Eric Jensen is a man of many talents. He’s a former professional racing driver, a world-class instructor, and one of the masterminds of the Ferrari Driver Academy.
He began training drivers in 2002. In the past 20 years, Jensen has trained over 200 drivers; many have gone on to have successful careers.
“If you look at the Mercedes F1 car, you’ll see a sponsor called Nuvei. Philip Fayer owns that company, and he was the first driver who asked me to train him.” Jensen said.
In 2010, Jensen came up with the idea for the Ferrari Driver Academy. Along with his good friend, Luca Baldisseri, the academy became a reality.
Baldisseri is the former lead engineer at Ferrari during the 90s and 2000s. Under his watch, Ferrari claimed many championships. He was team manager for their most recent one with Kimi Raikkonen in 2007. His assistants during those years were Andrea Stella and Mattia Binotto.
“The first driver I signed to a development deal was Lance Stroll. He was the first official Ferrari Academy signee.” Jensen said.
Jensen stressed that the Ferrari Driver Academy and its signing of Lance Stroll shaped modern F1.
“The Ferrari Driver Academy was the genesis of academies in F1; now many teams have one. The goal was to find and develop an in-house driver for Ferrari. Many current F1 drivers came through the academy, but we succeeded with Charles Leclerc. He’s going into his 8th season at Ferrari, and he wins races.” Jensen said.
“Lawrence Stroll has been great for F1. He owns Aston Martin, and he is the former owner of Prema. During his time at Prema, drivers like Pierre Gasly graduated to F1. Kimi Antonelli is also a Prema graduate.”Jensen said.
In 2014, Jensen came up with another brilliant idea that helped shape F1.
“I came up with the Ferrari Winter Series. Ferrari only ran it once, but many future F1 drivers participated. Lance was there, Nicholas Latifi, and a kid you might have heard of named Max Verstappen. Not many people know this, but Max got his first win in cars at Miami-Homestead. Ferrari helped develop him.” Jensen said.
In the mid-2010s, Jensen started his current venture in Jensen Global Advisors. The aim is to develop juniors into tomorrow’s stars. Jensen understands the financial burden that racing can put on families.
“Everything is expensive now. Racing cars is no exception. What I do is sit down with the families, assess the driver’s skills and goals, then I formulate a plan to help them achieve their goal using as little of their budget as possible.” Jensen said.
He takes a fair approach and is honest with drivers who aren’t as talented.
“If a driver isn’t talented enough for their goal. I let them know. I don’t want them wasting time and money on a goal they can’t reach.” Jensen said.
Jensen currently has 25 kids in the program, 8 of whom will be racing in the United States series in 2026.
“I’m an American racer. I have kids from all over the world, but they are trained in the United States. Not all of them race here, but they are trained here. For 2026, I have eight students who will be racing various formula series in the US.” Jensen said.
Jensen is currently looking for his group of students and is offering a racing camp in the winter months of 2025. If you’re interested in learning from a master instructor, below is the link to the camp.
