Despite a brilliant sophomore season in French Formula 4 in 2024 that saw him take eight of 14 pole positions, 18-year-old Belgian Yani Stevenheydens lost the title he originally won after a stewards’ decision issued hours after the final race. This title defeat resulted in the loss of his main financial backer, but he is still aiming to step up to Eurocup-3 this year, as he reveals.

By Perceval Wolff-Taffus

When the chequered flag waved at the final race of the season at Paul Ricard, Stevenheydens was crowned French F4 champion, succeeding the likes of drivers such as Evan Giltaire, Alessandro Giusti and Ayumu Iwasa. 

But hours later, the French motorsport federation (FFSA)’s stewards stripped his title away from him after they overturned an earlier decision given to title rival Taito Kato in race one. 

That race, held 5 October, was not broadcast, so there is no footage of the incident between Stevenheydens and Kato as they battled for the race lead.

“I was starting first, he second,” Stevenheydens tells me on a Twitch call. “It’s my point of view, so maybe there are others like the FFSA stewards with a different point of view. But for me, I got a poor start, so at the moment of braking at T1, he is slightly in front. I brake later, and just at the apex, it’s really edgy. When you take the apex, it’s either me in front or him, but at the cone – there is a cone there – I’m slightly ahead as I see it.

“He then loses a little the rear of his car, and he goes off, he cuts across the track and he rejoins almost one second ahead of me. So for me, it was normal that he received a three-second penalty.”

Via this decision, labelled stewards’ decision 1, Kato dropped back to second and Stevenheydens was awarded the win, but this penalty was overturned hours after the incident by stewards’ decision 4. After the final race, it was against the latter decision that Stevenheydens appealed.

“We won our appeal against the decision that annulled the penalty, but they also rejudged another penalty [decision 1] and removed that one,” he says. “We didn’t know it was possible to change this, but apparently it was. It won’t change any more. That case is finished.”

Stevenheydens eventually finished six points shy of Kato but left a strong impression on the series in all seven rounds. 

“If you look at qualifying, I took eight of the 14 pole positions,” Stevenheydens says. “It was incredible. The speed was there right from the opening round. I knew I would be quick, but not like that, to be honest. It was really my raw speed that put me above the others, but from time to time I had some little mistakes, some bad luck, and some strange things too.”

At the opening round at Nogaro, the Belgian delivered his most impressive performance of the season. “Right from qualifying, I just managed the tyres much better than the others, and in the races, I just had to manage my pace,” Stevenheydens says. “Even so, I made a little mistake in race three of moving a tiny bit before the start. It was not a real jump start, but I anticipated the start, so I got a five-second penalty and a bit of bad luck as well with the safety car, which collected everyone just behind me at the end of the race.

“But the pace there was incredible. When you see qualifying, I had a four-tenth advantage over everyone else. I hadn’t expected that when I stepped into the car.”

That result, Stevenheydens says on reflection, gave him great confidence heading into the second round at Lédenon. He finished third, second and fourth in the races there, but behind the scenes, things were tougher.

“At the end of the test day at Lédenon, I had the best time by four tenths. But afterwards, in free practice before qualifying, I had a problem with the car and the front right broke on its own. After that, the car didn’t work the way I wanted for the rest of the weekend. We don’t know why, so the whole weekend at Lédenon was difficult,” he says. “But when I got back in my car at Spa-Francorchamps, everything was perfect on track.”

Despite taking two poles at Spa, he didn’t take a race win, but he then rebounded to finish first or second in every remaining main race until the season finale.

By finishing runner-up in the standings, Stevenheydens showed impressive progress compared with the previous season, when he finished in seventh position overall.

“Last year [2023] was difficult because before the season, we weren’t as prepared as we needed to be. I had just done two testing days with the car before the round at Nogaro,” he says.

“Between the races, I do nothing with the car. I only do simulator and physical training because of my budget, which has always been limited,” he adds. “From the race at Paul Ricard in October 2023 until February 2024 and the first collective tests with the FFSA at Nogaro, I didn’t drive at all.”

Still, Stevenheydens believes it was better to start his single-seater career in 2023 even if he was underprepared.

“It would have been almost impossible to gain this experience just from tests,” he says. “Even starts in a real race are different from during a test. It was important to do a first year, really, to prepare well for the second one and win.”

The Royal Automobile Club of Belgium (RACB) had been Stevenheydens’ main backer since he moved in single-seaters. They also fully supported him during the appeal for the penalty at Paul Ricard. But when it came to the goal the federation set for him pre-season – ”the title or nothing” – Stevenheydens fell short. He says he has now paid the price. 

“They will stop supporting me as they’ve done in the previous years,” he tells me. “They are always there to help me, as they’ve told me, and if I ever need contacts or things like that, they are always behind me. But on the financial aspect, it will be different from now on.”

Stevenheydens was still busy during the end of the year, with a few testing days in FRegional Europe with ART GP and RPM and in Eurocup-3 with Palou Motorsport, but the Belgian driver says “nothing is sure” as he tries to plan his future.

“There are some opportunities opening up anyways. I’m working every day to drive in single-seaters, sending messages to people, sponsors, just to try to drive,” he says. “Nothing is sure at the moment, but the tests I did all went really well so far, it’s just the budget that’s always a factor.”

One thing Stevenheydens rules out for 2025 is a move to FR Europe, the flagship FR series. “I don’t think I’ll be going there.. Budgets are even higher than Eurocup-3 and it’s not possible with what I have in my hands today,” he says. “Top teams in Eurocup like MP and Campos are still more expensive than the small teams in FRECA, but when you take a good team in FRECA and a good team in Eurocup-3, Eurocup-3 is cheaper.

When asked whether GB3 could be a possibility, Stevenheydens quickly ruled the idea out. “I tried to get information about GB3, but seeing as there’s a new car for 2025, it’s becoming very, very expensive,” he says.

“Eurocup-3 is a good series, especially when you see the drivers who’ve tested as well as those who are already announced. If we manage to strike a deal and if I’m going to race there for 2025, I think it will be a really great championship.”

Eurocup-3, however, might not only be Stevenheydens’ sole option. There have also been ongoing talks with GT teams as well as “with very good teams” in other F4 series outside of France

“I hope there will be an announcement at the end of January or beginning of February. I think it’s possible with what is happening in the background because things are pretty positive,” Stevenheydens says.

“I will very likely be racing in 2025; the question is just whether it will be in single-seaters and in what category. If it’s really not possible, the plan B is to do GT racing. There, the budgets are lower and it would definitely be possible to drive,” he adds.

“I still have good links with the RACB, which could help me since the contacts they have in the world of motorsport are amazing. I think I can get good opportunities in GT racing, but my dream is to go to F1. That’s why I first and foremost want to do single-seaters.”

The last F1 driver to race under the Belgian flag was Stoffel Vandoorne, whose final grand prix was in 2018. Stevenheydens hopes to be the next, but he is also keeping an eye on kart racing compatriots Thibaut Ramaekers, 15, and Dries van Langendonck, 14, on the ladder below him.

“They have had awesome performances in karting this year and they’re both very fast. When you see that Dries is in the McLaren academy already, I’m confident there will soon be an opportunity to see a Belgian driver in F1,” he says.

“Our relations are good. I saw them quite often in training sessions with the RACB. At the start of 2024, Dries was a bit new, so I took him with me, I explained things to him. We really integrated him well in the RACB National Team. As with Thibaut also, I give advice when I can with the experience I already have in single-seaters.”

“But the challenge in Belgium,” he adds, “is with sponsors. It’s hard to sell motorsport to potential sponsors. The RACB is really doing a great job and everyone is pushing to have a Belgian in F1 again… but it’s hard to sell that to big companies.”

Header photo credit: RACB National Team