For the Imola event alone, Rocco Coronel, Red Bull Junior driver and son of Tom Coronel, joined AKM Motorsport.
Born on 23 October 2010 and based in the Netherlands, Rocco started driving at a very young age, on his father’s rental karting circuit. The first experiences behind the wheel at three and half years old.
“I was very young and very small. I had this helmet that I had to tie all the way around because my head was so small. That’s where it all started.”
From there came a long apprenticeship in karting, progressing through the different categories, from Mini 60 to X30 Junior, and then Junior OK and OK Senior.
“I did pretty much all the steps possible in karting. Then I moved to the Ginetta Junior Championship, which I did for one year in England when I was 14, so last year. I won the championship there and had a lot of fun, as well as learning a lot. I think it’s a good step from karting to cars.”
His journey now continues in Formula 4, with experience in the Spanish championship and a participation in the Italian F4 Championship with AKM Motorsport.
The moment he realised that motorsport could become something more than a hobby came around the age of 13.
“Before that it was just a hobby, but when I was 13 I was in the top three of a karting championship in Europe and I think I had won a race in OKJ in Valencia. Everything started becoming more serious when, at the end of my time in OKJ, I was selected by Red Bull. That’s when we really started taking things seriously.”
A journey that, he admits, has gone even further than expected.
“I didn’t expect us to get this far, with Formula 4 in Italy and Spain.”
Away from motorsport, however, it is difficult to find activities that do not somehow have something to do with racing.
“I’m still in high school, I still have a long way to go. Obviously I train at the gym and I’m starting to do a lot more simulator work.
I also like working as a mechanic. I have a scooter and I like taking the engine apart, putting it back together and trying to improve it. I like taking things apart and putting them back together, I love it. It’s great for a driver to know how the car works, the dampers, the differential. I think it’s very important. I like going deeper into that.”
When asked whether there is anything he does outside motorsport, the answer comes with a smile:
“No, I can’t. For me, everything has to be about motorsport. I can’t do anything else.”
For Coronel, after all, motorsport is a true family tradition. Not only his father Tom, but also his mother and uncles have raced.
“There are many drivers in the family. My mum was also a racing driver, my uncles, both on my father’s and my mother’s side. Basically the whole family.”
His relationship with his father, however, is something even more special. Tom Coronel has become increasingly involved in his career since the move to car racing.
“Not so much in karting, because as I said, at the beginning it was more of a hobby and it wasn’t very serious. He just wanted me to drive, then he had his own commitments in WTCC, Dakar and everything. When I did the Ginetta, he started following me more closely, and now with Formula 4 he is with me every weekend.”
To do so, Tom has also reduced some of his own racing commitments.
“He stopped with WTCC and TCR. He still does the Dakar, some 24-hour races like the Nürburgring, Spa and Barcelona. He’s still active at 54.”
A reference from whom Rocco has also learned his own driving style.
“He’s always been the person I looked up to for inspiration. From him I learned an aggressive driving style, to focus only on myself and do the best possible job without looking at the others.”
And when father and son are together at the track, the roles are very clear.
“I’d say from eight in the morning until seven in the evening he’s a coach. Afterwards and during the breaks, he’s a father.”
Being the son of such a well-known driver can be an advantage, but also comes with its own expectations.
“There are people who say, ‘Here’s another Coronel’. Sometimes that’s very positive, in the sense that it helps me, he knows everyone. But mainly I want to try to make it on my own. He built something and I want to do the same for myself. He helps me.”
Looking ahead, Rocco does not want to set an overly specific target just yet, but his ambition remains to reach the highest levels.
“In the future I hope to be at a high level in motorsport, I’m trying to do everything necessary to get there. Maybe when I’m older I could do endurance racing, but the goal remains to reach the top in Formula racing. We’ll see.”