Shane van Gisbergen Exposes the Real Reason Why He Couldn’t Become an F1 Driver

Trackhouse Racing’s Kiwi superstar Shane van Gisbergen revealed what made him not pursue a career in the open-wheel racing.

Shane van Gisbergen Exposes the Real Reason Why He Couldn’t Become an F1 Driver

Shane van Gisbergen (Via IMAGO)

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From being a three times Supercars champion to the 2025 rookie of the season in NASCAR, Shane van Gisbergen’s racing legacy has become one of the history books. The Red Bull sponsored racer is the biggest international star in the elite stock car racing division. But the Kiwi’s whole career could’ve gone a different if he took the open-wheel route.

In the recent interview with his sponsors, Shane van Gisbergen revealed the real reason why he didn’t become an open-wheel racer and potentially make it into F1. He admitted that he has always been two big for F1 and IndyCar and once he realized how much the wight is holding him back, he shifted his focus to touring-cars. He even joked that F1 racers looks like 14 years old, mentioning their size.

I was halfway decent at open wheel, but I’ve always been a pretty big guy. Most of those open-wheel guys look like they should be 14 years old. When I was in Toyota Series, I was overweight and struggling with speed because I was so heavy. So, I ended up going more in the touring-cars direction, which was exactly where I wanted to be.

Shane van Gisbergen said via redbull.com.

In his karting years and the time, he raced in Formula Vee after getting the Speed Sport Magazine scholarship. After racing for a couple of years in Formula Ford and Toyota, he got the opportunity test V8 Supercars for Stone Brothers Racing and made his debut in 2007 at the age of 18 for their sister team, Kiwi Racing in a part-time role. Next year, SBR gave him the promotion and a full-time seat, rest was history.

Shane van Gisbergen insists winning races in NASCAR hasn’t been easy

The Kiwi got the opportunity make his Cup debut at the age of 33, driving the Project 91 car for Trackhouse Racing in the inaugural Chicago Street Race. He surprised everyone by winning the event. But it wasn’t easy, as in the same interview he credited the impressive crew that gave him a good car and plan to score the win.

Shane van Gisbergen
Shane van Gisbergen (Via @shanevg97/X)

Well, it definitely wasn’t easy. I had a great bunch of people around me and that makes a huge difference. I felt comfortable right away in the first practice. I knew what to expect and we had a really good plan. My crew chief Darian Grubb is an amazing guy with so much experience.

Shane van Gisbergen said.

One of the major factors that helped him was the fact that the NASCAR Next-Gen car had a lot of similarities with the Supercars he used to race and his Superior road course racing skill was always an advantage.  The only difference NASCAR has with it’s the Australian Series is the fact that the cars are more heavy and less nimble.

They’re reasonably similar in some ways. We do a lot of street circuits in Supercars, but ours are quite different. NASCARs are very, very heavy however and a lot less nimble – but still just a car in the end. You just kind of adapt. I did as much studying as I could and away, we went.

Shane van Gisbergen asserted.

After Chicago he got opportunity race at Indy as well as make his oval debut in the Truck Series. His performance was enough for Trackhouse to offer him a deal which he rewarded with winning road courses races for Kualig Racing in second division and winning five RC races for his main team this season in the Cup series.

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