Few drivers make it to Formula 1, but their odds of doing so skyrocket by being affiliated with an F1 team’s junior driver programme. This series explores the performances of driver academy members in 2023. Today’s spotlight: the Alpine Academy.

By Martin Lloyd

The Alpine Academy programme has been extremely successful in recent years, if not for the works Formula 1 team itself. While the team has not (against its wishes) used any of its own talent, Oscar Piastri and Zhou Guanyu have both seen success in Formula 1, having spent multiple years each in the academy.

Check out the e-book below to read all seven of the 2023 F1 driver academy reviews!

Jack Doohan (F2, P3)

Doohan’s second year at Virtuosi Racing promised a great deal, given an impressive sixth-place finish in 2022, his first full-time year in FIA Formula 2. Doohan had a difficult start to the 2023 season, with just one podium across the opening seven rounds, but he followed this with a wildly different second half of the season. 

With seven top-six finishes in the final eight feature races, Doohan shot up the standings to a final spot of third, winning three out of the last five feature races. In finishing just 35 points behind championship winner Théo Pourchaire, Doohan made solid progress from his first year in F2 even if he did not secure the championship win he would have hoped for. 

For 2024, Doohan has confirmed that he will be leaving F2. A seat in the World Endurance Championship has been rumoured, but no news has been confirmed at the time of writing. 

Victor Martins (F2, P5)

Martins, the reigning Formula 3 champion, had an inconsistent campaign, but a fifth-place championship finish can still be considered a successful debut season in F2. The Frenchman scored 10 podiums, helping to propel ART Grand Prix to the teams’ championship alongside Pourchaire. Amongst his most impressive results was a feature race win at Silverstone, where he built a five-second gap to Zane Maloney to nullify the impact of a penalty he earned earlier in the race. 

Martins also accrued five second-place finishes, but fourteen race results outside of the top six rendered a championship challenge unlikely. As a Formula Renault Eurocup and F3 champion, there are high hopes for Martins’ second season in F2. 

The 22-year-old is expected to remain with the ART squad alongside confirmed rookie Zak O’Sullivan, who will together aim to defend their teams’ title. 

Kush Maini (F2, P11) 

Maini enjoyed a fruitful debut season in F2, leading to a chance to join the Alpine Academy. The Indian moved up from a 14th-place F3 finish in 2022, showing flashes of potential with MP Motorsport. For 2023, Maini stepped up to join the Campos squad in F2, putting in a string of impressive performances.

Again, Maini showed his quality with seven points-scoring finishes in the first 8 races, including a maiden podium in the Melbourne sprint race. Although his form declined in the second half of the season, Maini’s 62 points secured him 11th place in the championship, and he comprehensively beat his experienced teammate, Ralph Boschung. In doing so, Maini scored more points than any Campos driver since Jack Aitken in 2019.

For 2024, Maini has confirmed that he is moving to the successful Virtuosi team, which ran Doohan, Maini’s Alpine stablemate, for two years. 

Gabriele Minì (F3, P7; FRMEC, P22)

Another driver who showed promise before the 2023 season was Italy’s Minì. Having finished fourth in FRECA in 2022, he joined the Alpine Academy and was placed with Hitech in F3. In his debut campaign, Minì finished seventh in the championship with 92 points. 

Winning two races in Monaco and Hungary, the 18-year-old finished comfortably clear of his teammates, Luke Browning and Sebastián Montoya, who placed 15th and 16th respectively. Minì also finished third in Australia and second in Austria. 

It has been confirmed that Minì will remain in F3 for 2024 and move to the imperious Prema team, who have won four of the five modern teams’ championships. With a seat at the reigning teams’ champions, Minì will be one of the favourites for next year’s championship.

Nikola Tsolov (F3, P22; Eurocup-3, P10; FRMEC, P23)

After a hugely successful campaign in Spanish F4, winning 13 races and finishing off the podium just three times, Tsolov became a full member of the Alpine Academy in February 2023 having previously been an affiliate of the programme. The Bulgarian, a protégé of two-time F1 champion Fernando Alonso, also jumped up to F3 with ART.

It proved a difficult season for the French outfit, who finished only eighth, their lowest position of the modern Formula 3 era. Of their three drivers, Tsolov finished lowest in the championship, in 22nd, albeit only one place behind teammate Kaylen Frederick. It is difficult to judge Tsolov’s debut season, however, as he was the least experienced driver in the championship and it would understandably have taken time before he was comfortable with the Dallara F3 machinery. 

The 16-year-old will be hoping for a better year in 2024. His plans are currently unconfirmed. 

Sophia Floersch (F3, P23)

Floersch returned to F3 in 2023 following a two-year absence from the category. Previously, Floersch competed with Campos in 2020, with a best race finish of 12th. Next came stints in ELMS, DTM and even the World Endurance Championship before she rejoined F3 with PHM Racing by Charouz, rebranded from Charouz Racing System in 2022.

Floersch certainly bested her only full-time teammate, Roberto Faria. Floersch finished inside the top 15 four times, including at Spa, where she became the first woman to score points in F3. Those six points crucially ensured that PHM finished four points clear of Rodin Carlin, securing them ninth place in the standings. 

Next year, Floersch will compete in F3 with Van Amersfoort Racing, with whom she finished 11th at the F3 Macau Grand Prix last month.

Nicola Lacorte (Italian F4, P9; Euro 4, P9; F4 UAE, P24)

Lacorte is a recent addition to the Alpine Academy. He finished ninth in Italian F4 with Prema this year, winning one race and scoring two podiums. He also finished ninth in the Euro 4 championship. 

Lacorte will begin 2024 in Formula Regional Oceania for three rounds with M2 Competition before moving to FRECA with Trident. 

Abbi Pulling (F1A, P5)

Following two successful seasons in W Series, finishing seventh and fourth, Pulling moved onto F1 Academy with Rodin Carlin for 2023 and became a full member of the Alpine Academy. The Briton had a mixed year in the category but finished fifth in the championship. Pulling scored seven podiums and two pole positions, though she did not win a race. In 2024, she will return to F1 Academy with Rodin Carlin and compete in British F4.  

Matheus Ferreira (Italian F4, P18; Brazilian F4, P11)

Ferreira joined the Alpine Academy at the start of 2023, and moved from a promising karting career, including 2nd place in the 2021 Junior World Championship, into F4. Ferreira mainly competed in Italian F4 with Van Amersfoort Racing but finished only 18th in the standings with 15 points to his name.

He found more success when making a one-off appearance in Brazilian F4. At the F1 support round at Interlagos, Ferreira won two of the three races, which was enough to put him 11th in the championship despite having only competed in one round.

Ferreira’s 2024 plans have not yet been announced.

Kean Nakamura-Berta (F4 SEA, P6; karting, various)

The young Japanese racer continued in karts in 2023. Having won the FIA Karting European Championship in 2022, he turned to the FIA Karting World Championship and finished third for Prema. Nakamura also competed in four other karting championships and, given his karting success, is a possible candidate for a full-time step up to single-seaters for 2024. This is especially true given his recent success in the F4 South East Asia Championship, finishing sixth in the standings for Prema, despite having only taken part in the final two rounds of the championship.

Header photo credit: Diederik van der Laan / Dutch Photo Agency