What it's really like to try to make it to F1

He won the Monaco feature race and Belgian sprint race but, despite his success, he was forced to drop out of the championship with three races to go.

"Without Williams' support when I initially went into Formula 3, it would have been very, very difficult for me to even do one season," the 21-year-old said.

Despite being in the Williams Driver Academy, he was expected to cover part of the costs himself.

"Williams were very aware of my financial struggles," he said. "Of course, they only contribute a certain amount to my season and that came very early in the year, as is quite normal.

O'Sullivan added that it is "down to the driver to bring the funding", meaning sponsors are "critical" but difficult to find.

He explained: "I think any sponsorship you get is either from an act of extraordinary kindness, or family, friends, or someone who's very, very passionate about racing or believes in the driver."

He described a phenomenon that he called "motorsport inflation", adding that he is "amazed" by the number of people able to race with the current costs.

"There are very few regulations controlling how much you can spend," he said. "So the top teams perform the best because they have the most money.

"For as long as you have people wanting to race and with the finances to race, the teams can set their price. And if people pay, they'll keep upping their price."

For example, a top level, race-winning kart chassis can cost upwards of £4,000 - and that's without an engine.

O'Sullivan said that in his time in European karting, the top teams had budgets of about £180,000 a year, but that has now increased.

"That's now up to around £300,000 with motorsport inflation, which doesn't really follow the global trends," he said.

O'Sullivan believes "there's no hiding away from" elitism within motorsport, adding: "There's a few cases of drivers making it without the funds but you have to be able to get to a level where you're recognised by Formula 1 teams, which is normally European karting, which is very expensive."

Having left F2 before the end of 2024, he says that "realistically" F1 is no longer the goal for him and he currently races in Japan in the Super Formula series.

'I have to keep up with things I don't have'

Further down the ladder is Maisy Creed, an up and coming driver who has already caught the eye of Formula 1 teams at the age of 16.

Last year she was crowned the PF International X30 junior champion - a series where F1 world champions Lewis Hamilton, Lando Norris and Jenson Button have previously enjoyed victories. Creed was the first female champion in the series' 32-year history.

A key focus of her career so far has been cutting costs.

Sheffield-based Creed races with a second-hand chassis which, combined with a practice engine that needs to be rebuilt every two to three weeks, costs about £8,000.

"There's some engines that are just so good, that if you want to have that competitive edge, you've got to be renting a race engine as well," her father Adam said. "If everyone else is doing it, you've got to do it as well."

Creed said she has always been on the backfoot because she races with second-hand parts.

"If everyone's got new karts every time they're out, they have better quality things and they're faster, so I have to keep up with things that I don't have," she explained.

In an attempt to help cut costs, Creed's family have networked on and around the track to get parts and engineering support at a reduced rate, while also making an effort to attract a sponsor via her social media.

Despite these challenges, she has still managed to make her mark, racing at the famous Le Mans track in the IAME Ladies Cup, which she described as her "favourite race ever".

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Creed said one of the most surprising costs in karting is the tyres, which can cost £200 a set.

"I think a lot of people don't realise how much they need to be changed," she said.

"A lot of people are changing tyres multiple times even in a day. Even the cost of the testing is something that I think people don't realise... even when you're not racing you're still paying to be on the track."

When talking about her plans for this season and beyond, she said her main priority right now is getting a sponsor and moving on to F1 Academy, the all-female series that takes place at F1 weekends and is aimed at helping female drivers progress to higher categories.

"I've only got the budget for three or four days of testing in the F4 car, which is to prepare me for next year and to prepare me to hopefully get the F1 Academy test at the end of the year in September," she said.

"A lot of the people that will be doing that are testing maybe 40 days."

Asked how she felt about the possibility that a competitor's money could outweigh her talent, Creed said that has "always been a big concern".

However, on winning in the same series as F1 world champions Norris and Hamilton, Creed added: "[It] reminds me that it's possible and they've taken the same path as me, they're doing the exact same things, so I know that I'm on the right path."