Spanish F4 is perhaps in its best ever state as the series heads into its ninth season with 36 drivers on the entry list for the opening round. Feeder Series tells you all you need to know about the 2024 season.

By Juan Arroyo

The past few years have given us some enticing MP Motorsport vs Campos Racing rivalries – both in the drivers’ and teams’ championships. That doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon, and if testing is anything to go by, the battle behind the frontrunners is going to be another one worth watching. On top of the usual MP and Campos drivers up front, Rodin, Drivex, and even the Roberto Merhi-led TC Racing could throw up a surprise result at any point in the season.

There are the occasional dark horses in Spanish F4, as Théophile Naël masterfully proved last year. He dominated the latter half of 2023 to win the drivers’ title – in Saintéloc Racing’s first full year in the series, no less. For his success, he’s been rewarded with a much-deserved step up to the Formula Regional European Championship with the French team.

The calendar

Spanish F4 was set to open with a visit to an often-sizzling Navarra, but the event’s support line-up was incomplete by March, consequently leading to its cancellation by the Spanish Motorsport Federation. The series replaced it with Madrid’s Jarama circuit, which is making its first appearance on the schedule since 2020.

Algarve and Circuit Paul Ricard are new international additions. The series held pre-season tests at both circuits earlier this year. Meanwhile, Spa and Estoril have been removed from the calendar.

• Round 1: Circuito del Jarama (10–12 May)
• Round 2: Algarve International Circuit (7–9 June)
• Round 3: Circuit Paul Ricard (5–7 July)
• Round 4: MotorLand Aragón (26–28 July)
• Round 5: Circuit Ricardo Tormo (13–15 September)
• Round 6: Circuito de Jerez (4–6 October)
• Round 7: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya (8–10 November)

The format

Spanish F4 weekends are separated into two practice sessions, two qualifying sessions and three races.

On Saturday, the 40-minute practice sessions open up the running, followed by the first qualifying session of the weekend, which sets the grid for race one held later in the day.

On Sunday, the second qualifying session sets the grid for race three. The second race of the weekend is held afterwards with the grid set by drivers’ second-fastest lap in Qualifying 1. The weekend concludes with race three shortly after.

Races one and three have a length of 30 minutes plus one lap – awarding 25 points to the winner down to one point for the 10th-placed finisher. Race two has a length of 25 minutes plus one lap and awards 18 points to the winner down to one point for the ninth-placed finisher.

Two points are given out for pole position after each qualifying session. One point is awarded to the driver who sets the fastest lap in each race.

Where to watch

Every race this year will be streamed live on the series’ official YouTube channel. No streams of practice or qualifying are available. Live timing can be found at Cronococa, GetRaceResults, or Al Kamel Systems depending on the circuit.

Teams and drivers

MP Motorsport

The Dutch outfit has a strong chance of winning the teams’ championship with two drivers returning to the series. It will be between Keanu Al Azhari (#14) and Griffin Peebles (#3) to lead their charge.

Al Azhari scored a podium on debut last year and never achieved one again. He was a leading contender in F4 UAE earlier this year – where he finished third – and won immediately when he took to Formula Winter Series a few weeks later.

Peebles spent the whole of winter in FWS instead, battling it out for the title. With four wins to his name, the Australian won the championship at the final weekend in Barcelona. It will be a career-defining year, Peebles undoubtedly looking to improve upon his 25th-place finish in last year’s standings.

The rest of the line-up is made up entirely of rookies.

René Lammers (#9) – son of former Le Mans winner and F1 driver Jan – is competing in single-seaters for the first time this year. Last year, Lammers won the FIA European Karting Championship in the OK category and came second in the World Karting Championship. However, he has struggled to translate that speed into cars so far, with only three points finishes in Formula Winter Series.

Richard Mille Shootout winner Mattia Colnaghi (#71) also made his debut in Formula Winter Series but only took part in two rounds, where he, too, achieved three points finishes. Colnaghi would not be racing had he not won the shootout in October last year. He is aiming to win the rookie championship in 2024.

Not many people have been paying attention to Maciej Gładysz (#7), who might well have been FWS’ revelation. The top rookie by a distance, Gładysz secured himself third-place in the standings with three podiums. He wants to do the same in Spanish F4 this year while winning the rookie championship.

Lucas Fluxá (#27) is one of just two Spanish drivers in the series this year. Fluxá did not encounter much karting success outside his home country, but – to his credit – he found decent form on his F4 debut in FWS. He came third in the rookie championship on that occasion with a best finish of fourth.

Campos Racing

After losing out on the teams’ championship last year, Campos will be looking to reclaim their crown on home turf.

Andrés Cárdenas (#18) is seemingly their strongest contender in the drivers’ championship, and their only returning driver from 2023. Cárdenas came eighth in the standings last year, on occasion showing strong speed but otherwise struggling for consistency. After coming runner-up in FWS, this is the most confident the Peruvian has felt.

The team will have two Red Bull juniors in James Egozi (#48) and Enzo Tarnvanichkul (#8). 

Egozi – a sophomore at F4 level – finished 14th in Italian F4 in 2023. He was formally announced during the FWS season, in which he took one win in the two weekends he entered. He should be expected to contend this season, or at the very least be up there with his experience and team.

Tarnvanichkul, a world champion in karting at OK level in 2022, will embark on his first F4 season. The Thai driver is expecting big things from himself at the opening round but says he will settle for third in the drivers’ standings by year’s end. After scoring no points in Formula Winter Series, there is lots of room for progress for the 15-year-old.

Another star at karting level was Jan Przyrowski (#23). The Pole, who competed in the FIA OK world championship last year, is aiming to win the Spanish F4 championship outright in 2024. He will have fellow rookies Nathan Tye (#46) and Ernesto Rivera (#24) – the latter a successful karter in the United States – to contend with.

Saintéloc Racing

Théophile Naël took the French outfit to the top of the drivers’ standings and third in the teams’ standings – if we are to count out Campos’ double entry – in their first full year in the series. A question on many people’s minds is whether those results were down to Naël, the team or both.

Matteo Quintarelli (#93) and Maximiliano Restrepo (#69) will each have a second shot at impressing in F4 after a rather underwhelming year from both in the Italian and Spanish championships respectively. Both endured point-less seasons in 2023, but Quintarelli showed progress by getting himself into the top ten multiple times in F4 UAE earlier this year.

Yevan David (#21) is the team’s only rookie. The Sri-Lankan already accumulated some experience in F4 UAE over the winter, coming close to scoring points on a few occasions.

Rodin Motorsport

Rodin were no slouches in 2023, but they couldn’t match Saintéloc to become “best of the rest.” With three rookies onboard now, they will have to do some quick adaptation to make their names known in the upper-half of the field.

One rookie who could help achieve this is Thomas Strauven (#99). The Belgian took advantage on one of the few occasions the leading FWS contenders were not at the front and won his first race – virtually securing himself second overall in the rookie championship. He scored no points before or after that weekend, however.

Peter Bouzinelos (#22) has a wealth of experience from Australian Formula Open, F4 SEA, F4 UAE, and Formula Winter Series that he’ll be hoping to put to good use this year. He and Preston Lambert (#55) – who competed in Formula Pro USA for two rounds in October – have retained their rookie status.

Monlau Motorsport

Monlau were consistently towards the lower end of the midfield last year, in a campaign where they scored a little more than a third of the points they had scored in their debut year, 2022. The team has a shared-crew alliance with Dutch outfit Van Amersfoort Racing.

They have a reputation for fielding all-rookie line-ups and will do the same this season with Tim Gerhards (#50), Rehan Hakim (#74) and Lenny Ried (#77). Gerhards and Ried – the latter a champion in the OK karting category in Germany – took part in Formula Winter Series, though the Dutchman only appeared in two rounds. 

Hakim, however, will enter the year with virtually no single-seater experience in Europe outside of testing.

Drivex

Four years ago, Drivex was fighting for wins and championships in Spanish F4. In 2023, they had their most underwhelming campaign, scoring less than 100 points in the teams’ standings for the first time in recent history. This fallen giant will be looking to recover its form in 2024.

Leading the charge in this effort is Spain’s Juan Cota (#4), who’s returning from last season’s line-up. He finished 15th in the championship, collecting two top-ten finishes in the latter half of the season. There were signs of promise in Formula Winter Series, most notably with a race win at the opening round. If Drivex has indeed returned, Cota is one to look out for.

Reigning Danish F4 champion Mikkel Gaarde Pedersen (#33) was not far behind in FWS with a second-place finish to his name and eighth in the standings. 

Portuguese karting champion Francisco Macedo (#66) also joined them over the winter, though he did not manage to score points across the four rounds.

Matúš Ryba (#19) only turned 15 a few days ago and will finally be allowed to make his single-seater debut. The Slovakian topped the joint test between Spanish F4 and Italian F4 at Circuit Paul Ricard in March.

Rounding out Drivex’s lineup is current Eurocup-3 driver Daniel Nogales (#29), though he has joined the team for Jarama only.

Tecnicar Motorsport

This will be – at least in name – Tecnicar’s second year in the championship. They are continuing their partnership with Spanish outfit Fórmula de Campeones.

After joining Tecnicar during the latter half of last season, Lorenzo Castillo (#10) has chosen to stay another year with the team. Castillo achieved a best finish of 20th last year. He did not score points in Formula Winter Series earlier this winter.

He will be paired with Wiktor Dobrzański (#32), who is competing in single-seaters for the first time. The Polish driver made his debut in Formula Winter Series, where he finished 44th in the standings with a best finish of 25th.

Adam Al Azhari – brother of MP’s Keanu – is set to make his debut at the third round at Circuit Paul Ricard. Al Azhari is 14 years old and does not fulfil the minimum age requirement for F4 championships. He recently won the IAME Middle East Senior Karting Championship.

Gustaw Wiśniewski (#12), who tested with the GRS Team in January, will appear only at the opening round in Jarama.

Cram Motorsport

Cram’s only permanent driver in Spanish F4 last year was Flavio Olivieri, who was set for a return with the team that was ultimately cancelled before the season. Their 2024 line-up will now be composed of two rookies.

Ádám Hideg (#35) had strong years in karting, finishing runner-up to Tarnvanichkul in the 2022 karting world championship. He had his first single-seater outing in Formula Winter Series, where he scored points on one weekend. Originally set to compete with Jenzer Motorsport in Italian F4, the Hungarian announced he would be switching to Spanish F4 in late April.

Alongside him is Filippo Fiorentino (#36), who appeared with the team in the final two rounds of 2023. The Brazilian has been competing in Brazilian F4 to start the year, where he’s taken one win after his first weekend. Before competing in Europe, Fiorentino raced in Fórmula Delta for two years.

GRS Team

Global Racing Service, as the team is otherwise known, is returning for another season as a staple in this series.

Douwe Dedecker (#28) headlines the line-up, with the Belgian staying in F4 another year to gain more experience. He was 21st in British F4 with a single podium to his name last year. Ahead of the season, he grabbed a third-place finish in Formula Winter Series, where he finished 16th in the standings. 

Jaden Pariat (#5) was set to join the team for a one-off appearance in the Formula Winter Series finale but withdrew after appearing on the entry list. He finished 22nd in British F4 last season.

Kirill Kutskov has been called to fill the (#11) car before A14 Management protégé Alexander Jacoby – who isn’t old enough to compete as of the opening round – takes over from the second round onwards.

TC Racing

Real Madrid’s star goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois has ventured further into his motorsport passion by partnering with Roberto Merhi to create TC Racing. The team was born in June of last year, and Merhi says they are aiming to step on the podium in their debut season.

17-year-old Gabriel Gómez (#78) is joining the team to make his formal Spanish F4 debut. Gómez is a karting star and most recently showed his prowess by finishing second in the FIA European karting championships in the OK category. Gómez appeared as a guest driver with Cram at the season finale last year but, outside of testing, he has no other experience in single-seaters.

That’s in contrast to his teammate, Cristian Cantú (#88), who finished runner-up in the F4 NACAM championship and competed part-time in the F4 US championship last season.

Merhi said he has been coaching his two drivers both in real life and on simulators in preparation for the season ahead.

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency