When it comes to considering the most iconic stars in the world of motor-racing, Formula One particularly, a few names immediately come to mind. Juan Manuel Fangio, the most successful driver during the sport’s mainstream emergence in the 1950’s. Michael Schumacher, the man who would eventually overtake his record. We had the famous rivalry between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost as they traded championships during their peak years… Or more recently, British pair Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, who have become the sport’s current household names.

It may be fair to say that motor-racing found its first modern-style ‘superstar‘ in Senna, a young man whose emergence captured public imagination in similar fashion to how George Best had become the first major soccer star in the 1960’s. Those who came after, including Schumacher (whose early career overlapped somewhat with the twilight years of Senna’s) and Hamilton, likely owe something of a debt to the impact of Senna’s popularity on their sport, helped in large part by his rivalry with Prost beginning in the late 1980’s.

Ayrton Senna’s journey to the podium and eventual stardom began in similar fashion to many others since; with karts, in the mid-to-late 1970’s. Senna became a multiple time champion in South America during this junior stage of his career, and was runner-up twice at the Karting World Championship, before heading to England in 1981 to begin single-seater racing.

Despite these early signs of success, though, Senna’s future in the sport was placed in doubt as he faced pressure from his wife and family to instead focus on starting a business in his native Brazil. This doubt didn’t last long from his point of view, as he accepted an offer to drive for the Formula Ford 2000 team for a £10,000 fee, deciding that racing was his first priority, and stayed in England.

From there the rest is history, as Senna continued rising up the ranks until arriving at McLaren in 1988 and starting his rivalry with French driver Alain Prost. According to a career retrospective for Prost, posted on the McLaren website, “Senna set foot on McLaren’s turf with one ambition alone. He was aiming to stamp his mastery on the entire organisation, including Prost.”

Their intense (and sometimes bitter) rivalry was documented in Asif Kapadia’s Senna (2010), in which Senna’s life and career is further detailed up to his untimely death in the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. A Guardian review of the documentary refers to him as “his generation’s best driver“.

Prost himself -- born in Lorette, France in 1955 -- was of course no stranger to success, officially recognised as one of the most prolific drivers in Formula One history with 51 victories and 106 podiums during his career. Like Senna, he discovered karting at an early age (14, while on a family holiday) and didn’t look back. He was nicknamed ‘The Professor’ for his smooth, intellectual driving style, with a tendency to save his brakes and tyres until towards the end of races when he needed them most. It carried him to almost unprecedented success on the race track.

Of the current generation of upcoming F1 drivers, though, there is one name in particular to look out for: Matt Parry. One of the UK’s most exciting prospects behind front-runner Lewis Hamilton, he won Young Welsh Sportsman of the Year in 2013 and his stock has been steadily rising since.

Like the previously mentioned drivers, Matt Parry started out in karting at around age 10 -- earlier than Prost but later than many in the generation following him -- and it eventually led him to compete in British and World Championships in the sport before moving upwards to the Formula One race tracks.

Still only 23, Parry has many prospective years of success ahead of him, but even now comes across as a mature, collected individual with experience and advice for those who may wish to pursue motor racing. He is a talent that may well one day find his name written in F1 history alongside the legends mentioned above.