My parents are selling their house so I can keep racing, says London's Formula 3 prodigy Enaam Ahmed

Ayrton Senna may have died six years before Enaam Ahmed was born but the London teenager has idolised the Formula 1 great for as long as he can remember.

This weekend, the 17-year-old from Edgware Road has the chance to exceed one of Senna’s achievements.

Ahmed has matched the Brazilian’s total of 12 wins in a season in British Formula 3 and, at Donington Park this weekend, has three races in which to get the outright record. That is held by Denmark’s Jan Magnussen, who recorded 14 wins in 1994.

Ahmed admits the Senna comparisons “have blown my mind”, adding: “Already to match Ayrton Senna, my hero, is pretty amazing.

“Hopefully this weekend I can beat him. But it’s all a bit surreal.”

His dominance of the junior formula has drawn comparisons to Lewis Hamilton and the pair both began racing at the Rye House circuit in Hoddesdon.

But a more apt comparison is Nigel Mansell, previously an engineer who scrounged and saved his way to eventually becoming Formula 1 world champion. Ahmed helps on the workshop floor at his team, Carlin, to help build his racing car. Despite his incredible dominance this season — his nearest rival is nearly 150 points back — and work ethic he has no drive currently for next year and his parents are in the process of selling the family home to keep his dream of racing in the European F3 series next season.

“A season in European F3 costs in the region of €800,000-900,000 [£705,000-£794,000],” he explains.

“That’s maybe four or five times the budget for this season.

“My parents have had to make a lot of sacrifices like currently selling the house. That’s not a nice thing and I’ve told them they don’t have to do this but they’re being incredibly supportive of me.

“It’s pretty stressful knowing the sacrifices they’re making. It’s up to me to work as hard as possible to make sure those sacrifices are fulfilled.”

A typical day for Ahmed is to write in the region of 10 to 15 emails or letters a day to potential sponsors.

He estimates that 60 per cent do not reply, 39 per cent say ‘no’ and just one per cent show an interest.

To date, though, he is some way shy of the target to carry on racing.

The teenager brushes off the Hamilton comparisons — “that tag’s used for a lot of British racers” — but embraces the Mansell analogy more so. Mansell remortgaged his own home to fund his F1 ambition. “I understand the comparison to Nigel and that’s because of the fight to succeed.

“And I don’t have the financial support of some other drivers.”

With his current predicament, what he calls “being on a knife edge”, it is understandable that Ahmed has not allowed himself to dream too much about an F1 career.

“F1 is just so far away,” he says. “I know other drivers talk of it being their dream but I don’t think like that. My dream was to win British F3 and now it’s to race in European F3.”

F1 has yet to have a driver of Pakistani origin and Ahmed believes he has seen just one driver — in the karting ranks — of the same ethnicity. “I guess I don’t come from a typical racing background,” he says. “Unlike most people, I’m not from a racing family.

“My dad’s friend raced Renault Clios and I just started at Rye House like Lewis Hamilton, karting for fun. My parents and I didn’t know what to do with motor racing but we’ve learned a lot and have done it by ourselves.”

On a steep learning curve himself, exceeding Senna this weekend would be the Londoner’s next step.