David Bushby (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I am pretty sure that you are aware that I am a bit of a motoring enthusiast, and I have a particular interest in motorsport. In that arena, I would like to rise tonight to acknowledge the incredible achievements of a phenomenal young Tasmanian who has already at the tender age of 16 years achieved incredible success in motorsport in Europe. That young Tasmanian is a Hobartian called Alex Peroni. For somebody who is only 16 years old, he is well on his way to being Australia's next Formula One driver. I actually had the pleasure of meeting Alex in Hobart a few months ago. He was at a motoring event that I was at, and I had a chat with him there, and he is an absolutely outstanding young fellow. It is great to see what he is doing. His hard work, sacrifice and determination in pursuing his passion has led him to leading the current round of motor racing that he is involved with in Europe, the Formula Renault, at the age of only 16. He is not even old enough to have a driver's licence, and he is currently the leader in the Formula Renault, which is about the equivalent of Formula 4, in Europe at the moment. It is open wheeler, like Formula One.

Alex's dream of one day becoming a professional racing driver was sparked by his dad, Piero, who fed Alex's enthusiasm by taking him to car races at Baskerville—which is a racetrack just outside of Hobart that I myself have driven on—from the age of four, and further enthralled him with racing DVDs. His passion for motorsport only grew from there, and at the age of seven he started racing karts, very quickly showing an immense talent for it. Always encouraging of their son's dreams, the Peroni family invested in a van and equipment so that Alex and his father could travel to Victoria, sometimes twice a month, to race in the most competitive karting environment in Australia.

At the age of just nine, during a family holiday in Italy, Alex entered in a high level karting event. With a small team to back him, driving an unfamiliar kart on an unfamiliar track, Alex made the top three out of 50 other drivers, many of whom had been competing in the category for years. Remember, this is when he was just nine. This event instilled in Alex a passion to compete against the world's best in Europe, and for the next several years he spent countless hours in preparation to have that dream realised. When Alex was 13, his father was at a go-kart track in Italy when he was given a business card by a stranger and told that his son should start to race single-seater racing cars. At first Piero laughed, but the following year Alex had to make the decision to either give up racing completely or pursue car racing, as his family had had enough of the karting world.

So Piero called the stranger that had given him his business card, and soon Alex was given the opportunity to do a day's testing with a Formula 4 car. Never having driven a car before, Alex made a time on the fourth lap that no-one thought could be achieved even after several days of testing, let alone on lap 4. Alex subsequently moved to Italy to live with his grandparents to race—a challenging move, as he barely spoke any Italian. At the age of 15 Alex made his debut of racing single-seater race cars, competing in the 2015 Eurocup Formula Renault. With a small team, in the world's most competitive Formula 4 championships, Alex finished 14th, with two second-place podium finishes.

A year later—in fact, just earlier this month—Alex won his first European championship, clean sweeping the final round of the V de V Challenge Monoplace in Estoril, Portugal, and becoming the youngest ever Australian to win a single seater championship in Europe. Alex's goal is to reach Formula One by the time he is 20, claiming that just to get to that level and be a professional driver would be the realisation of his dream.

Ironically, Alex only recently acquired his L plates and cannot drive on public roads without the presence of his parents. Yet put him behind the wheels of his Formula Renault single-seater and he might just be the quickest 16-year-old in the world. Not surprisingly, Alex comments that it can be quite boring on the public roads compared to what he normally does!

Alex's next move will be to prepare for the Eurocup Formula Renault in 2017. This series is aimed at identifying and developing young drivers with major prizes, including financial support for the next year of driving and inclusion in the Renault Academy. A good performance here would see Alex a step closer to realizing his dream of competing in Formula One by 2020.

Car racing is generally known as a 'rich man's sport' and, while Alex's family have given him unwavering support, it is not their wealth that has permitted Alex to get where he is today. A generous Tasmanian community and local Tasmanian businesses have rallied behind Alex and raised over $35,000 to help him pursue his dream, making this an extraordinary tale of the hard work and determination of not just Alex but his family and generous supporters in Tasmania and also around the world now as well.

I commend Alex for his hard work and his family for their many sacrifices to help Alex pursue his passion. I am sure we will see much more of this fine young Tasmanian sportsman in coming years, and I wish him all the very best of luck.