Since French Formula 4 became an FIA-certified F4 series back in 2018, no driver has managed to score four race wins in the first four non-reverse-grid races – until Alexandre Munoz did so earlier this year. Feeder Series caught up with the runaway championship leader at the end of the most recent round at Dijon-Prenois.

By Perceval Wolff-Taffus

Alexandre Munoz has made the best start to a season in the recent history of French F4. With four wins, two fourth places in reverse-grid races, three pole positions and four fastest laps, the 16-year-old has 123 points under his belt and a 47-point gap over his nearest rival, Jules Roussel.

Munoz’s advantage has been even more surprising considering how tight and competitive the field was in pre-season testing. 

“No one could have expected it,” Munoz told Feeder Series. “At the start of the year, the field was so tight. We saw it in pre-season testing.… We were a group of nearly 14 drivers at Nogaro who were within the same five-tenths of a second. You have to be on the limit all the time, to be present at the right moments. And for the moment, everything’s going fine, so that’s why I’m in front. But I couldn’t have expected such a start to the season and a gap that large in the standings after two rounds.”

Last year, Munoz was the youngest driver of the field, and he even had to miss the opening round because of age restrictions. Once he started his campaign, he made steady progress and ultimately finished 17th overall, highlighted by his maiden race win in the reverse-grid race at the season finale at Le Castellet.

Now, it seems the Occitan driver has found the key to continue his impressive improvement.

“After Le Castellet, I just did two test days at the Bugatti Circuit in Le Mans in November, and nothing after this until the pre-season tests in Nogaro,” he said. “It’s a lot about the work off track and having this real determination to come back. This year, there is so much pleasure when I’m driving. It makes the difference when we want and love to drive. I had a lot of physical training, mental training too at Pôle France [at the FFSA headquarters]. I was really well coached this winter, and we see that the work pays off.”

Among the people Munoz can count on is FRegional Europe driver and 2023 French F4 runner-up Enzo Peugeot, one of the architects of Munoz’s recent success.

“Enzo is a bit like my mum,” he says with a laugh. “I have Malo [Olivier], my engineer, and also Enzo, and Enzo really brings me that ‘driver’ side as he also fought for the title two years ago, so he has experience that Malo doesn’t have. He looks after me about nutrition, sleep, all these things, and it all allows me to be at 100 per cent in the meetings and outside of them as well.”

Munoz’s latest weekend in Dijon-Prenois was the most impressive. He scored two victories from pole position and fastest laps in all three races despite major tyre differences between drivers throughout the races.

“It was not a perfect weekend because in the second race, there was maybe a chance to take third so I could have gotten a podium, but it was a very successful weekend. I did my best to score as many points as possible. At Nogaro, I missed some of the fastest laps. I didn’t have in mind that the fastest lap yields an additional point, so I really focused on that this weekend. And the pace was really good, so I was able to deliver in all the races.”

Munoz will be hoping to carry on his momentum this weekend at Spa-Francorchamps, a circuit nearly twice as long as Dijon-Prenois and with a vastly different character.

“Spa is such a long circuit,” he explained. “You really have to be at 100% everywhere, all the time. You have to make zero mistakes and nail the perfect lap. For the moment, I managed to do this at the start of the season. At Spa, it’s difficult to do the perfect lap. You also need the tow – it can make a difference up to one second, so we will work on that.”

The scale of Munoz’s dominance has been surprising, but so has the pecking order behind him. While Roussel was an early favourite, the leader among the rookies has been not Mercedes junior Andy Consani or European karting frontrunner Louis Iglesias but Rafaël Pérard.

“When I arrived in Nogaro, I knew I would be performing well, in the top 10 from looking at winter testing,” Pérard told Feeder Series. “But honestly, I was expecting to be a little further away, so it is a nice surprise.”

Pérard completed many overtakes in order to secure two fourth-place finishes at the last meeting. Those results, along with second and fifth in the first two races of the opening round, have been enough to place him third overall in the standings on 48 points.

Pérard’s immediate target is his maiden win in single-seaters, but in order to catch Munoz, he knows he will have to learn from the past two weekends.

“It’s a matter of doing the races, gaining experience, learning from all the little mistakes, the grains of sand that have so far prevented me from taking that win. But I know I will learn from these errors and that it’s only a matter of time before I’m on top,” he said.

“The championship is long. The goal is to score points consistently, not to make mistakes, to see the chequered flag at every race, and to do the best I can.”

Header photo credit: Edern Frouin