Australian karting champion tipped for F1 joins Liam Lawson's development pathway ahead of schedule

Australian karting prospect Sebastian Eskandari Marandi has set himself the target of becoming a Formula 1 world champion after joining the same development programme that steered New Zealander Liam Lawson towards the grid.

Eskandari has linked up with Rodin Cars, taking part in their F4 testing programme as a wild card along with Formula Ford champion Marco Manson under the company's 'Formula Ford to Formula 1' partnership with Motorsport New Zealand.

The 13-year-old has a clear objective for his future and he's not shy about saying it: He wants to be an F1 driver and an F1 champion.

Read next: Liam Lawson’s F1 future may have already been decided by key Racing Bulls call

Eskandari follows in the footsteps of Liam Lawson

Already a young karting star, Eskandari finished second behind Manson in his debut New Zealand Formula Ford Championship despite starting the season at the age of 12.

He's ahead of schedule by any reasonable measure and told Australia's 10 Sport that there are no limits on his ambitions.

"When you're driving in the car any speed feels the exact same [and] you're just focusing on the next corner", said the teenager as he moves through the levels, signing on with Rodin two years early according to 10 Sport.

Eskandari isn't able to legally drive on the roads, and cannot race in Australia until he's 15.

The Rodin pathway played a part in Lawson's development. He's been on the Red Bull books since he was 17 and Rodin Cars backed him through F3 and F2 before he ascended to F1.

Lawson has featured regularly for the Racing Bulls in the past two seasons, and deputised for the injured Isack Hadjar in the primary Red Bull team in the Dutch, Italian and Spanish Grands Prix in 2026.

Read next: Liam Lawson makes heartbreaking admission about the personal 'cost' of brutal Red Bull demotion

Australia's F1 heritage shows Marandi the way

There have been 19 Australian drivers in Formula 1. The first was Second World War fighter pilot Tony Gaze, who started three races in 1952, and the current crop consists of McLaren star Oscar Piastri and Haas reserve driver Jack Doohan.

The most successful in terms of Grand Prix wins and world championships was the legendary late Jack Brabham, who won the drivers' championship three times between 1959 and 1966 and founded the British racing team that bore his last name.

Australia's only other world champion was Alan Jones in 1980, while both Mark Webber and Daniel Ricciardo took part in more than 200 races.

The Formula 1 season traditionally begins in Melbourne. The Australian GP, first held as far back as the 1920s, has been run at Melbourne in every season not affected by covid since 2004.

It hasn't been won by an Australian driver since Jones took the chequered flag at Calder Park Raceway in Melbourne on the way to the 1980 drivers' world championship. Every winner prior to that had been Australian or British.