Maverick McKenna isn’t like most 16-year-old boys. The Park City race car driver spends much of his time in Europe competing in the Formula 4 French Championship racing circuit.
His goal: race in Formula One, and McKenna is pretty confident he can do it.
“I think I can. I think the people around me think I can… If it doesn't work out there's still so many avenues in motorsport besides Formula One that a lot of people don't see,” he said. “There's so many different, really, really cool types of racing.”
Compared to other drivers in the circuit, McKenna started late, jumping behind the wheel of a Formula car about a year ago. He began go-kart racing at 14 years old and this year, moved up to F4 cars.
“I needed to make the jump to cars. I didn't have the time to do the go-karts like everyone else,” he said. “So I just made the jump, and it turned out we were good. So we just kept going with it.”
“Good” is an understatement. This summer, 16-year-old McKenna became just the third American to win a French F4 Championship race, the first to do so in seven years.
The series is one of many F4 circuits around the world. It is one of the steps McKenna must take on his journey to becoming a F1 driver.
Unlike F1, where teams have different cars, the French F4 is a spec series. That means all the drivers compete in essentially identical cars. So, while F1 racers rely on driving skills and a good car, in F4, it all comes down to the driver. That’s where training comes in.
Instead of attending high school like other teenagers, McKenna attends school online to make time for gym and simulator training along with his travels to Europe for races.
McKenna works out six days a week at a private gym in Park City. Most of his sessions focus on strength training, including special neck exercises so he can handle the G-forces through high-speed turns.
His coach, Josh Wiles, said racing presents a challenge most athletes don’t have: limited time actually practicing in the car.
“Any other sport you can go out and practice every single day,” said McKenna’s coach, Josh Wiles. “You can throw a baseball or a football whenever.”
He said McKenna is only in the car about three or four days a month.
Wiles and McKenna teamed up about a year ago. He says he’s watched the teen grow stronger and become more confident.
“One of the coolest things for me has been being able to see that mental shift. He kind of came in and was a little more timid when he first started, and then now he's in here running the gym,” Wiles said. “Te tries to tell me what to do now and it's like ‘no it doesn't work like that buddy.’”
McKenna said while strength is important, mental toughness is a driver’s key to success.
“Trying to be perfect is the key word there, ‘trying to.’ But it's more so the mental aspect of racing that’s the hardest and really all it is” he said. “So always try to work on it mentally before the session, after the session, in the race, out in the qualifying, whatever it is, just your mental is all that matters.”
He said there’s no time to hesitate when racing at high speeds.
“If you have fear, you shouldn't be racing in the first place. But you should quit now. “
The best way to stay calm and confident behind the wheel is to memorize the track. But that can be difficult when the driver and the track are an ocean apart.
Instead, when he is home, McKenna trains on a simulator, or “sim.” The setup fully immerses the driver in different racing tracks using three screens.
Driving coach and owner of Driven by BCM Bruno Carneiro has spent three years keeping McKenna on the right track.
The sim uses laser scanning technology and GPS surveying to recreate the track. Carneiro said it allows the driver to learn the muscle memory needed to be confident on the track
“You notice a lot of like up and up and down flowing sections, and the sim really gives a little bit of insight in that because it is all laser scan,” Carneiro said. “So you get those undulations and that elevation change that applies in real life as well.”
The sim is also curated to the car each racer drives. The wheel is designed to match the same steering wheel in McKenna’s car and the seat is positioned so he is almost laying down.
“His feet are above his hips, so it really provides that opportunity for him to practice and get used to it, and be comfortable,” Carneiro said, “So when he jumps into the car, obviously there's that difference in having speed, but it's not like a brand new experience.”
McKenna will compete in his final race of the season Oct. 9-11 at Circuit Paul Ricard in southeastern France.
But, even after the final French Championship race, there is more driving to be done.
“As soon as the season ends, we start testing and getting ready for the next one. So never really ends,” McKenna said.
