Last weekend the single-seater season 2021 finally started again. Also the first Formula 4 championship has already started with the F4 US Championship. High time to take a look at interesting rookies. In this article, I will introduce you to twelve Formula 4 rookies that you should definitely have on your radar this year. You can find more exciting rookies for this season in the "Newcomer Support" section.
With Joel Granfors, the reigning Formula Nordic champion will start in this year's British Formula 4. Together with the reigning champions from Fortec Motorsports, the young Swede wants to continue his championship winning streak this year. In his karting career, he won the MKR series Sweden Junior 60 in 2017, as well as the SverigeCupen - OK Junior in 2018. Then last year he won both single-seater series he competed in, the Aquila Synergy Cup Sweden and the Formula Nordic.
French-Finnish racer Marcus Amand will make his debut in the ADAC Formula 4 & Italian F4 Championship this year. He joined the French R-ace GP team for the upcoming season. For two years, Amand drove karts in the OK Junior category. In 2019, he won the championship title in the CIK-FIA European Championship. Last year, he finished ninth in the European Championship OK category and began testing F4 cars with R-ace GP last December.
Canadian Mac Clark makes his debut in the F4 US Championship this year with Gonella Racing. The young Canadian enters his first Formula 4 season after becoming regional F1600 champion in Ontario last year, among others. He finished his first race in F4 US last weekend in 5th place, and has already managed to win two races and finished second in the points standings in this year's YACademy F4 Winter Series. In addition, Clark recently competed in the official Road to Indy E-Sports Series, where he finished fourth in the championship and was able to clinch the podium at both tracks.
Already in karting, the American Arias Deukmedjian always drove at the front. In 2018, he won the SKUSA Pro Tour in the X30 Junior category, among others. In the same year, he already competed with an F4 car in the F2000 Championship Series, where he took several class wins. The last two years he focused on senior kart racing. This year Deukmedjian will make his official Formula 4 debut with Kiwi Motorsport in the F4 US Championship. He was already right back at the top of the leaderboard during testing. On his first race weekend at Road Atlanta he made it to the podium twice in P3.
The 15-year-old Santiago Trisini from Miami, Florida will start his first Formula 4 season this year. The son of an Argentine mother and Venezuelan father comes to Europe and joins MP Motorsport in the Spanish Formula 4. In the North American karting scene, the name Santi Trisini is probably known to everyone. Among other things, he was United States ProKart runner-up and reached the podium of the SKUSA SuperNationals in Las Vegas. In the last two years he has been active in the WSK Euro Series, Super Master Series and the CIK-FIA European and World OK Kart Championships.
Highly rated British kart driver Ollie Gray will compete in Formula 4 for the first time in 2021. He joins the reigning champions from Fortec Motorsports for British F4. The 15-year-old had a very successful karting career. He won multiple MSUK British - X30 Junior championship titles and was runner-up in the IAME Euro Series in 2019. In 2020, Gray drove for F1 driver Charles Leclerc's Leclerc by Lennox Racing team in the European OK class. He scored impressive wins in all heats and the final in the WSK Euro Series at Sarno.
With Enzo Trulli we also have a reigning Formula 4 champion in this list. The son of former F1 race winner Jarno Trulli won the F4 UAE with the Cram Durango team at the beginning of the year with a narrow margin over Dilano Van't Hoff. Now he has the chance to become double F4 champion in his first single-seater season. Together with the Drivex team, he competes under the banner of Fernando Alonso's FA Racing team. Last year, Trulli finished fifteenth in the CIK-FIA European Karting Championship in the senior category. He finished 13th in the WSK Super Master Series. In 2018, he won the 29° Trofeo Andrea Margutti in the OK Junior karts.
Dilano Van't Hoff has also already made his Formula 4 debut. The Dutchman led this year's F4 UAE Championship for a long time. Van't Hoff took five race wins and finished 12 of 20 races on the podium. In the end, he was runner-up just one point behind Enzo Trulli. The 16-year-old is contesting his main program this year with MP Motorsport in Spanish Formula 4. Last year he finished tenth in the WSK Super Master Series of OK Karts. In 2019, he won the 48° Trofeo delle Industrie in the same category.
Russian Nikita Bedrin was one of the strongest kart drivers in the European OK categories last year. Last season he became WSK Super Master Series champion and finished 4th in the CIK-FIA European Championship. In 2019 Bedrin finished second in the WSK Final Cup and third in the WSK Euro Series in the OK Junior Karts, among others, and won the Italian Championship. Earlier this year, he already participated in the F4 UAE Championship, where a third place at the Yas Marina Circuit was his best result. The 15-year-old's main program for this season is with Van Amersfoort Racing in the Italian F4 & German ADAC Formula 4.
Matthew Christensen already celebrated success in a single-seater last year. In the Lucas Oil Formula Car Race Series he won six races, stood on the podium 12 times and was runner-up in the final standings. This season, he now moved to the Formula 4 US Championship with the Jay Howard Driver Development Team. Already in the winter tests of the YACademy F4 Winter Series he could convince with a race victory at the Sebring International Raceway. Christensen finished the first F4 US races at Road Atlanta last weekend in P4, P18 and P5.
Macéo Capietto starts his first Formula 4 season this weekend. The son of Prema's F2 engineer and team manager Guillaume Capietto will compete in French Formula 4, and the Frenchman has impressed in his previous Formula 4 tests for Prema and in the FFSA Academy. The 15-year-old already burned the fastest time of the day into the asphalt during this week's pre-event test at Circuit Nogaro. Last year, he finished twelfth in the OK Junior category of the WSK Euro Series and ended the FIA Karting Academy Trophy as runner-up. In 2019, he was also vice champion in the French Junior Karting Championship.
This weekend, Dario Cabanelas will also start his first Formula 4 season. He will compete in the Junior Championship of the French Formula 4. The karting member of Fernando Alonso's FA Racing team is also competing in selected OK Kart races with DPK Racing this year. The 14-year-old from Lausanne, Switzerland competed in the OK Junior category of the WSK Super Master Series & Euro Series last year. Before that, he was especially successful in the Spanish District Asturias Championship, where he was vice champion three times.
written by Claudio Graf (youngdriversmonthly) / 3rd April, 2021