How a decade of F4 has revolutionised single-seater racing

Next month, at 9.03am CEST on 8 June, it will be exactly 10 years since the opening round of the 2014 Italian Formula 4 Championship kicked off at Adria International Raceway. What few could have foreseen was that, at this dullest of circuits, the landscape of single-seater racing had changed irrevocably. This was the first race for the FIA’s new entry-level category, one that would spread around the world.

In 2024, there are 15 FIA-certified F4 championships, on nearly every one of the continents of the globe. And this year, the Formula 1 grid contains six graduates of F4. While that doesn’t sound like many, it should be remembered that the remaining 14 were already in F1 or competing at a higher level of single-seaters at the time F4 began. Besides, in all likelihood Ollie Bearman and Andrea Kimi Antonelli – respectively the 2021 and 2022 champions in both Italian and German F4 – will in 2025 join the elite, which presently includes Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri and Logan Sargeant (graduates from British F4), Lance Stroll and Zhou Guanyu (Italian), and Yuki Tsunoda (Japanese).

Of the 22 drivers in Formula 2 (including Bearman and Antonelli), only Victor Martins is not a product of FIA-certified F4, because his domestic French series did not fall under the umbrella until after he graduated. The ranks of F4 alumni among the professional series around the world continue to swell. From that starting point of the Italian series in 2014, inaugural race winner and champion Stroll was up against drivers including Ferrari F1 reserve and Hypercar racer Robert Shwartzman, TOM’S Toyota Japanese star Ukyo Sasahara, and GT aces Mattia Drudi and Matteo Cairoli.

Below the intermediate Formula Renault 2.0 level, single-seaters were in a mess before FIA F4 started. Italy had Formula Abarth, in Germany it was Formel Masters (powered by Volkswagen engines), the UK housed Formula Ford and MSV’s new spaceframe F4 series, Northern Europe was FRenault 1.6, and France had its own take on F4 that had grown out of the Formula Campus series that originated in the early 1990s. The late Barry Bland, as the first president of the FIA Single Seater Commission, had begun work on FIA president Jean Todt’s desire for a new F4 to clean up that mess. Gerhard Berger took over the reins from Bland in 2011, and it’s his tenacity in pushing F4 that stands as the greatest monument to his presidency before he stood down at the end of 2014.

Crucial to this was the Italian federation introducing F4 for 2014 with the support of Ferrari, whose protege Stroll would handily be 15 years old and therefore eligible to race in the carbon-fibre monocoque cars stipulated by Berger (the minimum age for spaceframe cars was, and remains, 16). Importantly, Formula Abarth chassis builder Tatuus and engine provider Autotecnica had hardware as a basis. And crucially, top-level karting promoter WSK was brought in to provide a direct link with the drivers targeted by the new series. At the time, Stroll’s Prema Powerteam chief Rene Rosin, whose squad had suffered through the simultaneous boom-and-sudden-bust cycles of Italian F3 and FAbarth, joked to Autosport: “Let’s hope the Italian people can keep it at that level. Formula Abarth had 40 drivers in its first year and then they automatically destroyed it!” But with WSK’s hand on the tiller it has remained strong, with fields well above 30 and Prema still at the pinnacle.

“It was fundamental to have WSK part of the game,” states Autotecnica boss Giovanni Delfino, who is now CEO of the merged conglomerate that since 2017 has also encompassed Tatuus and parts builder Breda Racing. “Luca de Donno, the founder of WSK, he was the guy who knew all the drivers coming from karting with their expectations, with their capabilities, with their problems from being young. He was helping us how to manage, design and build those cars, but most important was to manage the drivers and championship to be a milestone and a focal point for all those people coming from karting and going to greater formulas.”

The first Tatuus F4 car that debuted in 2014

Photo by: ACI Sport

Despite the popularity of Tatuus, whose founder Gianfranco de Bellis remains hugely liked and respected in the single-seater world, the company did not automatically win the tender to build the cars. “We were dreaming to build those cars – we were participating to a tender which was set up by the Italian federation,” adds Delfino. “Tatuus were producing Formula Abarth cars, and Formula Abarth was equipped with the same engines [turbocharged, 1.4-litre] apart from a few details – the base was exactly the same. At those times the relationship between Tatuus, Autotecnica and Abarth was strong enough and successful enough to think of creating this new series with an engine where the characteristics were perfect for that kind of application. This helped a lot. We designed the car and the engine in a real fast time – something like 10 months.”

Long-time Tatuus test driver Raffaele Giammaria, whose simultaneous role as head of the Italian federation’s young driver school made him perfect for the task, shook down the first car at Vairano on 14 April 2014. It was less than two months before the first race weekend, yet 22 lined up on the grid at Adria. Other federations were taking notice, and in 2015 F4 began to explode. The UK (initially under the MSA Formula title), Australia and the Mexican-based NACAM series all chose the Mygale chassis with Ford EcoBoost engines – effectively a next-generation development of the outgoing FFord. China also went for Mygale, but with Geely power. And Japan chose an all-home-grown Dome/Toyota combo. Meanwhile, Tatuus and Abarth were chosen to supply the centrally run Northern European Zone series and, hugely importantly for the development of F4, the ADAC’s German series.

“The most important deal for us, apart from the Italian, was the German one,” attests Delfino. “There are so many manufacturers in Germany and the ADAC federation is so important in the motorsport panorama. They started really strong in 2015.” Incredibly, there were 38 entries for the opening round at Oschersleben – three drivers failed to qualify… These included some entries from the Italian series, and over the next eight seasons the cream of the continental F4 drivers and teams contested dual programmes in both championships. Britain’s bid to retain what credibility it still had as a single-seater hotbed was increasingly pressured. It had started well with Norris (who also did some German and Italian rounds) winning the 2015 contest alongside Carlin team-mate Colton Herta; in 2017, it produced Piastri and Sargeant, albeit both were trounced by Jamie Caroline. But as the 2020s dawned, grids had slumped into the low-to-mid teens.

"I didn’t realise that this is the world we live in today – the drivers and the parents and the managers make their decisions based on micro details" Karun Chandhok

British-based Indian ex-F1 racer Karun Chandhok, who was already serving on the FIA Drivers Commission, was tasked by governing body Motorsport UK with a revival of British F4. As a Drivers Commission representative, he also sits on the FIA Single Seater Commission, of which MSUK’s John Ryan is also a veteran since the Berger days. The FIA was pushing for a halo-equipped second generation F4 car, and this arrived – at least for the major European series – for 2022. Chandhok was instrumental in the switch from Mygale and Ford to Tatuus and Abarth, and now grids are comfortably into the twenties.

Would that be the case if Britain had stayed loyal to Mygale and Ford? “I think it would have been dead,” responds Chandhok. “I got a phone call from John Ryan, and he asked if I’d mind using my eyes for my perspective and what we could do to revive it. I spoke to teams in the junior formula paddocks, and the consensus was if we carry on with the Mygale chassis and the [Ford] engine we just can’t sell it as a proposition to drivers. Hugh Chambers [MSUK CEO] and I brought all of the British single-seater teams – not just in F4 but in GB3 – into the building and we sat round the table and just asked the questions and listened, which I don’t think anyone had. Trevor [Carlin] and ‘Dickie’ Dutton [Fortec] and JHR and everybody all really appreciated it. In the end, the last two years has proved us to be right.

Norris was the British star in the inaugural British F4 campaign

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

“What I didn’t appreciate was that we also had to go to the Pirelli tyre. Commercially there was a better option for us on a different tyre, but the teams were all adamant. I didn’t realise that this is the world we live in today – the drivers and the parents and the managers make their decisions based on micro details. The tyre thing was the last piece of the puzzle – it took a long time to sort out. The second thing that was really important was, I said to Hugh, ‘I don’t really understand the intricacies of it, but why aren’t you the promoter? It makes no sense to me.’ Hugh invited me to a dinner and I made it clear to the board that they had a decision to make – either Britain will no longer be a solid place for the first step from karting onto the single-seater ladder and the kids will all have to go and race abroad, or you commit to being a promoter of the championship and then we have a leg to stand on in terms of that progression. The board respected my view and realised I was plugged into that world, and I think it’s worked out!”

Delfino describes the Italian invasion of British F4 as “much more than important. The British market is a milestone for Tatuus and Autotecnica, because we had been hoping to be there for years. UK is the history of motorsport.” The other huge growth markets for his group have come in Spanish F4 and via the UAE series, initially set up by a local group of which future FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem was a prime mover, and later taken over by Shanghai-based promoter Top Speed, run by Davide de Gobbi. Under de Gobbi’s watch, UAE F4 has grown to almost 40 cars – predominantly featuring drivers getting in winter racing while preparing for their European campaigns. And de Gobbi has revived the South-East Asian (for 2023) and Australian (2024) F4 championships, using the same equipment. Brazilian F4, new for 2022, also went the same route; ditto the Central European Zone series, new for 2023 and growing hugely this year.

It all means that, added to the 298 first-generation Tatuus F4 chassis produced, the company has already racked up 330 versions of the 2022 car, which, explains Delfino, had to conform to “a power-to-weight ratio given by the FIA. We have a little bit more power compared to the F4 first generation, but the car is heavier. So in reality the pure performance, the lap times, is more or less the same.” Those 330 include cars built for the new-for-2023 F1 Academy: “It’s the same chassis with different wings. The front and the rear wing are outside the F4 regulations parameters, but we were asked to design that car from Liberty Media. It’s another great story for Tatuus, and has given us the chance to deal with F1 teams – we are in direct contact with some of them, which is another experience for Tatuus people!”

Additionally, further production runs based on the F4 chassis are used in GB3 (after his public disagreements with Berger, Palmer pulled a masterstroke by repositioning his ‘F4’ series at ‘British F3’ level, allowing British F4 to drop its temporary MSA Formula name) plus three levels of the IndyCar support ladder in USF Pro 2000, USF2000 and USF Juniors – ironically, these are in competition with the United States’ own FIA F4 series, which uses Ligier chassis and Honda power.

Trevor Carlin, whose squad added further F4 titles with Max Fewtrell, Zane Maloney and Louis Sharp before he departed at the end of 2023, believes that the switch to Tatuus was vital for the British championship. “It was crucial to align with the rest of the major F4 championships in the world,” he says. “The Mygale-EcoBoost package was not the most attractive-looking car, not the easiest to maintain and keep running. The drivers loved driving it, but it wasn’t as cool and sexy as the Tatuus. The latest car is very reliable, and obviously designed by someone who’s done F1. It’s a great success story.”

But F4 has had its speedbumps. The German series was struggling by its final years and the ADAC pulled the plug at the end of 2022. Talk to teams involved, and they reckon the ADAC was too cumbersome an organisation. WSK in Italy wanted to collaborate for the good of F4 generally, but was fighting a losing battle. For 2023, WSK therefore added a bolt-on Euro 4 mini-series to its Italian contest.

Mick Schumacher was another driver to star in F4 on his way to F1

Photo by: ADAC Motorsport

“In the beginning it was a brilliant idea,” says Van Amersfoort Racing chief Frits van Amersfoort, whose team has won titles across Italy and Germany with Joey Mawson, Dennis Hauger, Jonny Edgar and Bearman. “But somehow the German series fell victim to the strength of the Italian. The exploding cost didn’t help. Now all these fancy, lovely circuits we don’t use anymore, because the racing scene in Germany has changed from formula cars to GTs. Also, the teams got bigger and bigger and it was hard for smaller teams to survive. There were many teams in the first three or four years, and after it was down to us, Prema and US Racing. They couldn’t cope with the cost.

“There’s nothing wrong with the cars, it’s just insanely expensive. Testing is still free, and we’re talking at least half a million euros for a season.” Then add in the top drivers competing over the winter in the UAE [or the Spanish-based Formula Winter Series, which surged in popularity in 2024]. “My God, you have so many opportunities to get rid of your money!” exclaims van Amersfoort. “And that makes it difficult to get started…”

"The next time it comes up, we should just do a global tender for it. As long as you think a supplier is capable of supplying everybody reliably without delays, you might as well do a global tender and make it more cost-effective" Karun Chandhok

Chandhok concurs. “The costs of going testing now are incredibly high, but it’s impossible to police,” he points out. “I’m fairly conflicted. On the one hand, young drivers should be driving a lot; on the flipside, you’re just favouring the rich. I think there’s a happy balance. The biggest thing is cost. Today drivers in the Italian championship are spending a million – it’s lunacy. That’s where the British championship [and Spanish, it should be pointed out] is good.”

It’s the age-old motorsport problem. Chandhok goes as far as to suggest that the one big mistake when F4 was launched was allowing each series to choose its own FIA-homologated chassis and engine suppliers. “The next time it comes up, we should just do a global tender for it,” he declares. “As long as you think a supplier is capable of supplying everybody reliably without delays, you might as well do a global tender and make it more cost-effective – if you can guarantee global sales you can drive the price down.”

That would mean more work for the hard-pressed folk at Tatuus… “For technical systems, technical support from Tatuus and Autotecnica with all the championships, we are talking about 16 or 17 people,” counts Delfino. “For the management of the cars and engines in and out of the factory, in the group which includes Breda Racing, it’s 150 people. I would say all those 150 have been involved in the F4 project! It’s the base of our daily life I would say. There is always someone in the factory rebuilding cars, building engines, testing engines.”

Delfino stands alongside the 300th Tatuus T-421 car produced

Photo by: Tatuus

And some of those initial cars are still racing on. Van Amersfoort reckons that you get three years’ use out of a chassis before replacing them, but Bearman’s 2020-21 ex-VAR car is racing on in GB4 (Palmer’s new-for-2022 series for first-generation Tatuus machines) with Fox Motorsport, Kevin Mills Racing has a tub from the initial 2014 Italian series, and Hillspeed has run 2016/17 ex-Prema cars, part of a relationship between these squads that dates back to 2001.

It needs to continue to evolve, but F4 has been a success. “When the MSA [now MSUK] decided to do a proper F4, it was a no-brainer that we should do it,” enthuses Carlin. “All of a sudden we had a fleet of cars for testing and racing. That fed your ladder – it was the natural thing for us to do, and it was proven to be the right call. It’s been good for the industry, it’s given a lot of people a chance to find their way. It has to be one of the best things that Jean Todt did in his tenure.”

What will the next 10 years bring for F4?

Photo by: ACI Sport