This weekend, the Italian F4, the most competitive of all Formula 4 championships, kicks off its new season at the Misano World Circuit. Once again this year, the starting grid promises an exciting championship battle right to the end. This preview gives you an overview of all the teams and their drivers, the race calendar, pre-season testing and much more.
No fewer than 37 drivers from twelve different teams are taking part in the first race weekend of the year. Some drivers from the previous year are no longer taking part. In addition to the drivers' champion Kacper Sztuka, Ugo Ugochukwu, Arvid Lindblad, James Wharton, Tuukka Taponen, Brando Badoer and Zachary David are now also racing in the FIA F3 or Formula Regional EU by Alpine. We can therefore look forward to many new faces this year. However, there are also some returnees with drivers such as Akshay Bohra, Rashid Al Dhaheri, Gianmarco Pradel or Matheus Ferreira. With Real Racing from Romania, there will also be a new team on the grid in 2024.
Prema Racing
Rashid Al Dhaheri, Dion Gowda, Kean Nakamura-Berta, Alex Powell, Freddie Slater, Tomass Štolcermanis
The defending team champions start the new season with six cars. Rashid Al Dhaheri is contesting his second year with Prema in Italian F4. The 16-year-old Emirati finished the championship in tenth place last year. He is still waiting for his first podium finish in Italian Formula 4, with his best results coming in two fourth places at Monza and Mugello. He took his first race wins in F4 at the turn of the year. In the F4 SEA, he won a race at the Sepang Circuit before celebrating a victory each at the Yas Marina Circuit and the Dubai Autodrome in the F4 UAE. One of his new team-mates this year is Dion Gowda. The 16-year-old Indian from Bangalore finished the British F4 Championship in fourth place last year with three wins and six podium finishes. At the beginning of the year, he took part in the F4 UAE with Mumbai Falcons and finished third on the podium at the Yas Marina Circuit. Kean Nakamura-Berta made his Formula 4 debut in the F4 SEA at the end of last year. The Japanese-Slovak dual national finished second on the podium in Sepang and then went on to compete in F4 UAE with Mumbai Falcons. There, the 16-year-old Alpine Junior immediately won his first race, scored another victory and six further podium finishes and ended the championship as rookie and vice-champion.
2024 will also be the first full year in Formula 4 for Mercedes Junior Alex Powell. The Florida-born Jamaican made his F4 debut in Italian F4 at Mugello and Vallelunga at the end of last season. The 16-year-old took his first victory at the beginning of the year in the F4 UAE at the Dubai Autodrome. Freddie Slater already competed occasionally in the British and Italian F4 last year. The 15-year-old immediately won his first full F4 championship. With two race wins and four further podium finishes, he secured the title in the 2024 F4 UAE Championship. The Italian team is completed this year by Tomass Štolcermanis. The 16-year-old Latvian made his F4 debut at the end of last year with Prema in F4 SEA. At the beginning of the year, he also took part in five races of the F4 UAE. He finished on the podium once in each of the two racing series. Third in F4 SEA at Sepang and second in F4 UAE at Abu Dhabi.
PHM AIX Racing
Davide Larini, Kamal Mrad, Andrej Petrović, Maksimilian Popov, Everett Stack
The German PHM Racing team will line up with a total of five drivers and three of them are rookies. Davide Larini is starting his second Formula 4 season and is the team's most experienced driver in Italy. Last year, the 16-year-old contested the Italian F4 and Euro 4 championships. A 14th place in the first race in Misano was his best result to date. At the beginning of the year, he also contested five races in the F4 UAE Championship. Australian Kamal Mrad made his F4 debut in F4 UAE this January and February. Two 13th places on the first weekend in Abu Dhabi and at the season finale at the Dubai Autodrome were his best results. 2024 will also be Andrej Petrović's first year in the Italian F4 Championship. The Serb contested his first Formula 4 races in the Saudi Arabian F4, where he won four of 21 races, finished on the podium a total of 14 times and ended the season as runner-up. The 15-year-old Russian Maksimilian Popov contested his first Formula 4 races in the F4 UAE Championship at the beginning of the year. His best result was an eleventh place on the second weekend at the Yas Marina Circuit. Everett Stack completes the team this season. The American competed in the F4 US Championship last year and contested six races in Formula Regional Americas. At the beginning of the year, he contested his first races with PHM in the F4 UAE Championship, where his best result was an 18th place.
AKM Motorsport
Emanuele Olivieri, Oleksandr Savinkov
The AKM Motorsport team from San Marino is starting the new Italian F4 season with two rookies. The 15-year-old Italian Emanuele Olivieri is making the step from karting to formula racing this season. He contested his first Formula 4 races in the Formula Winter Series where he scored two points in seven races. His AKM team-mate for this season is Oleksandr Savinkov. The racing driver from the Ukraine is also making the step from karting to car racing this year and made his F4 debut in the Formula Winter Series earlier this year.
BVM Racing
Jan Koller
This weekend, Jan Koller will be making his Formula 4 racing debut with the Italian BVM Racing squad. The 16-year-old Czech has mainly raced in karting in recent years.
AS Motorsport
Edu Robinson
Edu Robinson is contesting his Formula 4 debut year with AS Motorsport this season. The Spaniard competed in the Ginetta Junior Championship in the previous season, which he finished in eleventh place overall with a podium finish at the season finale at Donington Park.
Cram Motorsport
Kai Daryanani, Filippo Fiorentino
Cram Motorsport is planning to enter two cars this year. Kai Daryanani, the busiest F4 driver from last year, who contested the most races, is entering his second Formula 4 year. The 19-year-old Indian, who lives in Hong Kong, took his only F4 race win to date in the GB4 championship at Brands Hatch. In the F4 SEA Championship, he made it onto the podium once, finishing second in Sepang. At the beginning of the year, he took part in the F4 UAE Championship, where he scored two points. Filippo Fiorentino will also contest races in Italian F4 during the course of the year. However, his focus in his Formula 4 rookie year is set on Spanish F4 with Cram. He recently won his first race in Brazilian F4 at Interlagos.
Jenzer Motorsport
Reno Francot, Enea Frey, Ethan Ischer, Shimo Zhang
Jenzer Motorsport from Jura in Switzerland is starting the new season of the Italian F4 Championship with four drivers. Reno Francot already contested the F4 CEZ Championship with the team last year. The 16-year-old Dutchman won three of 14 races, stood on the podium in all races and finished the championship as runner-up. Enea Frey is contesting his first Formula 4 season this year. The 15-year-old Swiss driver has taken part in various WSK Karting events in recent years and last year also contested the FIA Karting World Championship in the OK category, which he finished in 14th place. He made his Formula 4 debut at the beginning of the year in the Formula Winter Series, where he scored four points. The second Swiss driver in the team is Ethan Ischer. The 17-year-old from the Swiss canton of Vaud is already entering his third Formula 4 season. Last year, he won the inaugural F4 CEZ Championship. He secured the title with eight victories and a total of ten podium finishes. His best result to date in Italian F4 has been three 13th places. The fourth driver in the squad is Shimo Zhang. The 16-year-old from Hong Kong made his debut in Formula 4 last year at one weekend each in the F4 CEZ, Italian F4 and F4 SEA.
R-ace GP
Luka Sammalisto, Enzo Yeh
The French R-ace GP team is starting the new year with two rookies in Italian F4. Luka Sammalisto made his Formula 4 debut at the beginning of the year in the F4 UAE Championship. The 16-year-old Finn, who is managed by Mika Häkkinen, finished in the points twice and achieved his best result to date in sixth place at the final weekend in Dubai. His team-mate this year is Enzo Yeh. The racing driver from Taiwan made his F4 debut in Macau, where he finished a strong eighth and contested the F4 SEA 2023, which he finished in seventh place in the championship. At the beginning of the year, he also competed in F4 UAE and made it onto the podium once in Abu Dhabi in third place.
Maffi Racing
Nathanaël Berreby, Gabriel Holguin
Maffi Racing will compete with two cars in the 2024 season. Nathanaël Berreby from Switzerland is competing in the F4 CEZ and Italian F4 Championship this year. The 17-year-old made his F4 debut at the beginning of the year in the Formula Winter Series. His team-mate in Italy is Gabriel Holguin. The racing driver from Colombia is contesting his first full Formula 4 season this year. He made his Formula 4 debut with Maffi Racing at the Circuit Paul Ricard last July.
Real Racing
Andrei Duna, Luca Viisoreanu
The Romanian Real Racing team is competing in the Italian F4 for the first time this year. They are also contesting their debut year with two drivers from Romania. Andrei Duna made his Formula 4 debut in the French F4 last year. Two seventh places in Misano and Le Castellet were the 17-year-old's best results. His team-mate this year is Luca Viisoreanu. After two years away from the race track, he will be making his Formula 4 racing debut next weekend in Misano.
US Racing
Kabir Anurag, Jack Beeton, Akshay Bohra, Matheus Ferreira, Gianmarco Pradel, Maxim Rehm
The German US Racing team is starting the season with four new drivers and two from last year. Kabir Anurag made his F4 debut with the team at the beginning of the year in the Formula Winter Series. The Singaporean driver finished the championship in 14th place and achieved his best results with two fifth places in Aragón and Barcelona. It was recently announced that Kabir Anurag will join the Alpine Academy this year. Jack Beeton is contesting his second year in Formula 4. Last year, the Australian competed for Van Amersfoort Racing and twice finished in the top ten. Together with the AGI Sport Team, he was able to take another big step forward at the end of the year. In F4 SEA, he clinched the drivers' championship title with two victories and three further podium finishes. At the beginning of the year, the 16-year-old contested the F4 UAE with AGI Sport, where he finished third on the podium twice more. In the Formula Winter Series, he finally contested his first F4 races with US Racing and made it onto the podium three times in five races. Akshay Bohra is the best-placed driver in the championship from last year who is back on the grid. The 17-year-old finished the 2023 season in eighth place with two podium finishes. He is still waiting for his first win in F4, having also finished on the podium five times in last year's Euro 4 championship.
This will be Matheus Ferreira's second year in Formula 4 after 2023. The 17-year-old Brazilian finished the Italian F4 in 18th place in the championship and achieved his best result with fifth place in the third race at Spa-Francorchamps. He took his first race wins in the first and third races of Brazilian F4 at the Brazilian Grand Prix. At the beginning of the year, he also won the third race of the Formula Winter Series at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo. Australian Gianmarco Pradel is also contesting his second year in the Italian F4 Championship. He finished the season in 13th place in the championship and claimed a podium finish in third place at Mugello. He finished the Formula Winter Series at the beginning of the year in a strong fourth place with three podium finishes. Maxim Rehm is the sixth and final driver of the team this year. During his time in karting, the German won the ADAC Kart Cup in the OK Junior category and impressed in his first F4 test drives. He made his F4 racing debut at the beginning of the year in the Formula Winter Series where a seventh place at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo was the 16-year-old's best result.
Van Amersfoort Racing
Lin Hodenius, Gustav Jonsson, Andrija Kostić, Alvise Rodella, Hiyu Yamakoshi
The Dutch Van Amersfoort Racing Team will start the new year with five drivers. Lin Hodenius made his debut last year in the Spanish F4 and Euro 4 championships. His best results in the Spanish championship were two eleventh places in Jerez and Estoril. At the beginning of the year, he also contested three races in the Formula Winter Series. Gustav Jonsson contested his F4 rookie year last season with Chris Dittmann Racing in British F4. He won the Rookie Cup with two podium finishes, second at Thruxton and third at Donington, and eleven rookie victories. Andrija Kostić will contest his first year in Formula 4 in 2024. He made his racing debut in the F4 CEZ Championship on the Balaton Park Circuit, where a sixth place was the Serbian's best result. Alvise Rodella is entering his second year in Formula 4. The 16-year-old Italian mainly competed in Spanish F4 last year, where he scored four points. He also took part in the F4 UAE Championship this year, where he achieved his best result to date with sixth place in the second race of the first weekend. The team is completed by Hiyu Yamakoshi. The 17-year-old Japanese driver from Tokyo contested the French F4 and individual races in the Spanish F4 Championship in 2023. With five podium finishes and two fastest race laps, he finished the French F4 Championship in fifth place.
Once again this year, 21 races will take place across seven race tracks. Compared to the previous season, the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps is no longer included. A new weekend will be held at the
Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The dates of some events have also changed. Imola no longer takes place as the opening race and Vallelunga is no longer the season finale.
Round 1: Misano World Circuit (3-5 May)
Round 2: Imola Circuit (31 May - 2 June)
Round 3: Vallelunga Circuit (14-16 June)
Round 4: Mugello Circuit (12-14 July)
Round 5: Circuit Paul Ricard (19-21 July)
Round 6: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya (27-29 September)
Round 7: Autodromo Nazionale di Monza (25-27 October)
In Italian Formula 4, three races are held each weekend, each lasting half an hour plus one lap. The starting grid is determined in two qualifying sessions of 15 minutes each. The result of Qualifying 1 counts for the starting grid for the first race and the result of Qualifying 2 forms the starting grid for the second race. For the third race, the grid will be determined by the second fastest lap of each driver in both qualifying sessions.
The points system is the same for every race. As in F1, there are points for the top 10. No extra points are awarded for pole positions or fastest laps.
(P1: 25, P2: 18, P3: 15, P4: 12, P5: 10, P6: 8, P7: 6, P8: 4, P9: 2, P10: 1)
All Italian F4 Championship races can be followed live on YouTube or Facebook with Italian or English commentary.
Before the season really gets underway in Misano, there have already been several test days at various racetracks in recent weeks. At the beginning of April in Barcelona, where the teams prepared for this year's race debut, in mid-April they were guests in Mugello for some testing and just a few days ago almost all the drivers tested in Misano.
MISANO
Almost all of this season's drivers and teams were at the start in Misano for the final testing days. Due to the large number of cars, the practice sessions were divided into two groups on each of the two days. The fastest drivers on both days were the two Prema drivers Freddie Slater and Kean Nakamura-Berta. In general, all the drivers were very close together. Only 0.324s separated the top ten drivers. 25 of 34 drivers were within a second of each other. With a total of 175, Luca Viisoreanu completed the most laps of all.
Overall Results:
P1: Freddie Slater - Prema / 1m35.085s
P2: Kean Nakamura-Berta - Prema / +0.016s
P3: Hiyu Yamakoshi - VAR / +0.094s
P4: Tomass Štolcermanis - Prema / +0.128s
P5: Alex Powell - Prema / +0.131s
P6: Emanuele Olivieri - AKM / +0.218s
P7: Akshay Bohra - US Racing / +0.237s
P8: Rashid Al Dhaheri - Prema / +0.275s
P9: Matheus Ferreira - US Racing / +0.297s
P10: Gustav Jonsson - VAR / +0.324s
MUGELLO
Testing took place in Mugello over two days in mid-April. Prema and VAR did not take part in the test. Akshay Bohra set the fastest lap of both days with a 1m47.810s, followed by his US Racing teammates Jack Beeton and Gianmarco Pradel by a further two tenths. Two other drivers, Newman Chi and Matheus Ferreira, finished less than half a second behind. Edu Robinson completed the most laps of all the drivers. The AS Motorsport driver completed a total of 163 laps.
Overall Results:
P1: Akshay Bohra - US Racing / 1m47.810s
P2: Jack Beeton - US Racing / +0.273s
P3: Gianmarco Pradel - US Racing / +0.289s
P4: Newman Chi - CL Motorsport / +0.383s
P5: Matheus Ferreira - US Racing / +0.442s
P6: Reno Francot - Jenzer / +0.543s
P7: Andrej Petrović - PHM Racing / +0.554s
P8: Kabir Anurag - US Racing / +0.567s
P9: Maxim Rehm - US Racing / +0.698s
P10: Enzo Yeh - R-ace GP / +0.710s
BARCELONA
At the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, only Prema and Van Amersfoort Racing carried out two days of testing with their drivers from the Italian F4 in a total of eight sessions. The fastest time of both days was set by Hiyu Yamakoshi, who was consistently among the front runners and was able to make up almost half a second on the rest. Freddie Slater, Gustav Jonsson and Alex Powell lined up behind him and all still found themselves two tenths of a second ahead of Kean Nakamura-Berta in fifth place. With a total of 126 laps completed, Andrija Kostić was the busiest of all the drivers in sixth place.
Overall Results:
P1: Hiyu Yamakoshi - VAR / 1m40.198s
P2: Freddie Slater - Prema / +0.442s
P3: Gustav Jonsson - VAR / +0.458s
P4: Alex Powell - Prema / +0.468s
P5: Kean Nakamura-Berta - Prema / +0.651s
P6: Andrija Kostić - VAR / +0.688s
P7: Lin Hodenius - VAR / +0.740s
P8: Alvise Rodella - VAR / +0.774s
P9: Tomass Štolcermanis - Prema / +0.780s
P10: Dion Gowda - Prema / +0.786s
Once again, I'm making a prediction for the driver and team championships for this years Italian Formula 4.
Drivers Championship Prediction
P1: Freddie Slater
P2: Kean Nakamura-Berta
P3: Akshay Bohra
P4: Rashid Al Dhaheri
P5: Jack Beeton
In the battle for the drivers' championship, the champion this year can almost only come from the Prema team. In addition to having the best car, they also have the most talented driver line-up with Freddie Slater, Kean Nakamura-Berta, Alex Powell, Rashid Al Dhaheri, Dion Gowda and Tomass Štolcermanis. In the end, I think Slater and Nakamura-Berta will decide the title between themselves, just like in the F4 UAE. Behind them, I think Akshay Bohra is probably the most dangerous driver from another team. In addition to him and the Prema drivers, I also see Jack Beeton, Matheus Ferreira, Gianmarco Pradel, Gustav Jonsson, Hiyu Yamakoshi, Andrej Petrović and Kabir Anurag fighting for victories and podium places. I'm also looking forward to the performances of the Jenzer drivers Reno Francot and Ethan Ischer, as well as Emanuele Olivieri, Enzo Yeh and Luka Sammalisto, all five of whom I believe will be able to achieve one or the other outstanding result.
Teams Championship Prediction
P1: Prema Racing
P2: US Racing
P3: Van Amersfoort Racing
In my opinion, Prema Racing will defend their title in the team championship again this year. For me, US Racing is the big favorite for second place, while Van Amersfoort Racing will prevail in the battle for third place against PHM AIX Racing due to more experienced drivers. AKM Motorsport, Jenzer Motorsport and R-ace GP will probably split fifth, sixth and seventh place between them.
written by Claudio Graf / 1st May 2024