This weekend the Spanish F4 Championship will start its new season at the Algarve International Circuit in Portimão, Portugal. The grid is bigger than ever before and once again well filled with car racing rookies. In this preview you will get an overview of all the teams and their drivers, the race calendar, the points system and the pre-season testing. In addition, at the end I again give my short prediction for the drivers and team championship.
So far, 30 drivers from ten different teams have been named to take part in the Spanish championship. With Monlau Motorsport, Cram Motorsport, Cars Racing and Saintéloc Racing, four new teams will also be added in the course of the championship.
MP Motorsport
Tymoteusz Kucharczyk, Valerio Rinicella, Sebastian Gravlund, Miron Pingasov, Christian Ho, Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak, Suleiman Zanfari
The Dutch team of MP Motorsport starts the new season with seven cars. Tymoteusz Kucharczyk won the fourth edition of the Richard Mille Young Talent Academy shootout last year, which earned him a starting place with MP in the Spanish F4. The Pole has been racing mainly in the WSK Kart Series, where last season he finished second in the OK category of the WSK Open Cup and third in the WSK Euro Series. Valerio Rinicella is managed by the management of former F1 race winner Giancarlo Fisichella. The Italian made his auto racing debut earlier in the year in F4 UAE. Dane Sebastian Gravlund enters his first full Formula 4 season and also competes in Danish F4 this year in a double program. Miron Pingasov was already racing with MP last year. The Russian will be racing under the Spanish flag this season. His best result so far was fourth in the last race of the F4 UAE championship earlier this year. Christian Ho recently made his Formula 4 debut in F4 UAE. The Singaporean driver finished third in the 2020 WSK Champions Cup in the OK Junior category. His best F4 result so far was a fifth place at the Dubai Autodrome. Tasanapol Inthrapuvasak is entering his second Formula 4 season after competing in British F4 in 2021, where he won one race and finished on the podium twice more. Earlier this year he competed in Formula 4 UAE, winning one race and finishing seventh in the championship. The team is completed by Suleiman Zanfari. The Moroccan is entering his third season in Spanish F4. He finished last season in eleventh place in the championship and is still waiting for his first podium.
Campos Racing
Filip Jenić, Georg Kelstrup, Hugh Barter, Nikola Tsolov, Jesse Carrasquedo
Campos Racing enters the new season with five drivers. Filip Jenić is contesting his second year in the championship after claiming his first victory last season with Teo Martin Motorsport. The driver from Serbia finished last year in twelfth place with another podium finish. Georg Kelstrup moves from MP Motorsport to Campos Racing for his second Spanish F4 season. The Dane won one race last year, finished on the podium another time and ended the championship in tenth place. Hugh Barter will contest his first F4 Spain races next weekend. The Australian is completing a double program consisting of Spanish and French F4 this season. He already finished French F4 last year as vice champion and started the new season in Nogaro with two more victories. With Nikola Tsolov there is also a F4 rookie who will contest his first car races this weekend. The Bulgarian won during his karting career among others the 2019 WSK Open Cup in the Mini category and was runner-up at the WSK Final Cup in the OK category last year. The team is completed by Jesse Carrasquedo. The Mexican made his F4 racing debut last year in the Danish F4 championship where he won two races.
Formula de Campeones
Jorge Campos, Maximus Mayer, Álvaro García
Formula de Campeones starts the season with three new drivers. In their internal academy shootout at the end of last year, the two Spaniards Maximus Mayer and Álvaro García prevailed. Mayer won the 2019 Hivern National Cup, among others, and finished ninth in the 2020 IAME Le Cont Cup, managing the most overtakes after starting in P27. García spent 2021 in shifter karting, participated in a round of the CIK-FIA European Karting Championship for KZ2 karts and finished 23rd in the WSK Open Cup. Their teammate this year is Mexican Jorge Campos, who is entering his second F4 Spain season. He finished 22nd in the championship last year with Teo Martin Motorsport.
Drivex School
Maksim Arkhangelskiy, Bruno Del Pino, Gaël Julien
The Drivex School team enters the new season with three drivers. Max Arkhangelskiy starts his second year with the team. The driver from Perm, Russia finished his rookie season in ninth place in the championship and was third on the podium in two races last year. Bruno Del Pino will compete in his first car races this weekend. The Spaniard has recently competed in several WSK and IAME karting series races. The team is completed by Gaël Julien. The French-Indonesian racer is entering his second Formula 4 season after racing in French F4 last year. He finished the championship in seventh place with one win and three further podium finishes.
GRS Team
Vladislav Ryabov, Lukáš Málek, Lola Lovinfosse, Ricardo Gracia Filho
The Spanish Global Racing Service team has four cars on the grid this year. Vladislav Ryabov already raced with the team last season and finished second on the podium three times. The Russian finished his rookie season in a strong eighth place in the championship. Lukáš Málek enters his first full Formula 4 season. The Slovakian made his car racing debut in Spanish F4 at two weekends last year. French driver Lola Lovinfosse joins the team for this season and starts her second Formula 4 year. She achieved her best result in the championship so far with Drivex as thirteenth in the third race at the 2021 Algarve International Circuit round. The team is completed by Ricardo Gracia Filho. The Brazilian has won several karting titles in his home country and has extensive experience in karting events in Europe, such as the FIA European/World Championships and the WSK Series.
Cram Motorsport
Ricardo Escotto, Anshul Gandhi
The Italian Cram Motorsport team is competing in the Spanish F4 for the first time this season. They confirmed two drivers for the championship. The Mexican Ricardo Escotto already competed with the team in Formula 4 UAE at the beginning of the year. An eleventh-place finish at the Dubai Autodrome is his best result to date. His teammate is Anshul Gandhi. The Indian made his car racing debut in F4 Spain last season. At the beginning of the year, he also raced with the team in the F4 UAE championship.
Teo Martin Motorsport
Manuel Espírito Santo, Daniel Nogales
Teo Martin Motorsport enters the new F4 Spain year with two new drivers. Manuel Espírito Santo starts his second Formula 4 season. The Mexican competed in the championship last year with MP Motorsport. He finished the championship in 17th place, his best result was fifth at the Circuito de Navarra. His teammate this season is Daniel Nogales. The Spaniard is making his Formula 4 debut this weekend.
Monlau Motorsport
Robert de Haan, Jef Machiels
Monlau Motorsport is another new team on the grid in F4 Spain. With the support of Van Amersfoort Racing, the Spaniards are providing two cars for this season. Robert de Haan was only recently officially confirmed as a driver. The Dutchman won the FEED Racing shootout last year and made his Formula 4 racing debut with VAR in Italian F4 and German ADAC F4. He competed in the 2021 Ginetta Junior Championship, winning three races and finishing the season in fourth place. He was also champion in the 2019 German Junior Kart Championship. His teammate this season is expected to be Belgian Jef Machiels, who already competed in some races in the F4 UAE Championship earlier this year.
Saintéloc Racing
Théophile Naël
The French team of Saintéloc Racing has also announced to join the championship at some point during the season. They plan to have a total lineup of three cars, one of which will most likely be driven by Théophile Naël, who is already part of the project. The French driver is currently competing in the IAME Karting Series where, among other things, he became champion in the X30 Junior category of the French series.
Cars Racing
Andrea Frassineti
With Cars Racing and Andrea Frassineti, another team is expected to join the championship during the course of the season. The driver from Faenza, Italy started in the past mainly at WSK Karting events.
This year, 21 races will again be held over seven weekends. The same race tracks as last season will be visited. The five rounds in Spain are organized by RFEDA. The season opener in Portimão will be held as part of the DTM supporting program. And with the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, a second weekend will be held abroad.
Round 1: Algarve International Circuit, Portimão, Portugal (29 April–1 May)
Round 2: Circuito de Jerez, Jerez de la Frontera, Spain (28–29 May)
Round 3: Circuit Ricardo Tormo, Cheste, Spain (11–12 June)
Round 4: Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot, Belgium (8–9 July)
Round 5: MotorLand Aragón, Alcañiz, Spain (3–4 September)
Round 6: Circuito de Navarra, Los Arcos, Spain (1–2 October)
Round 7: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Montmeló, Spain (12–13 November)
In addition to a three-hour test drive, there will also be two free practice sessions, two qualifying sessions and three races on each race weekend. On Saturday, there will be the first 15-minute qualifying session and the first 25-minute race. On Sunday there will be the second qualifying session and the remaining two races. Race 2 will last 18 minutes while race 3 will again be 25 minutes long. The starting grid for the first race will be determined by the best time set in the first qualifying session. For the second race, the starting grid will be determined by the second best lap time of qualifying 1. The third race will start in order of the qualifying 2 result.
In the first and third races, the same points are awarded to the top ten as in Formula 1. In addition, the driver on pole position receives two extra points and the driver with the fastest lap in the race receives one.
Race 1+3
25, 18, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, 1
PP: 2, FL: 1
The shorter second race gives fewer points. Only the best eight still received points here. The winner receives 15 points. And there is also an extra point for the fastest race lap. However, there are no points for the pole position in race 2.
Race 2
15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, 1
FL: 1
Spanish Formula 4 has completed four days of testing in the run-up to the 2022 season. Two each at the Circuit Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium and the Algarve International Circuit in Portimão, Portugal.
Circuit Spa-Francorchamps
On the two days of testing in Belgium, MP Motorsport driver Valerio Rinicella set the best lap time overall. His teammate Sebastian Gravlund turned the most laps of all drivers with a total of 120.
Combined Results Day 1 & 2
P1: Valerio Rinicella (MP) / 2:22.892
P2: Nikola Tsolov (Campos) / +0.285
P3: Jesse Carrasquedo (Campos) / +0.410
P4: Robert de Haan (Monlau) / +0.418
P5: Tymoteusz Kucharczyk (MP) / +0.524
P6: Hugh Barter (Campos) / +0.631
P7: Christian Ho (MP) / +0.780
P8: Ricardo Escotto (Cram) / +0.886
P9: Suleiman Zanfari (MP) / +1.015
P10: Théophile Naël (Saintéloc) / +1.180
Algarve International Circuit
In Portugal at the Algarve International Circuit, Drivex Team driver Maksim Arkhangelskiy was the fastest driver over both days. The busiest driver was Cram Motorsport's Anshul Gandhi with 111 laps.
Combined Results Day 1 & 2
P1: Maksim Arkhangelskiy (Drivex) / 1:44.718
P2: Gaël Julien (Drivex) / +0.406
P3: Nikola Tsolov (Campos) / +0.486
P4: Tymoteusz Kucharczyk (MP) / +0.640
P5: Bruno Del Pino (Drivex) / +0.711
P6: Suleiman Zanfari (MP) / +0.786
P7: Valerio Rinicella (MP) / +0.884
P8: Christian Ho (MP) / +0.905
P9: Georg Kelstrup (Campos) / +0.928
P10: Jesse Carrasquedo (Campos) / +1.095
All races of the Spanish F4 Championship will be broadcasted live with Spanish and English commentary on Youtube or Twitch. In addition, you can follow every session, from practice sessions to qualifying and the races, via livetiming on f4spain.org.
As I already did with some other racing series this year, I dare to make a little prediction for this year's F4 Spain driver and team championships.
Drivers Championship Prediction
P1: Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak
P2: Filip Jenic
P3: Robert de Haan
P4: Maksim Arkhangelskiy
P5: Hugh Barter
The drivers' championship this year could be more exciting than it has been for a long time. There are several candidates for the title, such as Inthraphuvasak, who has already impressed in F4 UAE earlier this year. Other possible title contenders are also every single driver from Campos Racing. Jenic, Kelstrup and Barter already have a year of experience and some strong results. While Tsolov and Carrasquedo also showed strong results in the tests. In addition, one of the three Russians Arkhangelskiy, Ryabov or Pingasov could also win the title if they get a clean season. Dutchman Robert de Haan must also be taken into account in a possible title fight. And there are even more newcomers who impressed me so far, such as Valerio Rinicella and Tymoteusz Kucharczyk from MP Motorsport.
Teams Championship Prediction
P1: Campos Racing
P2: MP Motorsport
P3: Drivex Team
In the team championship I think the defending champions MP Motorsport and Campos Racing will fight for the title. However, I see Campos Racing just slightly ahead this year. Behind them, Drivex Team, Formula de Campeones, GRS Team and maybe Monlau Motorsport will duel for third place. Personally, I see the Drivex team just ahead, but the outcome between these three is completely open.
written by Claudio Graf / 27th April 2022