Mercedes junior driver Alex Powell made the most of the Italian F4 round in Mugello by taking two wins and one podium finish in three races. Not long after that weekend, he joined the Feeder Series Podcast to discuss his journey in motorsport so far and answer some questions from listeners.

By Francesca Brusa

Every driver has their tried and tested pre-race ritual. Some go for a run to properly warm up; others jump into the car with their left or right foot first. 

Before every session, Mercedes junior Alex Powell and his R-ace GP teammate Oleksandr Savinkov do something else: listen to “El Coco No”, a Spanish-language hit song by Roberto Jr. released in 2013.

“It’s our secret song! Before the race weekend in Mugello, before every session, we would put on this song. I think it’s a Mexican song,” Powell told the Feeder Series Podcast. “The performance was amazing that weekend, and so now every weekend, every test that we go to, it’s always on.”

Powell settled for three points finishes at Mugello in 2024, but this year’s round at the Tuscan circuit was undoubtedly the highlight of his Italian F4 campaign. The American-Jamaican driver snatched two out of three pole positions that weekend, stepping on the podium in race one and claiming his first and second wins in Italian F4 in race two and three. 

“The start of the season was not what we were expecting,” he said. “To put it straightforwardly, it was a pretty poor start. Those wins in Mugello were like… I can’t even explain it! 

“It was such an incredible feeling. It was like being on cloud nine. It was just on top of the world, not only for myself but for everyone that helped me get to that point. It was such a big push, such a big effort to rebound and – I don’t want to say get the season going, but at least get some momentum on our side. That was just an incredible feeling.

“I couldn’t be happier to do it for R-ace as well,” Powell added. “There’s such a great, hardworking group of people. I really love the environment that I’m in.”

The Mercedes junior’s switch from Prema Racing to R-ace GP at the start of 2025 came as a bit of a shock for most, but Powell described it as the best move ‘for driver development … to kind of change environments and see something different, see something new’.

“It’s something that’s amazing to see from my aspect as well,” he added. “I remember where they were and where I was nine months ago when I first joined them, and seeing them now, it’s just like we’ve really come a long way.”

Despite hoping to ‘finish the season inside the top three’, Powell had to settle for ninth in the standings as the curtain fell on the Italian F4 finale at Misano last weekend. The 18-year-old racer signed off from his sophomore season in the championship with just three points-scoring results after Mugello without adding to his tally of two wins and two further podiums.

One final round in F4 racing awaits Powell as Italian F4’s sister series E4 hits the Autodromo Nazionale Monza 24–26 October for its finale. He is third in the standings with 75 points, having taken a victory and two second-place finishes last time out at Mugello.

Looking ahead to 2026, Powell said he ‘would love to move up to Formula Regional or to Eurocup-3’, and noted that for him, ‘the way to do that is to make sure that performances are strong’.

“Of course, nothing is set in stone until it really happens,” he added.

Hear more from Alex Powell in the latest Feeder Series Podcast episode featuring Jim Kimberley and Italian F4 and E4 editor Francesca Brusa, released 14 October.

Header photo credit: Alex Galli