Well, the chances for a 16-17-year-old boy to make it in an F1 race is 0% unless and until he comes from an exceptionally rich background and in order to get into F1 race one needs to start karting from the age of 6–7.

You may get in with starting at a later age (12 may be OK) if your family is insanely wealthy and willing to support you with millions of USD over the years with little hope of ever getting a return on the investment. But even in this case, you have to compete with dozens of guys with a similar background for 1 or 2 free spots. But even if you are a paying driver, you need to be quite good, and you need to show in some lower series that you can drive and are somewhat competitive.

But if your family is not insanely rich and wealthy, then in such case, you have to demonstrate one in a million talent from age 6 to age 20 and be in the top 3 in anything you start (which have to be the top junior categories of the world).

 But even in this case, you need a couple of hundred thousand dollars per year to even get a seat in these junior categories. But with great talent, you may have a chance to get some support from a wealthy sponsor early on.

No wonder the F1 races are exciting and amazing to see and even me in childhood was crazy about the game and wished to be on the track on someday. But when you grow you need to be honest with your potential and things you are capable of from each and every aspect which will lead you in a better direction.