KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 20 — Jazeman Firhan Jaafar, 33, has spent more than two decades in motorsport, from racing internationally and coming within reach of a Formula One seat to competing at Le Mans.
Today, the former Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One development driver is using that experience to open doors for Malaysian talent in motorsport and the wider automotive industry.
Through Persona Energy Sdn Bhd, the company he established in 2018, Jazeman runs the Technology Transfer Apprenticeship Programme (TTAP), giving Malaysian engineers, mechanics and other technical talents hands-on exposure to international motorsport and industry partners. “So, I have talents like that … they have the grit, the skill, but they don’t have that ‘door opening’. So, I open the door for them,” Jazeman told Bernama in an interview recently.
So far, 95 talents have gone through TTAP, with most already working in the industry while some have pursued further studies. Supported by partners including Porsche, Bosch Engineering and Yayasan Raja Muda Selangor, the programme exposes participants to areas ranging from race cars and data to vehicle components and engineering.
TTAP runs for seven months, with participants required to gain hands-on experience at three races during the programme. The locations vary according to the racing calendar, with participants potentially assigned to events in Malaysia, Japan, Thailand or Indonesia.
Jazeman said some are subsequently taken to additional races once the teams are comfortable with their performance. “So, my requirement is three races. I do a pre-event briefing. Then, we do a scorecard to see their performance and then their graduation,” he elaborated.
He wants TTAP to eventually become self-sustaining, with between 10 and 20 Malaysian talents integrated into the racing industry each year, before expanding the programme to talents across Asean.
From six-year-old go-karter to Europe
Jazeman’s own journey began almost by chance. He was six in 1998 when a friend of his late father invited him to try go-karting in Shah Alam. What began with rented or leased karts progressed to national and Asian championships. By eight, Jazeman had decided he wanted to become a Formula One (F1) driver. His mother, however, insisted that racing could not come at the expense of his education. “I had to promise her to never forget to ‘mengaji’ (study) first. You know, do my tuition first. And then I can go racing,” he recalled.
At 14, Jazeman was below the minimum age requirement for the Petronas Talent Development Programme’s Formula BMW programme. He instead secured an exemption from the FIA to compete in Formula BMW Asia and found his own sponsorship. He won the championship, beating the Petronas team. A day later, Petronas called and invited him to join its programme.
At 15, Jazeman moved to Europe, where he spent much of the next nine years pursuing a professional racing career. “I didn’t have a life like other teenagers did. I had to move, and I didn’t have many friends in Europe either. I probably had one friend who happened to study there. But then I built my contacts; I built my relationships with certain people from racing, and that led me to my professional career then. So, I was in the UK nine years in total. No easy feat lah,” he recalled.
Europe exposed him to a mature motorsport industry and eventually took him to the final step before F1.
The F1 deal that did not happen
After winning the Formula Renault 3.5 Series race in Monaco in 2015, Jazeman said he received offers from two F1 teams, Force India and Manor. Force India presented what he described as the stronger proposition: a one-plus-one-year deal, beginning as a reserve driver before progressing to a race seat. The challenge was securing the necessary financial backing within a limited timeframe.
Jazeman said a proposed funding structure involved Petronas, tourism and sports authorities as well as corporate sponsors. But the plan came amid political pressure surrounding the 1Malaysia Development Bhd controversy, while falling oil prices put pressure on Petronas.
He tried to salvage the offer, but the required commitments could not be confirmed in time. “They came back with a second offer to proceed with reserve driver (first). I still have the contracts in my mum’s house. But we couldn’t sign it because none of the sponsors could confirm at that time,” he recalled.
He subsequently redirected his career towards Mercedes-AMG and endurance racing, which offered the prospect of a longer professional career. “I’m honoured and blessed that I was given an opportunity. You know, I was on that final step. But I think we tried our best,” he added.
Jazeman acknowledged that they could perhaps have negotiated better, but said F1 deals required people who understood how to put the different elements together. Today, that chapter is closed. “So if you ask me again if I would try again, no. I think I’ve moved on from it,” he said.
Unfinished business
Jazeman has not, however, moved on entirely from racing. He has gone on to compete in GT and endurance racing and still believes he can perform at a high level. One race in particular remains unfinished business: the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the world’s premier sports car endurance race, won by the team covering the furthest distance in 24 hours.
Jazeman competed at Le Mans in 2018 in an all-Malaysian line-up with Weiron Tan and Nabil Jeffri, finishing fourth in the LMP2 class. “I have been honoured to have won big races. The list goes on,” he recollected. “If you put me in a race car tomorrow, I will perform at my utmost best. But Formula 1, no.”
Jazeman’s experience has also shaped how he views Malaysia’s search for another F1 driver.
He believes Malaysia has talent with the potential to build professional racing careers, although the pathway to F1 has become considerably more demanding as the sport has evolved.
Malaysia has talent capable of professional careers in GT, Le Mans and endurance racing, Jazeman reckons, but reaching F3, F2 and ultimately F1 requires more than funding, as it also demands enormous early sacrifices, including leaving home and building a career overseas as he did at 15.
The talent Malaysia left on the table
Having spent years racing overseas, Jazeman believes Malaysia has historically paid too little attention to developing the people behind the race car.
The country once had extensive links with F1 through Malaysian companies and organisations, yet much of that involvement remained commercial rather than being systematically used to develop local technical talent.
“Because a lot of the involvement in F1 was purely a commercial element. Not to grasp at talent development. Which is such a pity,” he said, adding that at its peak, Malaysian interests were connected with as many as four F1 teams. We had four F1 teams from a small country. But no F1 driver, no F1 engineer. So, I don’t know what the sole purpose of this commercial element was. Talent development or talent in the team should be the core. That is how I see it,” said Jazeman.
He is also convinced Malaysia has technical talent capable of working at the highest levels of motorsport. “You know, race teams, international race teams love hiring Malaysians because we speak English. I’m certain our talents can do it,” he added.
Beyond hosting
The question of what Malaysia gains from international motorsport is again relevant as Sepang prepares to host the Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia next month.
Jazeman noted that Malaysia already has the facilities and hospitality needed to host major motorsport events. Where Malaysia falls short, he believes, is in extracting more lasting benefits from the international teams and organisations that come here. “We have the opportunity to ask them for what we want. I feel that we do not capitalise enough on the spillover effects,” he added.
While Malaysia already benefits from business spillovers such as hotels and transport, Jazeman said more could be done in talent development and technology transfer. He pointed to the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) choosing Malaysia to host the International Karting World Cup twice as evidence that the country’s facilities and grassroots ecosystem have international recognition.
“Now, what falls short is that maybe we are a bit shy to squeeze from them what we want because we may not be paying for F1 today, but we still have the top teams coming here. We have the opportunity to ask (for) what we want. I feel that we do not capitalise enough on the spillover effects,” he reiterated.
Jazeman reckons Malaysia has at times placed greater emphasis on hosting major races than building the ecosystem beneath them. He said there was coordination among the Sepang International Circuit, the Motorsports Association of Malaysia and the Youth and Sports Ministry, but the government ultimately had to lead on what Malaysia wanted to develop.
“We had F1 that came here for many years, but we didn’t capitalise. So now, we have an interest to come back, and people want it to be back permanently, but we have to really plan for that integration … but it has to come from the ministry. You want to champion the best engineers of F1 of tomorrow; it has to come from them. You want the next F1 driver; it has to come from them,” he said.
For Jazeman, TTAP is one attempt to change that. He wants the programme to become sustainable, build more links with international teams and eventually extend its pathway beyond Malaysia.
After spending his youth trying to find a way into the highest levels of motorsport, he is now opening that door for others. “The door is open; you go for it. That is the only thing I can do, which I have done,” said Jazeman. — Bernama