Born in a country where motorsport is illegal, Formula 3 rookie Callum Voisin has had to follow something of an unorthodox route to be where he is today. He joined the Feeder Series Podcast to explain his path in motorsport so far.

By George Sanderson

It is increasingly common for young drivers trying to climb the motorsport ladder to have been racing something ever since they knew how to walk. The majority of drivers at the highest levels will have been competing in karts by the ages of around seven or eight years old – yet this was not the case for 2024 Rodin Motorsport F3 driver Callum Voisin.

Born in the Swiss city of Geneva, Voisin immediately faced a roadblock in his racing career. Circuit racing events had been banned in Switzerland since the 1955 Le Mans disaster – in which a catastrophic crash caused debris to fly into the crowd, killing 83 spectators and French driver Pierre Levegh and injuring more than 100 more.

Despite attempts to overturn the law, motorsport – with the exception of time trial format events, such as hillclimbing – remained banned until 2022, meaning Voisin had to find other ways to kick-start his racing career.

“I started in France, actually,” he explains on the Feeder Series Podcast.

“I got my first-ever go-kart at 10 years old [at the] end of 2016, and I did a few races in France in 2016 and 2017.” For those two years, Voisin competed in the Rhône-Alpes regional series before moving to the UK.

“When I came to the UK for school and stuff, I moved over my racing at the same time and raced in the British championships and … European stuff up until 2020.”

That year was Voisin’s last in karting. Having led the junior Rotax class of the British Kart Championship for most of the 2020 season, he lost out in the last round and finished third overall. However, his results were eye-catching, particularly given his later introduction to karting.

“In 2021, I moved up to Ginetta Juniors with R Racing,” he says. “My brother [Bailey Voisin] had raced in Ginetta Juniors the year prior to that, so it was kind of an easier step in for me because I already kind of knew what I was getting into.”

A strong first campaign would see him claim that season’s joint-highest number of outright wins with seven, as well as three further rookie-class victories. His six fastest laps and three pole positions also helped demonstrate his impressive one-lap pace and helped him earn an F4 test partway through that same season.

“This is where it gets a bit more interesting!” Voisin jokes.

The test with Carlin at Pembrey Circuit in southwest Wales was an experience he describes as having gone “surprisingly very well” despite his lack of prior experience.

“I had no clue, you know – never touched a single-seater, I’d never even thought of it. I didn’t do any prep or anything like that. I just kind of went straight in.”

He returned to Ginetta juniors following the test, winning all three races at Brands Hatch in the next round of their season.

“About a week after that, I got asked if I wanted to try the GB3 [car] because of what happened, and that, surprisingly, went even better! Then it was all trying to connect the dots to do a year in GB3.”

In 2022, Voisin made his debut in GB3 in what was also his rookie season in single-seaters. He described the year as beginning “very much on the back foot” because once again he “didn’t have any clue of what to expect” from the series.

“I was very much the guinea pig but went straight in with a good team, so that was very helpful.”

Despite his lack of experience in single-seaters, Voisin claimed three victories and three further podiums in his debut season to secure fourth place in the championship as well as a nomination that put him among the top 10 candidates for the 2022 Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award. It was this impressive form that he then took into the following season, when he stayed with the newly renamed Rodin Carlin in GB3 for a second year.

“Last year we went back and won the championship, so yeah, won the whole thing, my first-ever single-seater championship.”

Voisin may have only claimed two victories compared to the five wins of runner-up Alex Dunne and four of third-placed Joseph Loake, but he featured on the podium in 11 of the 23 races. This was an achievement that could not be matched by either of his closest rivals and was pivotal in his securing the championship. All three drivers feature on the F3 grid this season for their rookie campaigns.

Despite his late introduction to karting, Voisin, now 18, does not believe it has hindered his career.

“I don’t feel like I’ve ever missed out on anything, realistically, because to me, when you’re seven, eight, nine, ten years old, you’re still just messing about and whatever,” he explains. “You’re still running around in the paddock and just messing around with your friends.

“So in terms of actual racing years, I don’t really think I missed out that much, which is good.”

Hear Callum Voisin discuss his title-winning GB3 season and answer fan questions on the latest episode of the Feeder Series Podcast, hosted by Jim Kimberley.

Header photo credit: Dom Bessell