JAMES Walker is pushing hard for Formula One and believes he can win the World Series by Renault drivers’ championship this year.

The 25-year-old racing driver has just been signed by P1 Motorsport –who won the championship last year with Giedo Van Der Garde – and is confident that this will be his most successful season yet.

‘Winning the championship does so much for your reputation. Finding the money for GP2 next season would certainly be a lot easier, and it could get me picked up by Formula One as a test driver – obviously in the current financial climate it’s going to be difficult to break through, but it’s not impossible,’ said Walker.

‘P1 is the team I did all the winter testing with. The fact that they dominated so much of the last season is one of the key reasons I wanted to race with them this season – we knew if we were going to do the World Series again it would be a big risk both financially and for my career, and if I was going to risk everything I had to do it with the best team.,’ he said.

• Picture: James Walker testing for P1 Motorsport this winter