As nicknames go, F2 driver and Sauber junior Zane Maloney certainly has a notable one. The Boy From Barbados joined us on the Feeder Series Podcast, on which we asked him what he really thinks about his increasingly iconic nickname and the pressures that come with it.

By George Sanderson

Maloney took sprint and feature race glory in the F2 season opener in Bahrain and still holds the championship lead following the second round of the season in Saudi Arabia, where he finished fourth and seventh.

Viewers of the F2 world feed coverage will likely have already heard commentators Alex Jacques and Chris McCarthy calling him The Boy From Barbados multiple times this season. But what does the man himself think of the nickname?

“I love it,” Maloney tells Feeder Series.

“I guess it could be a bit cringey, but who cares? I mean, I’m having fun with it. It’s cool. It’s something different.”

He also admits that, perhaps unsurprisingly, he has had worse nicknames in the earlier years of his career.

“It used to be the Zane Train and stuff like that in karting. That was funny as well, but I guess that’s a little bit more cringey.”

Being ‘The Boy From Barbados’ may give him something of a superhero alias, but it could also bring an extra pressure to perform. Maloney is undeniably a huge ambassador for his nation, and the Caribbean is an underrepresented area in terms of top-level motorsports. Does Maloney feel this pressure?

“No, not at all, to be honest! I more see it as an opportunity to make history,” he says.

“In terms of pressure, no, I don’t feel any because no one has done it before [made it to F1 as a Caribbean driver].”

Jamaica’s Alex Powell made history in 2019 by becoming the first Caribbean driver to sign on with an F1 team when he joined the Mercedes Junior Team. However, F1 is yet to have a driver from the Caribbean on the grid. Maloney believes that this takes the pressure off of his shoulders.

“I think there is more pressure coming from – I don’t want to say a certain country, but somewhere that’s had a lot of F1 champions.”

He explains that this is because such drivers are “living up to someone that’s done better” and having to try and emulate their successes in their own careers.

“For me, I’m just trying to put Barbados on the map and just trying to be the first one to get into Formula 1 from Barbados.”

Maloney tells us how he wants “to perform for myself, for my family, for Barbados” by winning races and making the most of his career. He does not feel the pressure from those watching him but rather from himself.

“I have a lot of pressure but from myself, not really from anything outside. In the end, I’m doing it for myself, the main reason. So the only person that can give myself pressure is myself.”

Maloney has followed in the footsteps of 2023 F2 champion Théo Pourchaire by joining the Sauber Academy last month and will hope to emulate the Frenchman’s successes this season in F2.

Hear Zane Maloney discuss how he has moved from the Red Bull Junior Team and the changes in the 2024 F2 cars on the latest episode of the Feeder Series Podcast, hosted by Jim Kimberley.

Header photo credit: Diederik van der Laan / Dutch Photo Agency