With Europe’s single seater landscape undergoing a change of guard in many ways, Spanish F4 has quickly grown into one of the most exciting championships to follow. Beginning with just 3 teams in 2016, the series has exploded in popularity over the last couple of seasons, and that trend continues into 2022, with an astonishing 30 drivers expected to take part this season. Here is F1 Feeder Series guide to the 2022 Spanish F4 Championship.

By Oorjit Mishra

Spanish F4 was originally run alongside the now defunct SMP F4 championship until 2018.  Unlike SMP F4, however, Spanish F4 has grown considerably in the past few years, and now sits second only to Italian F4 in terms of grid size and competitiveness.

Past graduates of the series include talents like Christian Lundgaard, Richard Verschoor, Franco Colapinto and Bent Viscaal. Reigning champion Dilano van’t Hoff, alongside his title rivals Sebastian Ogaard and Mari Boya have all made the step up to F3 level competition this year, with Boya racing in FIA F3 for ART GP, Van’t Hoff staying with MP Motorsport in FRECA, and Ogaard doing Euroformula Open with Van Amersfoort Racing. 

This season promises to add to that already impressive list of alumni, as Spanish F4 attracts its largest ever grid, with some of the biggest teams in single-seater racing, such as MP, Campos, and Van Amersfoort Racing on the grid for this season. MP Motorsport will begin the season as favourites, having taken both titles with Dilano van’t Hoff in dominant fashion. 

Teams and drivers

MP Motorsport

MP Motorsport won both titles in dominant fashion last year with Dilano van’t Hoff, and look to continue that form into 2022. Moroccan Suleiman Zanfari (Car #52) will return for another full season with the team, having finished 11th in last year’s standings. Sebastian Gravlund (Car #35) joins Spanish F4 for this season, having raced a partial Danish F4 campaign last year.

Alongside them will be MP’s entire F4 UAE lineup. These drivers are Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak (Car #14) from Thailand, who finished 10th in British F4 last year, Singaporean Christian Ho (Car #51), who made the step up from karting this year, and Italy’s Valerio Rinicella (Car #55), another driver stepping up from karts. Finally, Polish driver Tymoteusz Kucharczyk (Car #7) joins the team for 2022, as a reward for winning the Richard Mille Talent Shootout. 

As a last-minute addition, Russian driver Kirill Smal joined the team. Surprisingly so, as Smal announced in March he wouldn’t be racing due to the situation surrounding his home country and the war in Ukraine. He was slated to do FRECA with KIC.

Drivex School

One of the founding teams of Spanish F4 and champions in 2019, Drivex School finished 4th in the teams’ standings last year. Max Arkhangelskiy (Car #1) stays with the team for 2022, having finished 8th with two podiums last year. He’s joined by Gael Julien (Car #11) who finished 7th in French F4 last year, in his first year of car racing. Adding to their lineup for 2022 is Bruno del Pino (Car #30), who makes the step up from karting this year, having driven in the WSK Euro Series last year.

Rounding out the team’s lineup for the season is Noah Lisle (Car #TBA), who is another karting graduate for 2022. The Australian will race in Spanish F4 alongside his commitments in British F4 with JHR Developments, where he is currently 13th in the standings.

Fórmula De Campeones

Another team with an all-new lineup will be Formula de Campeones, who finished 3rd in the teams’ standings last year. Maximus Mayer (Car #2) makes his car-racing debut this year, having raced karts in the IAME Euro series last year. He’s joined by Mexican Jorge Campos (Car #8) who drove for Teo Martin last year, finished 18th in the standings. Completing the team’s lineup for the season is Alvaro Garcia (Car #18), a Spanish driver coming from karting making his single-seater debut.

Global Racing Service

Global Racing Service, or GRS Team, who finished 5th in last year’s teams’ standings, will expand to 4 full-time entries for this season. Lukas Malek (Car #15) and Vladislav Ryabov (Car #26) continue on with the team for this season. Ryabov finished 8th last year, with 3 podiums, while Malek drove the last 2 rounds.

They are joined by Ricardo Gracia (Car #5), who will make his debut in single-seater racing this year, as he will race in Spanish F4 alongside his F4 Brazil commitments for this season.

Campos Racing

Campos, who made their debut in Spanish F4 last year, have an all-new lineup for 2022, with an even mix of rookies and returnees. Filip Jenic (Car #19) moves over from Teo Martin for this season. The Serbian finished 12th in the standings last year, and won race 2 at the final round at Catalunya. He’ll be joined by Bulgarian Nikola Tsolov (Car #12), who’ll be making the jump up from karts this season, having finished 2nd in the 2021 WSK Final Cup.

Mexican Jesse Carrasquedo Jr. (Car #20) will make the step up to a full-time F4 campaign for this year, having done two rounds of Danish F4 last year, where he won 2 races. Georg Kelstrup (Car #29), another sophomore in the series, switches from MP for the season, having won a race at the opening round last year at Spa. Rounding out Campos’ for the season lineup will be Hugh Barter (Car #68), who finished 3rd in French F4 last year in his first season racing outside his native Australia. 

Teo Martin Motorsport 

Teo Martin were another team who made their debut in the series last year, finishing 6th in the standings. Joining them for this season will be Daniel Nogales (Car #13), who makes his single-seater debut following a year in Clio Cup Europe. Alongside him will be Portugal’s Manuel Espirito Santo (Car #44), who will return to the series having finished 15th last year, driving for MP.

They are joined by Lola Lovinfosse (Car #10) the only female driver on the grid for this season, who made the step up from karts with Drivex racing last year.

VAR-Monlau Motorsport

Joining the grid for 2022 will be a joint venture between the historic single-seater giant Van Amersfoort Racing and Monlau Motorsport, a team with experience in GT and Rallying. Jef Machiels (Car #25) will be one part of their 2-car lineup. The Belgian made his single-seater debut in F4 UAE 2022. He is joined by FEED Academy graduate Robert de Haan (Car #46), who finished 4th in Ginetta Juniors last year, having also raced 3 rounds of ADAC F4 and Italian F4. 

Cram-Pinnacle

A joint venture between Cram Motorsport and Pinnacle Motorsport, Cram-Pinnacle will join the series in 2022 as a new entrant. Mexico’s Ricardo Escotto (Car #77) will drive for the team, having made his car racing debut with F4 UAE with Cram. Anshul Gandhi (Car #33), who also drove for Cram in F4 UAE, will complete the team’s lineup for this season.

Sainteloc Racing 

Another team debuting in the series will be French squad Sainteloc Racing. Making their first foray into single-seater racing following 18 years of experience in rallying in GT racing, the team will run a single-car effort for this season. 2020 French X30 champion Theophile Nael (Car #6) will make his single-seater debut when he turns 15. 

2022 Calendar

Here’s the calendar for the season

• 29th April-1st May – Algarve International Circuit, Portimao 
• 28th-29th May – Circuito de Jerez, Jerez de la Frontera
• 11th-12th June – Circuit Ricardo Tormo, Cheste
• 8th-9th July- Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot
• 3rd-4th September – MotorLand Aragon, Alcaniz 
• 1st-2nd October – Circuito de Navarra, Los Arcos 
• 12th-13th November – Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Montmelo  

The series will continue to stream the races with both English and Spanish language commentary on their Youtube channel for this season. 

Format and points system

There will be no changes to the format for this year, meaning there will be two 15 minute qualifying sessions, two 25 minute + one lap races, and one, shorter 18 minute + one lap race. The fastest laps from Q1 will set the grid for Race 1, with the second best lap setting the grid for Race 2. Q2 will set the grid for Race 3. Points will be awarded in the F2 format, with 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1 for the 25 minute races, and 15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1 for the 18 minute race. There will also be 2 bonus points for pole in race 1 and 3, and 1 point for fastest lap in all the races.

Alongside the main Drivers’ championship, there will be a Teams’ championship awarded at the end of the season, with the two best results from a race counting towards the standings. A rookie trophy will also be handed out, for the best F4 debutant of the year.

Header photo credit: Spanish F4 PR