Born in England, Raised in New Zealand and Funding His Own Way: The Story of Louis Sharp

• Louis Sharp, 18, races for the renowned Prema team in FIA Formula 3 and says he is the only driver on the grid funding his career entirely through sponsorship rather than family wealth.
• He almost became a professional rugby player like his father before a chance stop at a go-kart track redirected his life.
• He broke three vertebrae in a crash at the season opener in Melbourne earlier this year and has fought back to full racing fitness.

Most drivers who reach the doorstep of Formula 1 share a familiar origin story: a motorsport family, a kart bought before the child could read, a father who had raced and a budget that made the early years possible. Louis Sharp has almost none of that. His father was a professional rugby player, his family could not fund his racing, and his path to the sport began entirely by accident.

The 18-year-old now races for Prema, one of the most successful junior teams in the world, in FIA Formula 3, the championship that travels with Formula 1 and acts as a proving ground for future grand prix drivers. His ambition is not modest. “This generation of young motorsport drivers coming through is probably the greatest that there’s ever been,” he said in an interview with Press Box PR. “My goal is to become an F1 World Champion.”

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A rugby family, not a racing one

Sharp was born in Newark, in the English Midlands, moved to New Zealand at the age of two, and returned to Britain at 14 to chase a racing career. His accent, he jokes, has caused him trouble on both sides of the world. “Whenever I go back home my mates give me a lot of stick for sounding British,” he said.

The sport in his blood was not motor racing. “My dad was a rugby player, who played for Canterbury in New Zealand as a scrum half,” Sharp explained. “He never played for the All Blacks officially, unfortunately, but he was a professional player for more than 10 years.” Young Louis followed him into the game, playing scrum half himself and dreaming of pulling on the famous black jersey. “That was my dad’s dream for me as well.”

The accidental stop that changed everything

The turning point arrived by pure chance. “One day I was driving home after a rugby game and we happened to drive past the local go kart track, by complete accident,” Sharp recalled. “I said to my Dad, ‘This looks cool. Can we stop and have a look?'” A club member offered the five-year-old a go, and a sport was born. “As my Dad tells it now, it’s probably the worst decision he made turning into that go kart track.”

He was too small for the machinery, which only adds to the charm of the memory. “I instantly fell in love with the sport,” he said. “I couldn’t really see over the steering wheel, I could barely reach the pedals. I was sitting on a jacket with some pillows behind to help me see.”

Following Senna into the record books

Racing and rugby ran in parallel until the move to Britain forced a choice. Sharp picked the car, and he was quickly rewarded. After a strong debut campaign he won the British Formula 4 title, then stepped up to the GB3 championship and won that too. The historical company he kept was striking. As he points out, the last driver to win back-to-back British junior single-seater titles before him was Ayrton Senna.

The move to FIA Formula 3 in 2025 was harder. Unfamiliar circuits and minimal practice time, just two or three laps before qualifying at tracks he had never seen, made it a steep learning year. For 2026 he switched to Prema, a team with a long record of developing champions. “I think it’s the right switch I needed to go out there and perform this year,” he said.

The money problem nobody likes to discuss

Behind the results sits a financial reality that shapes everything Sharp does. A season in Formula 3 can cost between 1.5 and 3 million euros, and the teams do not pay the drivers; the drivers bring the money. Almost everyone on the grid funds it through family wealth. Sharp does not have that.

“I am the only driver on the grid I think who’s fully funded through sponsorship and fundraising, which makes it very difficult,” he said. “As a family we can’t really put anything into it. So all the money’s raised through other people helping out.” It is a constant pressure, and one he has learned to turn into fuel. “What does it mean when I am in the car, because I get fewer opportunities as other people, it makes it mean more and it means I have to make the most of it more and it means I’m hungry and I want it more than them.”

A broken back and a quiet comeback

The 2026 season could hardly have started worse. At the opening round in Melbourne, Sharp was running well when he crashed. “Unfortunately I broke three vertebrae in my back,” he said. “So that was a bit of a shame and not the way we wanted to start the year.” A subsequent cancelled round in Bahrain gave him the time he needed to heal. “But I’m all recovered now and it’s all fine.”

Carrying New Zealand’s hopes

Sharp is conscious of the country he represents and the names that came before him, from Bruce McLaren and Denny Hulme to the current Red Bull-aligned driver Liam Lawson, whom he counts as a friend and mentor. “He was in my position only a few years ago, so I can relate to him and ask him for advice,” Sharp said.

He draws confidence, too, from his own generation. Kimi Antonelli, the same age as Sharp, has already reached Formula 1 and is leading the world championship. Rather than feeling daunted, Sharp sees a template. “If he does it, I think I can as well,” he said. He even recalls testing alongside Oliver Bearman before the Briton’s Ferrari debut: “I was quicker than him at the time.”

For all the obstacles, his outlook is built on a stubborn, hard-won belief. “I definitely know I’ve got what it takes,” he said. “If I keep working hard, keep my head down and get the results, I think there’s no reason why I can’t make it.” For a teenager funding his own dream one sponsor at a time, that conviction may be his most valuable asset of all.

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Written by

Jack Renn

Jack Renn is an editor at F1 Chronicle and a veteran motorsport journalist with 25 years of experience covering Formula 1 and international motorsport. A member of the Association Internationale de la Presse Sportive (AIPS), the global body representing accredited sports journalists, Jack has spent his career reporting from paddocks and press rooms across the F1 calendar. His work spans race analysis, technical insight, and in-depth features, giving readers authoritative coverage grounded in decades of firsthand experience at the highest level of the sport.

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