Simon Zhang has dominated all three rounds of the Chinese F4 season so far and took a clean sweep of victories in the most recent round at Zhuhai to lead the championship with 258 points. Feeder Series spoke with the 17-year-old to talk about his season and how racing in Europe has aided his campaign in China. 

By Kaylene Lau 

Before the first round of the 2025 Chinese F4 season, it had been almost nine months since Simon Zhang had raced in any single-seater series. 

On his return to racing in April earlier this year, Zhang took victories in races one, three and four at Ningbo. Though he finished first on track in the second race too, a 10-second penalty for causing a collision with Ethan Ho dropped him to 11th. He left Ningbo with a 22-point lead over second-placed Kimi Chan.

Though Zhang said that he ‘struggled’ in the second round of the season in Shanghai because of a suspension issue, he still took two wins and stood on the podium for all four races.  

“My competitors were much faster than me on lap times because I couldn’t really catch up,” Zhang told Feeder Series. 

“We were struggling with the car for the whole weekend because in the last race, we found out that there was a suspension problem in the car.”

Zhang proved to be in a league of his own in the third round at Zhuhai, taking a clean sweep of victories in all four races. 

“I didn’t expect to win all four,” Zhang said. “I guess that I was pretty lucky with the first two rounds since in the first race, there was rain. So we knew that [I] had much more experience than the others.”

He finished the first race with a 6.961-second lead over second-placed Ethan Ho. Though he struggled in the second race, a little bit of luck helped him take another victory.

“The second race was a big problem for us since it was dry and our lap times weren’t that fast compared to others,” he said. “But then, first [Dai Yuhao] and second [Chan], they collided, and I got lucky and made it into first.” 

Zhang’s dominance has placed his team Geeke atop the teams’ championship standings despite his being the team’s only full-time driver. Masters class driver Fei Jun raced alongside Zhang in the first two rounds, and Shi Wei, who was also the F1 Academy wild card for Shanghai, returned for the second round. Jun scored six points, while Wei did not score in her sole Chinese F4 round. 

“They’re very welcoming because in 2023 when I came back from Europe, I was already testing with them in Ningbo, so I know them pretty well,” Zhang said about his team. 

“Since I’m the only driver, they put everything in me, the support and everything.” 

Zhang currently has an 86-point lead over Dai with only two rounds left to go. He said his greater single-seater experience, especially from racing in Europe for two years, contributed to his dominance.

“Lap times, they might be some places faster than me, but race experience, I feel like I have more race experience compared to them,” he said. 

“I’ve been in the car probably more times than them also. So I probably know how the car works a little bit better than the other drivers. I know a bit more about where the limits are and when to stop at the limits.” 

After spending five years in European karting, Zhang first raced an F4 car with Jenzer Motorsport in 2023 in F4 CEZ. He finished 12th in the series that year and returned to F4 CEZ with Jenzer for the first round of the 2024 season. He switched to BVM Motorsport for the second round, his last in the 2024 season.

Despite only racing in two rounds, Zhang still finished 13th overall with 41 points, highlighted by a third-place finish in the first round at Balaton Park. 

“F4 CEZ is more of a smaller race than in China, so it isn’t really that competitive. It’s only 10 or less cars. I did that race mostly to get experience, since the first race I did was in F4 CEZ,” Zhang said. “I’d have to just get some experience, and then we just wanted to finish the whole season after that.” 

He also raced with Jenzer in Italian F4 but left the series after four rounds, one at the end of 2023 and three in 2024. His best finish in the series was 14th in race two of the 2024 season opener at Misano.

Though he never finished a full season in Europe, Zhang is still the only driver on the grid this season to have competed on the continent’s single-seater scene. He said that Chinese F4’s ‘intensity’ paled in comparison to Italian F4.

“It’s like 40 more cars. But in China, it’s more of 30 to 20. And the competitors are also more experienced compared to China, since we don’t really have a lot of young and upcoming people. It’s mostly adults,” Zhang said. 

“In Europe or Italy, it’s more young people and they have more experience than me in Italy too. So it’s a lot tougher in Italy compared to China.” 

Though Zhang’s plans for next year aren’t solidified, he said ‘the goal is to return to Europe’. As he looks towards 2026, he said racing in Chinese F4 had helped him adjust to the pressure of starting at the front. 

“In Europe, I mostly start from the middle pack, but in China, I started from the front row a lot of times. So there’s a lot more pressure compared to starting in the front row than [in] the middle pack. Now I know what to do and what can help me if I start in the front pack,” he said. “So that’s a big help, preparing for next year.” 

Header photo courtesy of Simon Zhang