Here's looking at you, kid: the chance meeting that took a rookie to Jordan

The Interview - Ralph Firman: After driving to glory in Japan, F1's rising son is geared for his biggest challenge on the hard roads. Nick Townsend talks to him

Friday afternoon and the rains, persistent all week, have relented sufficiently at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona for Ralph Firman to complete the last of his 60 laps of the day on a dry surface. In the process, he has completed a fastest lap time that is just a tenth of a second behind Williams' Juan Pablo Montoya, and another a 35th of a second behind the same team's Ralf Schumacher.

At this stage, the time and other data are primarily of interest to the technicians; the important thing for Firman is that during a week when his EJ13 car has devoured 1,200km in testing, he has shared the Spanish Grand Prix circuit with such illustrious Formula One names. He possesses the air of a man who is struggling to assimilate everything that has happened in just a few astonishing weeks.

"It's been a hard day's driving, which stretches the nerves, so it's nice to relax," the last man to be offered a seat on the grid for the forthcoming season mutters gratefully as he prepares to depart for a few days in London, followed by next stop Melbourne, location of the opening grand prix in a fortnight's time. The days have passed in a similar blur to that experienced by a driver passing the chequered flag after emerging from the high-speed bend at Catalunya since that propitious occasion when he found himself eyeball to eyeball with Eddie Jordan in, of all places, a sunglasses shop.

That particular story has a familiar ring about it. Something along the lines of "Of all the specs shops in all the world, he had to walk into this one". Talk about shades of Casablanca. Except this was in the Caribbean in late December. The charismatic Irishman, team boss of the eponymous Jordan team, was still without a team-mate for the Italian Giancarlo Fisichella, following the departure of Takumo Sato to BAR-Honda, with the season scarcely more than three months' distant. Firman was without a Formula One drive, despite an impressive CV, and had consigned himself to another year in Japan's Nippon Championship, which he won last season.

"Maybe it was fate," says the 27-year-old driver from Norwich, who bears a passing resemblance to the James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan. "It was around Christmas time and I was on holiday with some family friends and just bumped into Eddie. It was quite a surprise. He was there with his wife, Marie, and we all met up and had dinner and we got on famously, though, to be honest, talk about Jordan's spare seat this season wasn't the main topic of conversation. It was just good to meet away from the circuit. He's a great character."

So, if it hadn't been for that, young Firman wouldn't have been here today? It's tempting to ignore the reality and perpetuate a good story, but Firman adds: "I had been in contact with the team before that, we had been talking, having won the Nippon Championship, which obviously helps a bit, doesn't it? But it would be true to say that serious negotiations only started in January."

A litany of names had been connected with the vacancy, including Eddie Irvine, Brazil's Felipe Massa, and another young Brit, Gary Paffett. Firman's eventual selection by the Silverstone-based team in a three-year deal means that there will be four Britons among the 20 drivers on the grid this season when the Anglo-Irishman (his mother, Angela, is from Kildare) joins Jenson Button, David Coulthard and another rookie, "The Tall Man", Minardi's Justin Wilson, whose 6ft 3in frame meant that his car required modifications to accommodate him. Firman, who is not that much shorter, has also had to have some slight adjustments to the cockpit to comply with safety regulations.

He will arrive at Melbourne after only six days' testing in total with Jordan, and is a virgin on most of the circuits he will encounter. The only ones with which he is familiar are Suzuka, Barcelona, Silverstone and Malyasia, where he raced last year in touring cars. "The main thing in my races is to finish them and not make any silly mistakes. It would be great to score some points in every event. That's your main aim, isn't it? If I go out determined to do that in every race, I think I have an excellent chance of finishing on the podium."

Young Firman is, by his own estimation, "The Forgotten Man". Yet he exudes an inner belief in his ability. His apprenticeship has been long, and at times has meant a lonely existence in the Far East. But he has waited too long for this opportunity to stall now.

Inspiration comes to him in the form of the late Ayrton Senna, though not as a remote icon, as the Brazilian might have been for most aspiring young drivers, but from sharing breakfast with him as a child at the Firman family home in Norfolk. Ralph Firman senior is the former Lotus mechanic who created Van Diemen International Racing Services in the early Seventies. It has a factory adjacent to the Snetterton circuit in Norfolk, producing single-seater cars and chassis. Ralph junior's mother is the company secretary; his sister Natasha, a year younger, has just started work there, too. Senna was a frequent house guest at a time when the 41-times grand prix winner drove for Formula Ford, whose cars were built by Van Diemen.

"Then when Ayrton was with Lotus he was with us for six months. It was great to have him around the house. I suppose my interest in motor sport was kindled by a combination of both factors: the early opportunity my parents gave me to race karts and having a man like Ayrton around. Because of him, I probably took more of an interest in motor racing than other people. If there is one man I'd like to emulate it's Ayrton Senna."

The inference could be made that the direction of his future was almost mapped out by family diktat. "My parents never pushed me," he says. "They started me off when I was 10 by giving me the present of a go-kart and then they just asked me at the end of every year whether I wanted to carry on racing. It was all down to me, and I used to pester them to let me carry on."

However, he adds: "I wouldn't be where I am today without them, especially in the early years when they paid the bills for me to go racing up until the time I went to Japan and became a professional racing driver. They've watched a few of my races, but try to keep out of it, let me get on with it and do my own thing. I do chat with my father and he gives me advice, which is good, because he's had so much experience."

Having won junior and senior British kart championships, Firman turned to cars in his late teens. He finished first in both the Formula Vauxhall junior championship and the McLaren Autosport Young Driver of the Year before winning the British Formula Three Championship, and the Macau F3, in the process finishing ahead of Montoya, Jarno Trulli and Nick Heidfeld.

He then entered a period of obscurity – at least to all those but devout petrol-heads – by moving to Japan for nearly six years and participating in Formula Nippon, the equivalent of Formula 3000 in Europe. "I didn't have the money to race in Europe and I actually felt the Japanese Championship was better anyway," he says. "It was very competitive. The problem was that initially I had an uncompetitive car. If you're not in the right equipment, you can't win.

"You need to be noticed and recognised – especially such a long way from home. I got myself back in a competitive car two years ago, in which I could win races and win championships, and I always thought that I could get into Formula One.

"That's always been my dream and what I've been aiming for. Obviously, it would have been nice to get into F1 when I was younger, like Jenson Button, but I've got the opportunity now, and I intend to make the most of it."

This rising son adds: "The first year in Japan was hard. My only companion was the BBC World Service. There were no foreigners at all in my area. But in the second year I moved to the equivalent of Silverstone in Japan. There were a load of us foreigners living there and we'd all go off cycling every day, and that was really good.

"The Nippon Championship is excellent for a developing driver; physically, it demands more than the European F3000. Also you're away from home and you grow up. If you can cope out there and win championships, it'll stand you in good stead when you get to F1 and the extra pressures and demands that requires."

He claims that fear of an accident never stalks him. "I've never honestly thought about the dangers," he says. "I don't ever feel frightened. It's all about having confidence in the car and your own driving really, isn't it? Of course, like everyone I've had the odd shunt, but nothing really severe. I've always walked away; never been unconscious. F1 cars are so safe, aren't they? That gives you that extra confidence as well."

There are conflicting reports on his earnings, with one suggesting that he is paid £5,000 a race. If anywhere near correct, that would be loose change to Michael Schumacher's £30m a year. "There's a commercial package been put around me," is Firman's sole contribution to the subject. But then riches, frankly, are not an immediate priority compared to the establishment of a solid reputation.

"The important thing this week is that I've had a lot of time in the car, which is what I've needed to learn all about it. I certainly have a lot of race experience, but virtually none in Formula One cars. An F1 car is considerably more powerful than what I'm used to, but most important is the incredible amount of downforce, so that at high-speed corners you can approach much faster and carry your speed through them."

He adds: "I've built up slowly, but I feel I'm peaking just in time for the first race. Physically, I'm fine, but that's never been a problem for me because I enjoy keeping fit. I can't wait for that first race. It's going to be incredible, isn't it?"

The new regulations, including one-lap qualifying, will no doubt find everyone out at some stage, but they don't faze Firman. "It's the same for everyone, isn't it?" he says. "You've just got to make the best of the situation on the day. I've always done well in qualifying, so I'm just looking forward to the challenges of that ahead."

If he succeeds in F1, he will join an exclusive list of drivers nurtured by Jordan, including both Schumachers, Damon Hill and, of course, Fisichella. "It's a great for me to have Giancarlo as a team-mate," says Firman. "Everyone regards him as a very quick driver. I'm looking forward to learning from him, but that doesn't mean that throughout the year I won't be pushing him and trying to outqualify him. Obviously, that's my target. I need to do that if I want to join that list of greats. And I can't see any reason why I can't."

Somewhere you imagine that Ayrton Senna might just be endorsing that conviction.

Biography: Ralph Firman

Born: 20 May 1975 in Norwich.

Family: Father is Ralph Firman Snr, who created Van Diemen Racing Services 30 years ago.

Career progression: Started racing in 1985 when his parents bought him a go-kart. 1990: British Junior Kart champion. 1992: British Senior Kart champion. 1993: British Formula Vauxhall debut (nine wins), received McLaren Autosport BRDC driver award (an achievement he shares with Jenson Button, Anthony Davidson, David Coulthard and Dario Franchitti). 1995: British F3 championship, runner-up. 1996: won British F3 championship (beating Juan Pablo Montoya). 1997: made Formula Nippon debut; finished seventh. 2002: won Formula Nippon championship (four race victories). 2003: Formula One debut with Jordan Ford.

Also: Ayrton Senna was his idol before the Brazilian's untimely death.