One month from now, the Indian F4 championship’s third season will get underway with a new winner from the Formula Global Shootout Program (FGSP) and a shift in car operation. Earlier this year, Feeder Series spoke to Akhilesh Reddy, the promoter of Indian F4 and chairman of series organiser Racing Promotions Private Limited (RPPL), about the championship’s plans for 2025.

By Grayson Wallace

Indian F4 held its inaugural season in late 2023 and its second season from August to November 2024, with a record 27 drivers competing last year. South Africa’s Aqil Alibhai took the championship title, followed by local drivers Ruhaan Alva and Jaden Pariat.

Since its launch, Indian F4 has already made history. It held two races at the Chennai Formula Racing Circuit, boosting drivers’ skills in street circuits to help prepare them for the future.

“We were able to execute India’s first night street race,” Reddy told Feeder Series, “which is a feat that has been achieved only by a handful of countries around the world.” The championship was also the only FIA F4 championship that offered a night street race in 2024.

The street races were particularly helpful for current F1 Academy drivers Alba Larsen and Aiva Anagnostiadis, who are racing in four of the series’ 2025 races on the calendar.

“When I did Indian F4 last year, I did two races,” Larsen told Feeder Series in Montréal earlier this year. “One was on a street circuit, which I think has given me quite a lot of experience. Now also that we’re racing at a lot of street circuits [in F1 Academy], that was useful to learn from.”

Six female drivers have competed in Indian F4 since its debut, among them Larsen and Anagnostiadis, a 2024 FGSP participant. Nicole Havrda and Chloe Chong both raced in the Indian Racing League, an RPPL-run series that uses open-cockpit sports prototypes.

“Aiva was identified through FGSP and we are pleased to see her and Alba progressing to F1 Academy,” Reddy said. “In fact, a total of 4 drivers [including Havrda and Chong] in the F1 Academy this year have been through Indian F4 and its sister championship, the Indian Racing League, in the past years. … We are also actively reaching out to karting drivers in Europe, Asia and the Middle East to see if they’re interested.”

F4 series often serve as stepping stones for drivers progressing to series at the FRegional level and eventually to F3 and F2. Grid sizes range from 10 to 30 cars, allowing for eventful races and helping younger or more inexperienced drivers learn more about their capability in single-seaters. Compared to larger championships such as Italian and Spanish F4 – which regularly have grid sizes over 30 – Indian F4 is on the smaller side with just 16.

“[We want to offer] an academy format focusing on driver progression and equal opportunity,” Reddy said when asked about the strengths of the championship. 

For this year, RPPL is putting together an in-house technical team to operate the championship’s machinery. In the previous two seasons, MP Motorsport – who now field Larsen in F1 Academy – ran all the cars. 

In the past two years of the championship, drivers have graduated to championships such as F1 Academy, GB3, GB4, French F4 and FR Europe. The series has also embraced those with non-traditional racing backgrounds—including aspiring drivers with no real-life experience at all.

Indian F4 runs the FGSP, which took place this year in France from 23 to 25 June. The program, first held last year, aims to bring international participants into the championship with the prize of a fully funded Indian F4 seat for the 2025 season.

This year’s program had 12 drivers competing from 10 different countries, including Polish-British driver Kristine Kolodziejski, who trains with the Winfield Racing School and tested GB4 machinery earlier this year. The winner of the program was French racer Sachel Rotgé. The 19-year-old competed in the ROK Cup Italia from 2021 to 2023 in various classes and also placed seventh at the Feed Racing shootout in August 2024, just missing out on qualifying for the final. He has yet to race single-seaters.

With the series’ third season beginning this August, Indian F4’s organisers are focusing on driver preparation.

“The first two years were building blocks for us to establish the championship in what is already a very competitive space,” Reddy said. “We recently announced the full championship participation from €70K, which we believe is the most cost-effective FIA certified F4 championship, on par with or cheaper than most karting championships.”

Compared to other F4 championships, Indian F4 holds fewer rounds than most, which consequently produces a lower cost. French F4 is reported to cost €145,000 for a full season, and Italian F4 budgets are understood to have exceeded €500,000 in recent years.

“Our aim is to provide a level playing field for young aspiring drivers wanting to graduate from karting to single-seater or enter their first full single-seater championship,” Reddy explained. “We have €50K prize money for the overall winner to help them with their next steps.”

Indian F4 has also expanded its test offerings, increasing its number of test days to 10. Championship organisers noticed that competitors, especially those with little to no prior car racing experience, needed extra time on test days to improve and adapt to single-seaters.

Additional reporting by Calla Kra-Caskey

Header photo credit: Karthik Selvaraj