Back in March, Juan Cota made a last-minute decision to embark on a third Spanish F4 season with MP Motorsport after previously being set to compete in Eurocup-3 with Drivex. Feeder Series caught up with the Spanish driver to learn more about the decision and hear how things have panned out so far for him this year.

By Seb Tirado

Cota finished fourth in his sophomore Spanish F4 campaign with Drivex last year, taking four wins and four further podiums, including a clean sweep of victories at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia in September. The 18-year-old also dominated the FIA Motorsport Games’ F4 Cup at the same circuit a month later in October to take the gold medal for his native Spain. 

In December, Cota was announced to be moving up to Drivex’s Eurocup-3 squad for 2025, and he competed in the first two rounds of the Spanish Winter Championship in February with the team. He took a podium in the opening round at Jerez and finished 10th in the standings.

Cota signed his contract with MP Motorsport a few days before Spanish F4’s opening round at Aragón, which was on the same weekend as the final round of Eurocup-3‘s winter series. His last-minute decision to change championships was not taken lightly.

“It was a decision [made] by looking into the future,” he explained. “It was not an easy one, because with Drivex I had a really good relationship. But at the end, if I want to look for my future, Drivex only have Eurocup [and] MP have Formula 4, Eurocup-3, F3 and F2. So it’s always good to be in a team that has the ladder that carries on into good categories.”

Cota is currently fifth in the standings with 111 points after taking three podiums last time out at Jerez, a welcome result for him after a difficult start to his season.

“Honestly, it has not been the season that we expected,” he said. “It’s [my] third year of an F4 championship. I didn’t have pressure, but I have some expectations.

“The beginning was a little bit hard. Getting used to a new team and we had several technical problems with the car as well. It was a bit difficult for me as well because I made a huge mistake in one race in Portimão, crashing my teammate Rene Lammers.”

That incident occurred in the first race of the series’ third round, when Cota and Lammers were battling for third into Turn 1. Cota locked wheels with his teammate’s right-rear corner and the pair careered off into the gravel, both sustaining terminal damage. 

Even with the early setbacks, the 18-year-old said that he still took positive learnings from the first few rounds of the season. 

“I always say that from every situation you learn something, so I have learnt several things,” he said. “It’s not what I expected but I am still learning new things.”

Spanish F4 returns to Valencia this weekend, to the circuit where Cota excelled last year. But even with his successful track record, Cota will treat Valencia just as he does as any other weekend. 

“Honestly, I don’t feel pressure,” he said. “People always tell me, ‘Oh now it’s time for Valencia, it’s your track, you need to win!’ [But] honestly, I just need to arrive there and [do] what I need to do and what I know to do. 

“I love the people from Valencia and I love the track. It’s a really uncommon track in terms of driving style because it’s a track that you need to be super, super smooth with the brakes. And one of the good points of my driving style is to be smooth with the brakes, so I think it’s a track that adapts really good to my driving style.” 

Alongside his F4 campaign, Cota has also competed in Eurocup-3 with satellite team KCL by MP at Spielberg and Monza, taking over the #87 car from Kai Daryanani when the Indian driver had clashing commitments in GB3.

The first race at Monza was the site of Cota’s sole points finish. His ninth-place finish from 19th on the grid did not come easily in a race he said was like ‘war’.

“The funniest thing I remember in that race [was] at the last corner. I remember a four-wide, then I decided to go full inside to make it a five-wide,” Cota said. “I watch in my mirrors and [see] a lot of smoke, carbon fibre flying into the sky.”

Despite initially being announced to compete in three Eurocup-3 rounds, Cota will only run two. He has shifted his full focus onto Spanish F4 and will hand over the KCL by MP car back to Daryanani for Barcelona.

“The last part of the season is a really critical moment,” he said. “Drivers feel the pressure that you need to do good. I need to finish in a good position, so I just have to keep relaxed, keep focused and just maximise my work.”

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency