Villeneuve: Advice to parents is tell him to do something else

Five-year budgets for youngsters on the ladder to Formula 1 through traditional avenues run into the tens of millions, increasingly tilting the field towards the children of well-heeled parents while talented youngsters fail to progress due to lack of funding.

"I've been in the paddocks for a number of years now, I see how it's going and it really worries me, maybe because I have kids too. Often, parents come to me for advice: What do I do with my son? My first response is: Tell him to do something else."

"It's awful as an answer, but I'm not able to lie at that level. Now getting your kid on track is like giving him Christmas every day, with a big tree. It's no longer about developing talented children and it has started to bother me deeply."

"It was, therefore, necessary to find a solution for drivers with limited means to gain access to this sport," added Villeneuve who has started the initiative with friend and former race driver Patrick Lemarié.

The first edition of the programme starts in April, with 96 aspiring young drivers to participate in a five-day driver training using a Formula 4 at the Magny-Cours circuit. Entry fee is $17,000 per driver.

From this group, 48 drivers will be selected for the quarter-finals, 24 for the semifinals and five for the final with the winning driver receiving funding for a full European Formula 4 championship in 2020, the cost of this around $600,000 and $750,000.