About the Foundation

A coaching programme, not a grant fund

Around five young drivers a year, from Europe, the Middle East and Africa, train with us at Autodromo di Modena. They have the talent to go further and not the money to prove it. We cover the racing, and we coach them in person.

There are champions out there who will never stand on a podium because of circumstances entirely beyond their control. If we can change that for even a few of them, that’s a legacy worth building.

Alexander Macalister Founder and Head Coach

That’s what we’re trying to build: a way across the financial chasm that keeps so many talented drivers from reaching the other side.

Amy Millie Trustee

That is where the name comes from, and the logo: a bridge over water. Amy’s line is the one we still use when people ask.

What we do

Four things, done properly

The money matters, but on its own it is a cheque. The programme is what we do with it.
  1. 01

    Financial support

    We pay for the racing: equipment, coaching, data, and travel to the events that matter in a student’s season. Families are not asked to pay.

  2. 02

    Technical education

    Coaching on the kart circuit, the main circuit and in the sim suite, and data-and-spanner work in the workshop. How we coach.

  3. 03

    Mentorship

    Students work alongside people who have done it: our coaches, mechanics who have spent their careers in the junior categories, and drivers and engineers from the wider sport.

  4. 04

    Pathways

    Each student leaves with a plan for the next season, agreed with their family, and with assessment time in front of established academy coaches along the way.

How a year works

History

How we got here

  1. 2023

    Cheques, passes and a coffee

    Before there was a Foundation, Alexander Macalister was writing cheques to young drivers he rated and finding them paddock passes. In 2023 he met Berto Marchetti for coffee in Maranello. It was meant to last an hour; it lasted four. Berto, at the end of what he expected to be his last season in F4, started helping unofficially.

  2. 2024

    A paddock in Qatar

    At a junior support race in Qatar, Alexander stopped to help a father and daughter with a problem on her kart. She started the final from the back of the grid and finished second. Her name was Amal Al Mansouri, and Alexander asked the family to keep in touch.

  3. January 2025

    The paperwork

    Alexander registered the Foundation himself, at his dining table, tax numbers and all. When Amy Millie offered to take it off his hands, he declined: if he was going to ride the horse, he said, he would muck out the stable too.

  4. Early 2025

    The launch

    By March the Foundation had a legal framework, a small office and Berto as Director of Operations, and applications were coming in from across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Amal became our first student.

  5. 2025

    Liang

    Alexander first saw Liang at a Ferrari Grandstand Project day at Modena, asking questions so precise they sounded like a debrief. He joined the first intake.

  6. Late 2025

    Feel first

    In a session in the instruction room, a visiting Olympic coach showed us how gymnasts are taught: give the athlete something to feel, and name it afterwards. It changed how we coach. Feel-first coaching.

  7. 2027

    A syllabus and a scored panel

    Adamo Bianchi and Berto wrote the performance-education syllabus, and the first residencies ran on it. Maren Lindqvist took on our communications, and grants moved from Berto’s judgement alone to a scored panel, with his judgement as one of the scores. Performance education.

  8. November 2028

    A new trustee

    Maren Lindqvist joined the board of trustees. The vote was unanimous. Governance.

  9. March 2029

    The fifth intake

    Five drivers, chosen from 146 applications, began their year at Modena.

  10. 2030

    Five years

    An open weekend at Modena in March 2030, with every former student invited back.