowan Campbell-Pilling: I raced an F1 hopeful on a simulator - and saw a glimpse of his killer instincts

Not quite the aerodynamically advanced simulator professional racing drivers like he are used to, the Esports sim is nevertheless a close model of the environment a driver is required to master.

For our five-lap jaunt around Silverstone, Campbell-Pilling beats me by more than a minute and a half – and that’s with stopping twice to let me catch up – and has his shoes back on and is chatting to other people while I’m still picking a line out of the gravel trap.

Even that seven and half minutes I was in the driver’s seat gives an insight into the physical demands placed on a driver – the low seat making the lower back yearn to be stood up straight, the hands aching from wrist to finger end for gripping the steering wheel so tightly.

This is all old hat for Campbell-Pilling, who for a Formula 4 race at the famous Zandvoort circuit in the Netherlands this year did in excess of 50 hours in the simulator and ran 70 kilometres a week.

“I worked the hardest I’d ever worked for a weekend; went to Zandvoort in a really great head space and came away with two DNFs and an 11th place,” he laments, ruefully. “That was tough after working so hard, but all part of the learning.”

He talks so well, comes across so mature and has been racing for so long that it is hard to countenance that he is so young, only turning 18 this month.

He may not be a name you know now but in the sport he is in, on the trajectory he is on, Campbell-Pilling could become a household name soon.

“My ambition is to be Formula One world champion,” he says in a statement many will have uttered before. But it’s what comes next that perhaps marks him out.

“I want to be the world champion because I race to win, I don’t want to be in a position where I don’t think I can win, because that’s not fair on everyone who has supported me all this way.

“I wouldn’t want to go to Formula One if; a) I didn’t think I was competitive and, b) I was not in a great car. I’m very driven and motivated and know what I want to do and how I want to get there.”

Right now, Campbell-Pilling is a few rungs below Formula One and if the career trajectory he is on continues along the same lines he could be there in four or five years.

The motor sport seed was planted even before he could walk.

“My dad bought me an electric trial bike for Christmas one year,” he recalls. “I was out riding it as much as I could and then I started competing at age two. I was on balance bikes before the age of one.

“I remember going to Barcelona competing on trial bikes by the time I was five.

“Then I had a go on a go-kart track through a family friend who had a track up in Pontefract, and I’ve never looked back.

“I fell in love with it there and then, this is at five or six, and I’ve gone through the ranks – bambino, cadet, junior, senior, winning multiple British titles.

“I miss those karting days, it was lad and dad, we’d be away in the camper van, he’d be on the spanners, I’d be driving. Such fond memories.

“My parents are really supportive of everything I do. It’s always been me driving it, my parents never forced me to do anything I didn’t want to do other than eat my greens!”

His exploits in karting led to testing sessions for teams in the British F4 Championship last winter.

He opted to race with Argenti because in a series in which the engines are controlled and the chassis are the same – giving no team major technical advantages – Campbell-Pilling responded to the relationships.

“Argenti seemed the right fit for us, we really liked the team principal, my mechanic Matt I get on really well with,” he says.

“They did a really good job of helping me adjust to what is a slightly faster car, different aerodynamically and you’ve also got a halo which changes the car significantly because you’ve got 20 kilos above your head which changes the centre of gravity and makes it much harder to drive.”

He finished 10th in his debut season, the third-highest rookie.

“Tenth was a massive result,” says Campbell-Pilling, who ironically failed his driving test this year on a parking technicality, passing the second time. “There were mistakes, but if I’ve made a mistake I’ll hold my hand up and say ‘you know what there’s no excuse, I need to fix that’.”

His motor sport passion is something he juggles, firstly with his education – studying two A-levels at Birkdale School. “I’ve never been the best academically, I wasn’t even sporty. Birkdale are incredibly supportive,” he says. “The aim is get my A-levels then full focus on racing. This is my one shot and I’m putting everything into it.”

And secondly with being a teenager – “I don’t fit the mould,” he admits. “I’d rather go to the gym and have an early night. I have mates that live close to me but I’ve also grown up with a lot of people in the paddock.”

And then there’s raising sponsorship to fund the ambition. Motor sport is a lucrative business but expensive for a driver.

Campbell-Pilling is clearly talented, but he has to pay for his seat in British F4 through sponsors.

“Different teams have different figures, all the way through until you get to Formula One where you either pay your way in or you get in on talent,” he explains.

“I don’t take wage, I’m non-profit at the minute. Dad works incredibly hard, mum works incredibly hard to support me and we’ve got amazing partners who I wouldn’t be here without.

“Yes, I’m there on merit, but if I don’t perform I know that number’s going to go up for next year and that then puts an awful lot of pressure on me, my family.

“There’s an awful lot behind the scenes – meeting with partners, school, simulator prep, fitness training. It’s a juggling act for sure, but may the best man win.”

A determined individual – he cites Max Verstappen and Colin McRae as his motor racing idols for those very feats – 2025 is a big year on his journey.

Yet to decide which team he will race for, though hoping it’s back with Argenti, he has designs on winning the championship.

“The point of this year was to learn as much as possible; track knowledge, race experience; with a view to coming back next year and winning. It was always a two-year plan. It’s what we did in karting.

“Did it in 2021 after learning the first year. I made too many mistakes that year, same with this year, we’ve had really good speed but too many mistakes. All we need to do is iron out the mistakes.”

With winning comes progression.

“It would be GB3 after F4,” he explains of the next step on the journey. “Then FIA F3 which follows the F1 and F2 circuit, again aiming to win in the second year, and then F2, by which time ideally I’ll have an F1 contract. For me to go into F2 with that level of financial commitment you need something at the end of the tunnel to make it worthwhile. Otherwise there are other avenues such as GTs or IndyCar.

“I’m open to anything. Ultimately I love anything with four wheels. I’d much rather go and win the Indy 500 or the GT World Challenge than be 15th in Formula One.”

Verstappen broke the mould nearly a decade ago by entering F1 at 17. Oliver Bearman at 19 from Colchester racing for Ferrari this year and signing for Haas next, might suggest Campbell-Pilling is already off the pace. But he will not be rushed.

“The good part for me is the dynamic is changing, teams aren’t willing to risk putting the young guns in the car so much because the car gets wrecked, and it’s end of the driver’s career. They’re starting to pick the slightly older driver,” he offers.

“Everyone looked at Max and thought if he can do it, everyone can do it, but it doesn’t always work like that.”

There is pressure on him from all angles – time, sponsors, teams, me on the Williams Esports simulator.

But Campbell-Pilling responds: “Diamonds are made under pressure. I like pressure, it helps me perform. The more pressure I can put myself under at my age, the better I will be in five, 10 years time.”