Racing only getting 'more expensive' - O'Sullivan
O'Sullivan, from Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, won the British Formula 4 championship in 2020 and GB3 Championship a year later.During two years racing Formula 3 he won four races and finished second in the overall championship, before moving up to F2 in 2024, progressing through the junior ranks.All young drivers, he said, know they are expected to fund huge costs if they want to compete in the sport."There are some measures in place to help out with that funding but at the end of the day it comes from family money and if you can't afford it, you can't afford it," O'Sullivan added. "Unfortunately for me we knew it was going to be a very tricky year financially but it came to a head in August. We lasted a while but not long enough."It's the way the sport is and we really tried hard to get as many people on board as we could to try to fill the gaps but unfortunately it wasn't enough."
In 2025, O'Sullivan will be taking on a new challenge, competing in Japan's Super Formula series for the Toyota-backed Kondo Racing team.The 12-race series takes place over seven weekends from March to November. O'Sullivan said they are the "closest" cars he can race to an F1 car - Liam Lawson who is set to race with Red Bull in F1 this season, finished second overall in the 2023 Super Formula championship. "For them it's their F1 in Japan - it's very very popular with the fans, purely Japanese based so there's only seven races all on Japanese circuits, all Japanese teams and drivers bar two – so it's a big culture shock for me," O'Sullivan said."I've got a lot of learning to do, I've got to work on my communication in Japanese, I'm really looking forward to it."O'Sullivan's experience through the junior system might not have turned out quite as linear in moving him up the ranks from F3, to F2 and the sport's pinnacle of F1.However his ambition remains to make it to Formula 1. "Obviously, I'm still pushing for that," he said."This is a good start for me, there's potential for a career in Japan if I do a good job this year but hopefully some more doors will open and I can keep my foot in as many doors as I can to give myself some opportunities."
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