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(As I've been meaning to do for a while, I've finally gotten around to starting an F4 thread prior to the majority of the 2024 season - will post links to races, news, etc. here!)
The lowest step on the FIA ladder, Formula 4 has been growing considerably since the FIA introduced the category in 2014, and now reaches its 10-year anniversary. All the series feature slicks and wings, and engine power is around about the 160 hp mark. As a result, it has become the first step for drivers straight out of karting. Generally the racing is frenetic and exciting - though that’s to be expected of grids consisting of mainly fearless teenagers…
The current FIA-sanctioned series are as follows:
F1 Academy (Tatuus–Abarth T421, Pirelli tyres) | Website | YouTube
F1 Academy has its own dedicated thread here.
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Italian F4 & Euro 4 (Tatuus–Abarth T421, Pirelli tyres) | Website | YouTube
The Italian series is seen by most as the “headline” F4 series at present. It’s the longest-running of all the FIA F4 series, having been introduced in 2014. Four drivers from Italian F4 have made their way to F1 (though one has since flunked out) - inaugural champion Lance Stroll (with Prema), 2015 runner-up Zhou Guanyu (also with Prema), 2016 runner-up Mick Schumacher (also also with Prema), and 2021 champion and recent F1 débutant Ollie Bearman (with Pre… I mean, Van Amersfoort). Having a Prema car will likely get you some of the way there, though last year the champion came from outside of the usually-dominant Italian outfit. Prema looked to be well on their way to winning the title with Red Bull junior Arvid Lindblad, the Briton having a comfortable championship lead mid-year. That was until Kacper Sztuka and his US Racing team suddenly hit their stride, with the young Pole sweeping all but one of the last nine races to take the Championship and a berth alongside Lindblad in the Red Bull Junior Team.
The two men to keep an eye on this year are likely teamed up at Prema, in the form of Mercedes junior Alex Powell, from Jamaica, and the prodigiously talented Freddie Slater. US Racing will look to keep the drivers title as well, and their most likely title challengers will come in the form of Akshay Bohra, Jack Beeton, and Alpine junior Matheus Ferreira.
Euro 4 was set up in 2023 as a “European” F4 series, but essentially boiled down to extra rounds for the Italian series entrants. Kacper Sztuka elected to sit out the last round at Catalunya, with Prema team-mates James Wharton and Ugo Ugochukwu going for the title. It was Ugochukwu who prevailed and took home the first Euro 4 championship trophy.
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British F4 (Tatuus–Abarth T421, Pirelli tyres) | Website | YouTube
It’s hard to gauge what the second-most prestigious F4 series is currently, but it’s likely either the British or the Spanish series. The British series uses the same chassis, engine, and tyres as the Italian series so is likely the closest allegory. The series takes place mainly on the same national tracks as the likes of the BTCC due to being on the same TOCA package, though does have an overseas round at Zandvoort. Again, three names have come through the series to take their places in F1. The first British F4 champion was Lando Norris (for Carlin) in 2015; and 2017’s runner-up and third-placed spots went to Oscar Piastri (Arden) and Logan Sargeant (Carlin) respectively. Spare a thought for the man who beat the pair of them, Jamie Caroline!
In 2023, it was a two-way fight until the end of the year, with Carlin’s Louis Sharp eventually getting the better of Hitech’s Will Macintyre by 13 points. Other recent winners were GB3 driver Matthew Rees in 2021, and the talented Irishman Alex Dunne dominated in 2022. British F4 differs slightly from Italian F4 in that Race 2 of each weekend is a Top-10 reversed grid race. Of the drivers confirmed so far this year, keep an eye on Hitech’s Mika Abrahams (who looked fast in a part-campaign last year) and Deagan Fairclough (3rd in 2023), as well as Rodin’s Alex Ninovic. British F4 will also be notable this year for having a strong female contingent, with current F1 Academy racer and Alpine junior Abbi Pulling, former F1 Academy racer Chloe Chong, and open-wheel newcomers Nina Gademan and Ella Lloyd.
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Spanish F4 (Tatuus–Abarth T421, Hankook tyres) | Website | YouTube
Spanish F4 again uses the same Tatuus chassis and Autotecnica-built Abarth engine as the Italian and British series, though uses Hankook tyres in place of Pirelli. The series has very much been a two-team affair in recent years, with Campos and MP Motorsport entering up to six cars each. Indeed, the two teams pretty much locked out the top 10 in the standings last year, with Campos and MP cars finishing in 2nd down to 9th in the final table. It was somewhat surprising, then, that a team in only their second full year of open-wheel competition came through to take the driver’s title in the shape of Saintéloc Racing’s Théophile Naël. Other recent champions were F3 driver Nikola Tsolov in 2022, and the sadly late Dilano van ‘t Hoff in 2021. No Spanish F4 drivers have yet made it to F1, though 2017 champion Christian Lundgaard is now an IndyCar race-winner. Mind you, the 2018 champion is failing his way up the ladder…
2024 will likely be once again a battle between Campos and MP Motorsport. Campos will be fielding two Red Bull juniors in James Egozi and Enzo Tarnvanichkul, as well as Peruvian talent Ándres Cárdenas, who is already a race-winner in the series. MP’s charge will likely be headed by second-year driver Keanu Al Azhari; the team has already won this year’s Formula Winter Series with Griffin Peebles, so look for the young Aussie to be strong too. They’ll also run a couple of promising rookies in René Lammers and Maciej Gładysz.
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French F4 (Mygale–Alpine M21, Pirelli tyres) | Website | YouTube
French F4 is a little different to the other series so far mentioned, in that all of the Mygale-built cars are run centrally by the French motorsport federation (the FFSA), and drivers swap between cars over the course of the season to nullify any small differences there may be. This results in some close racing over the course of the year, and a championship that usually goes down to the wire. This was the case in 2023, when Evan Giltaire and Enzo Peugeot fought until the final race at Paul Ricard, with the former winning out. Both have now progressed into FRECA with backing from the FFSA, so the winner stands to gain a good stepping stone into higher formulae.
The main contenders this year will likely both be rookies - Jules Caranta has already shown good speed and overtaking prowess in F4 UAE this year, and Augustin Bernier is a very highly-rated karter who has chosen to make his first steps into cars in the French championship. Drivers returning for a second season include Yani Stevenheydens, who finished 7th in his rookie year, and will be looking to build on a good first year. Those familiar with sportscars will also see a couple of familiar names, with Sacha Maassen’s son Montego and Kévin Estre’s brother Dylan making their open-wheel débuts.
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UAE F4 (Tatuus–Abarth T421, Hankook tyres) | Website | YouTube
The main off-season F4 championship has already concluded for 2024, with the very promising Freddie Slater taking home his first championship win ahead of team-mate Kean Nakamura Berta. A few other names also took starring roles during the season, with Keanu Al Azhari, Rashid Al Dhaheri, Alex Powell, Gabriel Stilp, and Doriane Pin all picking up their first wins at F4 level.
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There are a few more FIA (and FIA-affiliated series) throughout the world:
- CEZ F4 (Tatuus–Abarth T421, Pirelli tyres) | Website | YouTube — F4 CEZ came into being in 2023, focusing on Central and Eastern Europe. This year will take the series to Hungary, Austria, Slovakia and Czechia over the course of 6 weekends. The grids will still likely be small as the series finds its feet. Jenzer Motorsport dominated last season, and will likely look to do the same again this year.
- US F4 (Ligier JS F422, Hankook tyres) | Website | YouTube — The premiere F4 series in North America, F4 USA often attracts a bumper grid of up to 30 cars, and is a jumping-off point for drivers looking to both the US and European ladders; previous winners include IndyCar driver Kyle Kirkwood, and FIA F3 driver Noel León. Onroak have introduced a brand-new Ligier car for this year, featuring an in-house built V4 engine. Issues with the new car have delayed the start of the season, and only three drivers have signed up so far. Hopefully everything will be resolved soon, as it would be a shame to see the series reduced to basically nothing.
- NACAM F4 (Tatuus-Abarth T421, Pirelli tyres) | Website (en español) | YouTube — The North and Central American series, centered on Mexico. This year the championship swapped their old Mygale chassis and Ford engines for the current Tatuus/Abarth chassis/engine combination regularly seen in Europe. Competition has been sparse for the last few years, however.
- Brazilian F4 (Tatuus–Abarth T421, Hankook tyres) | Website (em português) | YouTube — Now entering its third season, Brazilian F4 has assumed the mantle of the leading national open-wheel series. One of the rounds will feature on the Brazilian Grand Prix package, so provides an opportunity for the drivers to impress infront of a large crowd and the F1 paddock.
- Japanese F4 (Toray–Toyota MCS4-24, Dunlop tyres) | Website (日本語で) | YouTube — Another series introducing a new second-generation car this year; Dome have been bought out by Toray Carbon Magic, who’ve produced the new Toyota-powered car, with an engine upgrade that will likely make the Japanese F4 cars the most powerful (and likely fastest) of any series around the world. The championship battle usually comes down to, like many Japanese domestic series, drivers backed by either Honda or Toyota. Japanese F4 also has a separate class for gentleman drivers, such as the legend himself “Dragon” - this contributes to busy grids that, at times, run well over 40 cars!
- Chinese F4 (Tatuus–Geely T421, Kumho tyres) | YouTube — The little-publicised Chinese championship is actually one of the longest-running, having been established in 2015. The two most recent champions, Gerrard Xie and Tiago Rodrigues, are both starting to forge a career in Europe.
- Indian F4 (Mygale–Alpine M21, MRF tyres) | YouTube — And in contrast to the Chinese championship, the Indian series is one of the newest. The cars are all run by MP Motorsport; like French F4, it uses a Mygale chassis. Australia’s Cooper Webster was crowned the inaugural champion in December; the series also featured the first Vietnamese race-winner as far as I can tell in any FIA open-wheel series, in the form of Alex Sawer Hoàng Đạt.
- South East Asian F4 (Tatuus–Abarth T421, Giti tyres) | Website | YouTube — F4 SEA was revived in 2023 after 3 seasons on the sidelines. Jack Beeton took the championship win, but a few notable names used the series as their first open-wheel championship, including Kean Nakamura Berta and Doriane Pin. The SEA championship also features the Macau Grand Prix as a non-championship race, won last year by Arvid Lindblad.
- Australian F4 (Tatuus–Abarth T421, Giti tyres) – The Australian championship is also being resurrected this year after 4 years out, using the same Tatuus/Abarth/Giti package as the reconstituted South East Asian series. There is little information yet, apart from a calendar, so there will likely be more to come before the start of the season.
- Saudi Arabian F4 (Tatuus–Abarth T421, Pirelli tyres) | Races streamed on Meritus GP's Facebook — Finally, the FIA’s newest F4 series is the Saudi series, being run in the off-season, though this seems to clash somewhat with the UAE series. All cars are centrally-run by Meritus GP. The season has one round to go, with Serbian open-wheel rookie Andrej Petrović currently leading ahead of the more experienced Federico Rifai; three cars are also driven by the Al Qubaisi siblings (F1 Academy drivers Hamda and Amna, along with their brother Abdullah).
- Formula Winter Series (Tatuus–Abarth T421, Pirelli tyres) | Website | YouTube — Essentially an off-season offshoot of Spanish F4, but with a few extra teams from the Italian series. The 2024 Winter Series season saw a lot of drivers making their first foray into open-wheel racing, but the championship was dominated by two second-year drivers in MP Motorsport’s Griffin Peebles, and Campos’ Ándres Cárdenas.
- GB4 (Tatuus–Abarth T014, Pirelli tyres) | Website | YouTube — MSV in the UK has positioned GB4 as a lower-cost alternative to British F4, using the first generation Tatuus chassis instead of the second-generation one used in the FIA series. As a result, GB4 isn’t eligible for superlicence points, but many of the drivers choose to move over to British F4 or up to MSV’s own GB3 series, which now does provide superlicence points and is a cost-effective alternative to Formula Regional. GB4 is also notable for a strong female presence on the grid; this year the championship has announced a cash prize to help the top woman on the grid into an F1 Academy seat. Expect the GB4 front-runners to include the returning Harry Burgoyne; Alisha Palmowski has also been very fast in pre-season testing.
- Nordic 4 (Mygale–Renault M14, Pirelli tyres) | Website (på dansk) — Previously known as Danish F4, the series now takes on the moniker of Nordic 4, due to increasing numbers of F5 and Formula Nordic cars on the grid, as well as an increasing number of rounds in Sweden. Often a jumping off point for many youngsters starting their open-wheel journey, as the series allows 14-year-olds, unlike the FIA championships, which require a driver to be 15.
- USF Juniors (Tatuus–Mazda JR-23, Continental tyres) | Website | YouTube — The USAC-sanctioned F4-level series in the US firmly positions itself as the bottom rung of the Road to Indy ladder. The drivers here generally don’t have their sights set on racing in Europe, though at least one alumnus in Nikita Johnson is now looking to racing in the UK instead of in the US. The Tatuus chassis is a modified version of that used in other F4 series, and can also be modified further in order to upgrade it into the USF2000 and USF Pro 2000 cars, which are the next two steps on the Road to Indy ladder below Indy NXT. Some drivers to keep an eye on here are the International Motorsports duo of Augie Soto-Schirripa (who finished 3rd running only a partial season of US F4 last year) and Ariel Elkin, who moves across from Italian F4. Last year’s Brazilian F4 champion Vinícius Tessaro also moves to USF Juniors; there are further IndyCar-related interests with Dan Wheldon’s son Sebastian and IndyCar team boss Ricardo Juncos’ son Leandro also present.