For some, motorsport is a matter of love at first sight. When they get their first taste — when they first hear the sound of a revving engine, experience the violence of a car at top speed — life without racing suddenly seems empty and meaningless.
That wasn’t how things went for Aussie F3 prospect Tommy Smith.
“My dad took me to F1 in Melbourne probably when I was eight, and to be honest, I wasn’t actually that interested in it,” he tells Fox Sports. “I was more interested in the rides they had there, not so much the race!”
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But in a way Smith never really had a choice, because whether he appreciated it or not at the time, racing was in his blood.
His father raced motorbikes, and one of his uncles was a national two-wheel champion. His grandfather is connected to the legendary Doohan family, and they’d spend weekend afternoons watching Jack Doohan race in his early karting career.
Another of his uncles is Jack Smith, the Brad Jones Racing driver in the Supercars series.
It therefore seemed inevitable that Tommy too would eventually fall into the family business.
“A few years later I sort of got involved,” he says. “My uncle Jack Smith was just starting in go karting, and he got into it through the Doohans — so through Jack and Mick — which was great.
“I went about and watched one day, and then a year later Dad bought me a go kart. It was just a hobby really, something for me and him to do on the weekends, but a few years later it progressed a lot.
“I was in cars when I was 15, and now it’s crazy to think I’m at this level now, so it turned a lot more serious.
“It‘s quite a strange one, to be honest. It just sort of happened.
“I don‘t think Jack or I expected to go into cars. We just did it for fun and it was a good family thing to do, and we progressed up to cars and now we’re here.
“It was sparked by my dad buying me a go kart, and ever since then I got into it.”
2023 F1 Australian Grand Prix Preview | 04:53
But Tommy has established one key distinction for himself. In a family of Australia-focused racers, he’s determined to prove himself overseas.
It’s no small deal for a young Australian driver to decide they want to race internationally, whether in the Euro-centric Formula 1 or sportscars worlds or in the unique competitions of the United States.
The tyranny of distance is extreme, and not just in the sense that a driver must dislocate themselves from their home country for faraway land.
Though Australia has a rich racing tradition, it’s so far away from motorsport’s key international hubs that there’s no functional crossover in the crucial junior pathways.
Almost every driver with major international ambitions routes through the junior categories in Europe. It means virtually every top driver of their generation ends up competing against each other somewhere in the lower formulae.
The competition generated by that coming together of potential stars is immense. To compete you have to take yourself out of your comfort zone and back yourself against the best.
“The hardest thing with racing overseas is actually going and doing it,” he says. “It‘s very, very competitive, this European stuff.
“When you‘re talking to the drivers, there are not many friends. It’s very much down to business.
“They‘re here to get to F1. They don’t care what bridges they burn.
“It‘s easier to not know and not be friends with people, because there’s a big chance you’re going to end up in the stewards room or something. It’s just easier to race people you don’t know.
“If you don’t know them, it doesn’t matter. You just go for it.
“I find it’s easier not to socialise too much; just try and get the job done. That’s why you’re there. I don‘t mind it like that to be honest, because I’m there to race. I’m not there to make friends.”
Results have regardless been tough to come by for Smith, though not for a lack of persistence.
A scoreless season in his first European Formula Regional campaign — albeit for the uncompetitive JD Motorsport team — didn’t prevent him from knocking on doors and finding his way into British Formula 3.
Two podiums, including one win, were the reward for his tenacity, but a lowly 19th in the standings did little to promote his cause for promotion.
But again his persistence paid off.
“We really wanted to get into F3,” he says. “It was tough with the results that we had.
“We just sort of asked the question … and Van Amersfoort Racing said, ‘Look, you know, you’re probably fifth or sixth in the queue, but we’ll keep you updated’. And then few months later we got a call and they said, ‘Well, look, the seat’s here now if you want’.
“That‘s all I needed. If you look at my results, I probably don’t deserve it, but I don’t think I’m as bad as the results have shown in the last couple of years.
“But I’ve got a golden opportunity this year. I’ll make the most of it, and as long as I‘m moving forward every race, I’ll be happy.”
It’s remarkably modest for a racing driver to admit their results aren’t spectacular. But in the long game of attaining a professional motor racing career — a far broader prospect that achieving one of 20 super-rare Formula 1 seats — it’s a useful quality to have.
“It‘s not F1 or bust, for sure,” he says. “It’d be great if you could make it to F1, but the reality is not many people do.
“I think you’ve got to be humble. It helps when you‘ve nice around you paddock — maybe not nice to the drivers! But nice to the people.
“I guess I’ve been brought up like that, to be honest, with good values.”
But admitting that Formula 1 is a distant goal shouldn’t come across as defeatist, nor should his brief two years so far of ordinary results discount him as a top-tier racer.
In FIA Formula 3 he’s racing against the most talented drivers of his generation. Regardless of where he ends up next — promoted to F2, another year in F3 or another category altogether — he’ll be better of for having competed at all.
“The thing is, with racing overseas, I’m racing at a pretty high level,” he says. “Even some of these (F3) guys I‘d say are almost F1-level drivers at the front. I’m sure if you put them in an F1 car, they’d go quick.
“It teaches you a lot. You could always come back, and I think you‘d be quite competitive if you come back with all this experience from overseas.
“I‘ve always had an interest in going overseas and always had an interest in F1, probably more so over Supercars.
“The goal is race something internationally, and whether F1 or over in America even. Even GT cars — it’s all an option.
“Wherever I go I don’t want to be paying money. I just want to be there on merit. Otherwise I‘d rather do something else.”
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But for now he’s focused on his golden opportunity to burnish his reputation in Formula 3, starting with this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix, a new circuit for the entire category and one tipped to generate some chaotic racing in the junior categories.
“This year my goal is firstly to start qualifying in the top half the grid. If I could be around 15th, then you’re getting close to reverse top-12 races. Realistically that would be fabulous.
“My other goal is for sure to get some points. If I could get into the points at least once, you’re beating a lot of good drivers that are that haven‘t been able to do that in their first year.
“For sure I’d love to win, but if I could just get some points, that’d be awesome.”
It’s no easy task when only the top 10 drivers of the 30-car field score points. But for a race whose persistence has got him this far and who has motorsport in his blood, you can’t rule him out.
