With the Formula One season under way for 2026, British Touring champion Paul O’Neill explores how his popstar sister helped him break into the sport dogged by accusations of elitism.

“Was I stealing a drive from someone who deserved it more? Maybe. Did I care? Not really. You can’t sit around feeling sorry for people.”

For Paul O’Neill, a place in motorsport was a pipe dream. Born on a Widnes council estate, the glamorous world of motorsport was a world away.

“I just wanted to race British Touring Cars,” O’Neill reflected.

“But the sport isn’t built for people like me.”

Expensive to the extreme, O’Neill would need preposterous money to fund his prospective career. A lucky break beyond what his parents could provide.

“I needed luck,” he said. Luck was exactly what he got.

His sister, Melanie Chisholm, better known as Mel C of Spice Girls stardom, made it big, and decided to bankroll her brother’s dream.

“My sister funded my first three years in motorsport and I’ll never hide that,”

“In 1999 that was £200,000.”

An established personality in motorsport now, featuring on Top Gear, ITV4 and Gogglebox (alongside his sister) O’Neill is clear that he would not be in the position he’s in without her.

His unique viewpoint has given him that appreciation for the difficulty of earning a career.

“It was expensive then, it’s even more expensive now.”

Moderate levels of backing simply aren’t enough anymore.

Nowhere reflects this shift like Formula One. O’Neill was inspired by a rock-and-roll era. Names like Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Ayrton Senna dominated the grid. Other British drivers like Martin Brundle and Jonny Herbert also found success. It all seemed achievable.

Prost was picked up as a karting prize winner, Brundle was found after building his own Ford Anglia to race in, and Mansell famously sold his house to gamble on his motorsport career.

In those days, a moderate backing might get you noticed, and talent was fungible.

Speaking to driver Tim Arnold, who started racing in 1980, those opportunities are few and far between now.

“You need £25,000 minimum to get on the British Touring grid” he reflects.

“That’s just not realistic whilst managing a career.”

Allen himself worked in manufacturing alongside racing.

Add entry to the cost of travel, various safety accoutrements and sometimes paying for the seat itself, racing is no longer realistic.

Arnold is now coaching to supplement his income and to offer a cheap route into the sport, but, in his own words, “results are secondary.”

Instead you need an inspiring story to tell or a well-crafted marketing spiel.

Or a famous relative. As O’Neill says:

“Formula One is the sexiest thing on the planet.”

Looking across the teams of today, only Lewis Hamilton can truly claim to have been plucked from the herd through hard work.

Lance Stroll is the son of billionaire Lawrence, who bought the Aston Martin F1 team (then Force India) so that his son could drive.

Max Verstappen, son of former F1 driver Jos utilised his father’s exposure and natural talent to earn a lucrative Red Bull contract.

And most recent champion Lando Norris’ father Adam boasts a net worth of £210 million according to The Sunday Times.

The principle of a pay driver is not new. Brazilian Pedro Diniz raced in Formula One between 1998 and 2000, benefitting from the financial incentive of his father, owner of Brazilian supermarket chain Companhia Brasileira de Distribuição.

Inflation is natural for such a resource-intense sport, and O’Neill reflects on an answer he gave to Top Gear magazine in 2001 when quizzed on the issue.

“Do you really think Michael Schumacher’s parents ran a hotdog stand?”

Schumacher’s parents actually worked at the karting track where their son would showcase his talents, but his father Rolf’s connection to the track gave a young Michael privileged sponsorship access.

Once again, luck is the name of the game.

“These guys are unbelievably talented, but the level of money you now need to make it skews the intake.”

£33 million was the yearly figure produced by former Ferrari race engineer Rob Smedley.

“It’s absurd amounts of money,” Smedley said. “Ordinary people are denied access.”

Smedley’s point has been proven.

He drove young prodigy Abby Eaton around the country with the figure emblazoned on her car. Since then, Eaton has been left without a drive as she could not produce £300,000.

The crux of the issue for motorsport is not the money itself but that it is shifting into a billionaire’s plaything.

Formula One began as the first ‘regulated racing,’ with talented drivers offered a leg up by teams.

Now the figures in motorsport have taken on a new stratosphere.

For O’Neill, the onus is not on drivers to produce this money.

73% of the Formula One teams are based in the UK, and five of the 22 drivers were born here, so it is clear where O’Neill believes the responsibility lies.

“The financial element is impossible for British drivers.”

“Countries like Mexico have put so much money into their drivers being globally recognised and we can’t.”

Motorsport UK are funded by Sport England, but training there will still cost more than £10,000-per-year, and that quickly expands as a driver rises to Formula 4 and Formula 3 levels, for which there is no subsidy.

In an era of simulators that remain expensive enough to be just out of reach, this is not competitive.

Motorsport enjoys elite status in the sporting world. The synthetic feel is one of the things that makes it so attractive through mediums like Netflix’s Drive to Survive.

But for young people who are ambitious to go racing, the numbers behind the career are debilitating to all but the top 0.001%.

“There was an old saying from Richard Branson, if you want to lose money start an airline,” Arnold reflected.

“These days if you want to lose money go racing.”