Sixteen-year-old Alexandre Munoz was crowned French F4’s latest champion last weekend in Le Mans. Thirty-two drivers took part in the 2025 season, and while some are set to rise through the ranks of the feeder series ladder, some may stay in the same series and aim to follow in Munoz’s footsteps, while several new additions are expected too. Feeder Series was at the Bugatti Circuit to gather all the information about the upcoming silly season.

By Perceval Wolff-Taffus

Since 2016, all French F4 champions have been promoted to the regional European level of junior single-seaters, now FRegional Europe and previously Formula Renault Eurocup. The notable exception was 2020 champion Ayumu Iwasa, who directly jumped to FIA F3 in 2021.

Drivers moving beyond F4

This year, there could be some changes to the typical promotion patterns. The FRegional category is getting reshuffled with new cars introduced in FR Europe as well as Eurocup-3. The teams have still not been revealed in FR Europe, but Feeder Series understands that R-ace GP, Prema Racing, Van Amersfoort Racing, Trident, ART Grand Prix, CL Motorsport and RPM are set to stay on the grid, with the possible additions of Rodin, Campos, MP and Argenti. A maximum of 10 teams will be present on the grid in 2026.

More importantly, costs are set to increase in both categories, not only because of the new cars but also because more teams are expected to fight at the front of the field.

As was the case last year – when they tested French F4 champion Taito Kato, runner-up Yani Stevenheydens and fourth-placed Chester Kieffer – ART are once again expected to test several drivers from this year’s French F4 grid. New champion Alexandre Munoz is believed to be one of those drivers, though the 16-year-old is also weighing his options in Eurocup-3. In any case, the €100,000 scholarship would be useful for this driver who – like his European Le Mans Series–bound mentor Enzo Peugeot, formerly of FR Europe – is tight on budget.

The strong second half of Arthur Dorison’s season should also help him move up the ladder. The French F4 runner-up and protégé of Pierre Gasly is more probable in Eurocup-3 than FR Europe, but this could change very quickly. His backup plan would be a move to GT racing with the SRO GT Academy within the FFSA’s GT4 championship.

Even though he also had offers in endurance racing, Jules Roussel seemed confident about staying in single-seaters even without the champion’s scholarship.

Rayan Caretti will be leaving F4 at the end of the season, but the French-Thai-Senegalese driver, fourth overall in the standings, has confirmed to Feeder Series that he will participate in the FIA F4 World Cup at Macau in November. Afterwards, his future is still unclear. Several others are expected to head to Macau for this event, with Munoz and Roussel also believed to be joining him.

Seventeen-year-old Rafaël Pérard, one of the top rookies this season, should also be moving up to FR Europe or Eurocup-3 next season as his physique is a disadvantage in F4.

At the end of the summer, before taking his maiden F4 win at the final round, Matteo Giaccardi had tested a GP3 car with Jenzer Motorsport in Mugello. The Monégasque driver is not, however, a candidate for F3 before 2027, and Feeder Series understands he will first go through FR Middle East next winter before a main program in FR Europe. 

After an underwhelming start of the season, Honda-supported Rintaro Sato was supposed to head back to Japan for the next stage of his career. But his recent performances might have turned the tables, and the 19-year-old driver hopes to convince the Japanese constructor that he is worthy of staying in Europe. If that materialises, ART in FR Europe could be a strong option considering the links between Honda and the French team. Before that, the Japanese driver could come back to Macau in November after making his debut there last year in FR machinery.

Mercedes junior Andy Consani, the series’ first polesitter this year, didn’t finish the season after joining R-ace GP for Italian F4 and E4 in September. He will try to gather the budget for a full-time effort next year with the French squad on the other side of the Alps.

Competitors set to leave single-seaters

Despite showing great promise at the start of the season, 2024 Feed Racing winner Malo Bolliet – one of France’s great karting talents of late – finished only eighth. He will try to join the Porsche Carrera Cup France next year and should be a candidate for the Porsche Carrera Cup France junior programme in the next couple of months.

After two years in the category, 17-year-old Montego Maassen will switch to endurance racing. The German racer, son of Porsche junior programme driver coach Sascha Maassen, wants to make his own way into motorsport and will not be heading to the Porsche categories. He will take the wheel of an LMP3 car for the first time at the ELMS rookie test in October in Portimão as he eyes a full season in the category in 2026.

Sixteen-year-old Roméo Leurs has featured regularly in the points-paying positions this year after not scoring last year, but he is also not believed to be staying for a third season in F4. The FFSA GT4 championship should be his next series, while his friend Paul Roques, 21, is also set to take the endurance route.

Potential title contenders next year

Two highly regarded rookies should become title favourites next year. Having finished fifth in the standings overall, Guillaume Bouzar showed steady progress throughout the whole 2025 season and will be coming back for more, likely as the series’ best-placed returning driver.

Louis Iglesias, one of the best qualifiers of the season, took his maiden win last weekend, and staying in French F4 looks as his most likely option. Still, a move to another national F4 series or to FR Europe, perhaps with ART, is also a possibility as the French team monitor his progress.

Despite a lack of preparation and testing in 2025, Hugo Herrouin consistently fought for points, taking 26 overall from seven different races. The 2024 Feed Racing runner-up is also hoping to do a sophomore season in the same series next year.

F1 Academy hopefuls

Three French F4 drivers participated in the F1 Academy rookie test at Navarra in September. The leading female driver in the standings, Lisa Billard, will have her first taste of an F1 Academy round this weekend by competing as the wild card for Hitech in Singapore. A full-time effort is on the table for the Iron Dames starlet, who is closer to ART despite the brand’s links to Prema Racing.

As French F4 does not permit dual campaigns with other series, Billard and Jade Jacquet, another F1 Academy hopeful, would not be able to return to French F4 next year. Should they move to the all-female F4 series, both drivers would still receive support from the FFSA, with some private testing alongside their F1 Academy commitments. Fifteen-year-old Jacquet, the youngest driver on the grid after Consani’s departure, is believed to be heading to ART for F1 Academy next year.

Annabelle Brian has also tested with MP Motorsport in F1 Academy, but the Dutch squad have not yet made a decision for their line-up. If Brian is not selected, she should be doing an additional season in French F4.

The next generation

Several new faces will also join the French F4 grid. The only driver confirmed for the 2026 season is Feed Racing’s latest winner, 19-year-old Israeli simracer and software developer Yuval Rosen, who caused a stir by winning the shootout against vastly more experienced kart drivers.

Many other Feed Racing alumni are expected to join the grid, including several of the 2025 finalists. Fifteen-year-old Matthéo Dauvergne was fourth in the Volant Feed Racing this year and is expected to join the French F4 grid after a successful karting career on the national scene that brought him to gearbox karting this year. Runner-up Clément Outran seems to be more tight on budget, and he is less confident about gathering the roughly €200,000 required to join French F4.

Fourteen-year-old American driver Truly Adams finished third overall in the shootout and has already expressed his desire to stay in France. If he gathers the required funds, he could form part of a growing American contingent in the series along with French-American Feed Racing semifinalist Maverick McKenna, who made his single-seater debut last weekend in Le Mans as a guest driver and fought close to the top 10 after a clean weekend. 

McKenna’s friend Kyler Cheezum, a quarter-finalist at Feed, is also a candidate to join the French F4 grid for next year.

Multiple drivers from the FFSA’s French Junior Karting Championship should be joining the grid. This year’s runner-up Oscar Goudchaux, who turned 15 in June, will represent the French federation at the new FIA Karting Arrive and Drive World Cup at the end of the year in Malaysia. Goudchaux, the son of former F3000 driver Jacques Goudchaux, is a candidate to make his single-seater debut in 2026.

Several young racers from FFSA Junior were in the paddock over the weekend, as most of them live in Le Mans, near the FFSA Academy headquarters. Some of them, such as Arthur Eschalier and Hugues Piquion, already had their first tests in French F4 on the Bugatti Circuit, but they are believed to be spending one more year in karting. The same could be said for one of France’s greatest female talents in 14-year-old Léonie Her, who will do a sophomore season after placing 10th in the series this year with one podium at the final meeting.

Drivers from the French kart championship’s previous seasons are generally old enough to transition to single-seaters. That’s the case for 15-year-old Jules Avril, who was third in the Junior class in 2024 and the youngest French champion in the Senior category’s history this year.

Having finished fifth in the Junior class in 2024 and represented France in the FIA Karting Academy Trophy last season, Lilian Soares has already announced he had ‘turned the page on karting to start a new adventure in racing car’ [sic] after his first tests with the FFSA Academy in September. He will turn 15 in November.

One year older than Soares is Grégoire Merly-Alpa, who was already eyeing an F4 move last season. Having finished 15th in FFSA Junior in 2024, he received the support of the FFSA to go to Feed Racing this year, finishing as a quarter-finalist.

Longer-term, a new French golden generation might be in the making with multiple 2011-born drivers shining on the international scene. The likes of European karting frontrunner Luka Scelles and FIA Karting Academy Trophy runner-up Maël Le Marchand are among those drivers, though they will only turn 15 during 2026.

The FFSA-backed Le Marchand, born in November 2011, in particular is thought to be a candidate to race in the final round in 2026 with an exemption to the minimum age limit, just as Dorison and Billard received in 2023 and 2024 respectively. Next year could therefore be a transition year for Le Marchand, already the youngest FFSA Junior champion at 12 in 2024, with tests ahead of a debut at the end of the season. Another 2011-born driver in the same situation is 2025 FFSA Junior champion Matéo Rivals, the most dominant champion since Esteban Masson in 2019 in terms of points scored and points gap over his nearest rival. Also a frontrunner on the international scene with Tony Kart, Rivals is currently figuring out his programme for 2026, with French F4 at the end of the year being a real possibility.

The best French karters in the OK category are old enough to jump to single-seaters next year, but whether they do so is another question. Thomas Pradier is now believed to be staying one more year in karting, while Louis Cochet, now part of the Grid Agency that manages F1’s Gasly and Isack Hadjar, is expected to join another F4 national series, with Italy and most notably Spain his biggest options.

Jack Iliffe, also under the same management, did the final two French F4 rounds of this season, and the series remains an option but not the only one for his 2026 programme.

The partnership between FFSA and the Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club (ADAC) is set to carry on, and a maximum of three German drivers could be sent to the series next year. It must be noted, however, that ADAC first announced that it would field four drivers this year in French F4, but Maassen was the only one to end up on the grid. 

The winners of this year’s Honda Racing School in Japan have not been announced yet, but the partnership with FFSA should also continue.

French F4 will return for the traditional Coupes de Pâques (Easter Cup) at Nogaro for the opening round of its 2026 season on 5 April.

Header photo credit: Edern Frouin