By Norris McDonald, Toronto Star Wheels

Most Canadian parents are used to seeing their children leave home for any number of the usual reasons: summer camp, school trips, university and so on.

Some parents send their children off for longer periods, whether it’s to boarding school (for their education) or – in the case of teenage boys – to some small Canadian community for the start of what everybody in the family hopes will be a successful professional hocky career.

And then there is the Raimondo family of St. Catharines, father Emilio and mother Anna Maria, who in the last 10 days have sent their 19-year-old son Gianmarco to Italy where he’ll soon take the first step in a journey that he – and they – hope takes him to the summit of motor racing, the Formula One Grand Prix circuit.