Ex-Karting Sensation Who Defeated Russell & Mingled With Lewis Hamilton Set for 2022 NFL Draft

Former Mclaren young driver Samuel Oram Jones has turned over a leaf, and he is chasing his NFL dream. After an illustrious karting career, the Brit stepped away from motorsports for “educational reasons”. His junior career saw him compete against the likes of Max Verstappen and George Russell. Moreover, he also went wheel-to-wheel against other F1 stars, Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris.

While his former comrades are now stars in F1, he recently found himself in the 2022 NFL draft. Jones also served as the junior driver for Mclaren and did simulation work for Red Bull. F1 has seen a monumental rise in popularity in the last few years. Sports analysts and experts often credit the Netflix series “Drive to survive” for the notable surge in F1 audiences. But Jones is not one of those fans.

In a recent interview published by Mirror, he told the reason he cannot bear with the Netflix series among other snippets from his racing days. “All the Drive to Survive stuff? I can’t watch it,” he said. “It just kills me, because I should be there. I can’t watch it at all,” expressed Jones.

F1 champ Max Verstappen’s former teammate paves his way to the NFL

After competing in several karting championships and performing at his topmost capabilities, Samuel Oram Jones left the single-seater sport. Recently, he reflected on his racing days, revealing interesting details of his time competing against the current F1 stars.

“You name the driver, I’ve competed against them. And I’ve beaten several of them. I was way better than Mazepin!” joked Jones.

“I did pretty well. The last time I competed in karting I put it on P2 in Spain. P1 was Callum Illott who has been winning in F2, George Russell was P5 and he’s in F1.”

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“There are several guys I’ve been toe to toe with, in the same team, under the same roof. I was just as good as them and now they’re doing different things,” added the USC Trojans’ Running back.

“In order to be around for the family business later in life, I needed a certain level of education. At the time, it was a big shame for me – I’d done sports my whole life and every day was about racing until the day it wasn’t anymore. That was a big challenge in my life.”

He won the Lewis Hamilton True Grit award twice. That’s not the end; his racing hero Hamilton also gave him on-track advice which carried huge significance for the young gun. However, destiny finds him in a different place now. He has officially declared for the 2022 NFL draft and will look to make it big there, after missing out on his F1 dream.

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