Dean Stoneman still dreams of Formula 1

While he had signed a contract with the ISR team to race in Formula Renault 3.5 Series in 2011, serious health problems forced Dean Stoneman to put his career on hold. But the Briton is not the type to give up, and he has never given up on his dreams of Formula 1. “My goal is always to reach F1, He says. After winning the title in F2, I had trained very hard to prepare for my F1 test. I worked on strengthening my neck by doing workouts for two or three hours a day to prepare for the best day of my life. In January 2011, doctors diagnosed testicular cancer. It was a shock. The cancer spread from my right testicle to my liver and lungs.

The blow was hard for the Briton to take, especially since the doctors revealed to him that he had not been far from death: “It wasn?t very pleasant to learn that, but I didn?t didn't sit down to cry, he continues. I asked them : “Can you heal me?” » They told me that I had a 40% chance of surviving and that was something difficult to accept. The specialist told me that I was two days from being incurable and two weeks from death. In the end, my time had not come, it was not my turn. I am a fighter. It was a shock for many people, but I had a lot of support. I had 14 hours of chemotherapy a day. I'm a racing driver, I was constantly pushing the limits by only taking an hour's break before doing another session. Losing your hair is very hard, but that's how it is. You have to be strong and move forward. »

With the illness now behind him, Stoneman wants to return to competition. He knows full well that there will be a lot of work to do before returning to the level he was at at the end of 2010. “ I have car racing on my mind, but my priority was to survive. Now, after what I have experienced over the last 14 months, I want to return to competition. It was difficult on the body after being sidelined for an entire season. You realize how much you rely on your hands and your fitness, it was really hard to get back into a car. I was fast during the first ten laps, but after that it was more difficult. It?s very demanding. But this return to the wheel of a racing car was incredible. Before that, the last car I drove was a Formula 1 car. Going from a Formula 1 car to a hospital bed for a season and then back behind the wheel of a racing car is a great story. »

To get back into the swing of things, Stoneman only wants to race, but for the moment, the Briton is not registered in any championship due to lack of funding. ?My goal this season is to race, train and adapt. And I hope that at the end of the season, I will be in the same situation as at the end of my last season. I want to get back to where I was, but before that I have to get back into shape and I have to get back to a car. The best training for me is running. The only thing I lacked is speed, but I have many good years ahead of me (he is only 21 years old. Editor’s note) now and I can do it again in the future,” he concluded.