Photo: Spanish Winter Championship

Campos Racing’s Noah Monteiro extended his Spanish Formula 4 Winter Championship lead on Sunday at Jarama with pole and a victory.

Qualifying took place in the morning, and MP Motorsport’s Rocco Coronel was first to top the timesheet. G4 Racing’s Philippe Armand Karras brought the laptime to beat down to a more representative pace, before Coronel reclaimed first place with a 1m32.138s. However he would not improve on that, and in the last four minutes dropped down to 12th.

Ty Fisher was first to beat him, by 0.019 seconds, then Campos team-mate Vivek Kanthan went quickest by 0.047s. Monteiro was just behind and outpaced him by 0.057s, then both improved on their next laps.

Kanthan crossed the line in 1m31.844s, and a second later Monteiro posted a 1m31.646s. Andrej Petrovic was third fastest, 0.382s off pole and 0.009s ahead of Tecnicar Motorsport team-mate Nacho Tunon. MP’s Kasper Schormans was 0.401s behind in fifth, denying Campos’s Daniel Kelleher by 0.006s and Drivex School’s Nathan Tye by 0.01s. Fisher ended up eighth, 0.455s back, and MP’s Reno Francot was ninth fastest. Under 0.9s covered the top 24.

Four of the drivers in the top 24 were eliminated on lap one of the weekend’s third race, in a five-car incident that led to a lengthy red flag period. Before racing was stopped, Tunon had fallen to 17th and Francot had passed Fisher to be seventh.

The safety car led the field for two laps before the field was free to race again on lap four of 18, and there was action straight away. Tye got alongside Kelleher through the first two turns, and although he looked to have taken fifth they were later side-by-side once more and contact sent Kelleher spinning.

Monteiro had a quiet race thereon, setting the fastest lap but otherwise controlling his pace until the safety car returned on lap 11 due to two drivers outside of the top 10 colliding. Only two laps remained once green flags returned, and Monteiro locked up twice but held on to win by a second.

Tye passed Schormans on lap 10, but was far behind Petrovic until the second safety car period. When racing resumed, Kanthan defended from Petrovic who in turn was defending against Tye.

Coronel took sixth on lap nine, after Fisher had lunged past Francot at turn two but left room on the inside for Coronel to overtake both. Francot got past Fisher again and almost Coronel too before racing was interrupted, then on the final lap an incident led to Fisher crashing out and Coronel finishing 21st with a damaged car.

Campos’s Jacob Micallef profited from the chaos to steal sixth, ahead of Francot and Tecnicar’s Aleix Pinera.

Race results (18 laps)

The post Monteiro grows Spanish F4 WC lead with another Jarama victory appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Spanish Winter Championship

Noah Monteiro and Boris Lyzen won the first two Spanish Formula 4 Winter Championship races at Jarama.

There was several moments of major drama that interrupted race one, which Campos Racing’s Monteiro was triumphant in. He started on pole ahead of team-mate Vivek Kanthan, MP Motorsport’s Rocco Coronel, Campos’s Ty Fisher and Drivex School’s Nathan Tye.

Kanthan looked to Monteiro’s outside at turn two on the opening lap, but lost out to Coronel a few corners later and was sent off slightly. Tye overtook Fisher, and MP’s Kasper Schormans passed Tecnicar Motorsport’s Andrej Petrovic for ninth before the safety car was called.

MP’s Louis Cochet, TC Racing’s Maria Germano Neto and Monlau Motorsport’s Miki Blascos had all got beached in the gravel at turn two, and the clean-up operation meant racing did not resume until lap 10. During the interruption, the safety car appeared to shed its own debris which Coronel drove over.

On the restart, Tye ploughed into Kanthan’s rear under braking for turn two and sent him spinning. He caught Coronel’s rear-right wheel, and both went off into the gravel but were able to rejoin at the back of the field. Monteiro was left with a sizeable lead over Fisher, and continued pulling away until the race was ended by red flags just as lap 15 began.

Tye overtook Fisher on lap 11, but a 10s penalty meant Fisher reclaimed second and Tye finished 15th. That also cost Tye the points lead to Monteiro.

TC Racing’s Beau Lowette was third, and fourth place was disputed by Tecnicar’s Nacho Tunon and Schormans until a huge crash that ended the race. Tunon was classified fourth when the results were taken from the last completed lap, while a five-second penalty demoted Schormans to 12th. Campos’s Daniel Kelleher profited to finish fifth, and MP’s Reno Francot was sixth after Petrovic was another to get a five-second penalty and dropped to 17th.

The top 12 from qualifying were reversed to form the front of race two’s grid, putting MP’s Lyzen on pole ahead of Petrovic and Schormans.

Lyzen led the 14-lap race lights-to-flag, but results were taken from lap 12 and then lap 11.

Tunon started fourth and had a half-spin on lap one that dropped him to 14th. Coronel also fell down the field as he did get off the grid until lap two. That meant the field had to be guided by the safety car through the pits at the end of lap one, and racing resumed on lap three with Lyzen streaking away.

Schormans attacked Petrovic hard, but on lap four Francot starting pressuring him. On lap 10 he started locking up, and a huge one a lap later allowed Francot to get past. He continued locking up, and after the chequered flag waved on lap 12, he lost five further places as drivers continued racing through to the end of lap 14.

The final results put him back into fourth, between Francot and Tye. Kanthan was sixth, while Kelleher and Monteiro got from row six up to seventh and eighth.

Results round-up
Race 1 (13 laps)
1 Noah Monteiro Campos Racing 24m58.257s
2 Ty Fisher Campos Racing +3.004s
3 Beau Lowette TC Racing +5.211s
4 Nacho Tunon Tecnicar Motorsport +5.523s
5 Daniel Kelleher Campos Racing +6.669s
6 Reno Francot MP Motorsport +8.155s
7 Fausto Arnaudo Monlau Motorsport +8.511s
8 Borys Lyzen MP Motorsport +8.828s
9 Jensen Burnett Drivex School +9.237s
10 Simon Bulbarella Drivex School +9.696s
Fastest lap: Monteiro, 1m32.603s

Race 2 (11 laps)
1 Lyzen 18m20.225s
2 Andrej Petrovic Tecnicar Motorsport +5.454s
3 Francot +7.461s
4 Kasper Schormans MP Motorsport +7.840s
5 Nathan Tye Drivex School +7.899s
6 Vivek Kanthan Campos Racing +8.382s
7 Kelleher +9.138s
8 Monteiro +9.538s
9 Tunon +11.402s
10 Fisher +11.977s
FL: Lyzen, 1m32.439s

Championship standings
1 Monteiro 64   2 Tye 62   3 Tunon 40   4 Francot 38   5 Petrovic 37   6 Kanthan 35   7 Kelleher 26   8 Rocco Coronel 23   9 Schormans 22   10 Fisher 19

The post Monteiro and Lyzen win first two Spanish F4 WC races at Jarama appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Spanish Winter Championship

Campos Racing’s Noah Monteiro claimed pole position in the first qualifying session of the second Spanish Formula 4 Winter Championship round at Jarama.

Friday began with pre-event testing, which was topped by Rocco Coronel. He set a 1m32.125s to lead MP Motorsport team-mate Reno Francot by 0.166 seconds, Campos’s Daniel Kelleher by 0.187s and MP’s Borys Lyzen by 0.195s. A second covered the top 24 in the 32-car field.

Two free practice sessions followed later in the day, and Kelleher was quickest in both. His 1m32.231s in FP1 put him 0.078s ahead of Coronel, his closest rival in FP2, and 0.085s clear of Francot.

Nathan Tye (Drivex School), Vivek Kanthan (Campos), Monteiro and Lyzen were next up, with Lyzen improving in FP2 to be 0.205s off.  A quarter of a second split the top nine, and 23 drivers were within a second of the pace once again.

Qualifying one was on Saturday morning, and Lysen was first to the top in the 20-minute session. It was not until six-and-a-half minutes in that he was pushed off top spot, with Coronel setting a 1m32.487s to lead team-mate Kasper Schormans by 0.313s and Lyzen by 0.466s.

Fracnot lapped 0.035s shy of Coronel as Lyzen pitted, the only driver to do so. MP’s Felipe Reijs got into third place after eight minutes, 0.008s ahead of Schormans, at which point only 14 drivers had laid down representative laptimes.

That number soon increased to 20, and G4 Racing’s Jean Paul Karras went seventh fastest with a laptime 0.535s off Coronel’s benchmark and 0.015s quicker than brother Philippe Armand’s best.

Coronel headed to the pits at the end of the session’s first half, and was promptly demoted to second by Tye who set a 1m32.254s. His team-mate Jensen Burnett jumped up to fourth, before TC Racing’s Maria Germano Neto went third fastest with a 1m32.501s.

Tye lowered the pace to 1m31.999s, as team-mate Simon Bulbarella matched Germano. Everyone was now on track, and had recorded flying laps.

Kanthan trimmed Tye’s advantage to 0.286s with eight minutes to go, then Tecnicar Motorsport’s Nacho Tunon reduced it further to 0.248s. Kanthan found himself in fifth, as Kelleher and Bulbarella outpaced him. At the same time, Tecnicar’s Andrej Petrovic jumped 10 spots to sixth, while Campos’s Ty Fisher languished in 26th.

Monteiro hit the top with less than six-and-a-half minutes remaining of qualifying, posting a 1m31.839s, and half a minute later TC Racing’s Beau Lowette surprised by going third fastest after previously being in 23rd place. Fisher also improved to sit fifth, 0.411s off the provisional poleman.

Tunon took third place with five minutes to go, but failed to break the 1m32s barrier, and Petrovic set a personal best to be fourth. A few seconds later they were each demoted two places as Monteiro set a new 1m31.644s benchmark. Kanthan got within 0.234s of it, and Kelleher pipped Tunon by 0.011s to fourth.

Fisher lapped 0.027s shy of Kanthan three minutes from the end, and Coronel climbed from 17th to sixth before another improvement on his next lap put him third and just 0.001s ahead of Fisher.

Francot also re-entered the top 10 in the last two minutes, and just before the chequered flag Kelleher got into second with a laptime 0.197s off Monteiro’s best but has a five-place grid penalty to serve. The poleman was in the pits along with Germano, and no other drivers improved.

Qualifying results

The post Noah Monteiro on Spanish F4 Winter Championship pole at Jarama appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Spanish Winter Championship

Drivex School’s Nathan Tye leads the Spanish Formula 4 Winter Championship, also known as E4, after round one at Algarve.

The top 12 from qualifying one were reversed to form the front of race two’s grid on Saturday, putting Luna Fluxa (Campos Racing) on pole ahead of Simon Bulbarella (Drivex) and Daniel Kelleher (Campos). Race one winner Tye started 11th, and Andrej Petrovic (Tecnicar Motorsport) lined up fifth.

An amazing launch lifted Rocco Coronel from eighth to third by the opening corner, and MP Motorsport team-mate Reno Francot took a few corners to rise from 10th to sixth. Petrovic tried taking the lead from Fluxa around the turn five hairpin but was sent off and then attacked through turn 10 as well before the safety car neutralised the action. Pablo Riccobono (Global Racing Service) had been wheeled off the pit straight, and Aleix Pinera (Tecnicar) had stopped further around the lap.

Kelleher sat third after starting slowly but then passing Coronel, and there was crash drama on lap two that put Felipe Reijs (MP) and Beau Lowetter (TC Racing) out.

Racing resumed on lap six, and Petrovic got alongside Fluxa twice before making an overtake stick. He then maintained a gap that did not allow her to fight back, and won by 0.865 seconds. Coronel went down Kelleher’s inside into turn one on lap seven, and Francot then attacked Kelleher hard through lap nine until he found a way past.

Kasper Schormans (MP) and Tye finished sixth and seventh, and Noah Monteiro (Campos) charged from 31st to 10th.

Sunday morning began with qualifying two, and Tye edged Monteiro to pole by 0.041s. Vivek Kanthan (Campos) was 0.183s off in third, and 0.071s split Francot, Petrovic and Nacho Tunon (Tecnicar) in the next places. Ty Fisher (Campos), Coronel, Schormans and Kelleher were also within 0.5s of pole, and one second covered the top 19.

Tye was not pressured at first in race three, as Kanthan resisted Francot’s attacks for third place. Monteiro was filling Tye’s mirrors from lap four onwards, then the safety car appeared on lap eight as Schormans had stopped on track. On the lap 11 restart, Tye left it as late as possible to return to racing speeds but did not spend long at pace as Philippe Armand Karras (G4 Racing), Kelleher and Fisher collided at turn five and Jacob Micallef (Campos) retired after spinning.

Two laps remained when racing resumed, and Tye held off Monteiro for a points lead-extending second win.

Francot had attacked Kanthan again at turn five on lap five but gone off, twice on the lap 15 restart, then on the final lap squeezed down Kanthan’s inside at turn five and forced him deep. That left room on the inside for Coronel to slip past for third, and contact with Francot heading to turn six then dropped Kanthan behind Petrovic and Tunon.

Results round-up
Race 2 (11 laps)
1 Andrej Petrovic Tecnicar Motorsport 23m13.549s
2 Luna Fluxa Campos Racing +0.865s
3 Rocco Coronel MP Motorsport +1.771s
4 Reno Francot MP Motorsport +3.590s
5 Daniel Kelleher Campos Racing +4.235s
6 Kasper Schormans MP Motorsport +6.286s
7 Nathan Tye Drivex School +6.970s
8 Nacho Tunon Tecnicar Motorsport +7.613s
9 Vivek Kanthan Campos Racing +7.884s
10 Noah Monteiro Campos Racing +9.172s
Fastest lap: Francot, 1m45.957s

Race 3 (16 laps)
1 Tye 33m25.892s
2 Monteiro +0.361s
3 Coronel +1.860s
4 Francot +2.263s
5 Petrovic +2.650s
6 Tunon +3.127s
7 Kanthan +3.775s
8 Fluxa +4.534s
9 Jean Paul Karras G4 Racing +5.218s
10 Simon Bulbarella Drivex School +7.434s
Pole: Tye, 1m44.796s
FL: Kanthan, 1m45.142s

Championship standings
1 Tye 56   2 Monteiro 31   3 Kanthan 30   4 Petrovic 28   5 Tunon 26   6 Coronel 23   7 Francot 22   8 Schormans 15   9 Fluxa 13   10 Kelleher 12

The post Petrovic takes a win as Tye leaves Portugal with Spanish F4 WC lead appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Spanish Winter Championship

The Spanish Formula 4 Winter Championship, also known as E4, began this weekend at Portugal’s Algarve circuit.

Pre-event testing kicked off track action on Friday, and Vivek Kanthan (Campos Racing) was fastest. He led Reno Francot (MP Motorsport) by 0.34 seconds, with Noah Monteiro (Campos) 0.474s behind in third.

After a break, the 32-car field headed back out for free practice and Monteiro set a 1m45.048s to pip Francot by 0.003s and Kanthan by 0.033s in FP1. Nathan Tye (Drivex School) trailed by 0.102s in fourth, and only three other drivers were within half a second of the pace but the top 23 were covered by a second.

Red flag periods caused by Aleix Pinera (Tecnicar Motorsport) and Kasper Schormans (MP) disrupted FP2, as a 1m45.747s put Monteiro on top by 0.193s over Kanthan.

It went wrong for Monteiro the next morning, as he caused a stoppage in qualifying one that meant he lined up 31st for the day’s races.

Kanthan clinched race one pole on his final lap, outpacing Tye by 0.013s and Francot by 0.124s. Schormans, Rocco Coronel (MP), Ty Fisher (Campos) and Jensen Burnett (Drivex) occupied the next places, and a second covered the top 18.

Those all drivers headed to the inside after launching off the line in race one, and Coronel made the best start to be third into the first turn. Tye got alongside Kanthan at turn three, and they pulled away as Schormans had a wide moment and Coronel broke his front wing.

Andrej Petrovic (Tecnicar) inherited third from eighth on the grid, Fisher took fourth from Coronel as lap two began and Coronel then bounced over turn one’s run-off kerbs and lost more places.

He parked up on lap four, as Philippe Armand Karras (G4 Racing), Dante Cima (Global Racing Service) and Simon Bulbarella (Drivex) had a big crash. The safety car was summoned, with Monteiro already into 11th.

Racing resumed on lap nine, and Tye took the lead into turn three. Kanthan tried getting back past on the outside of turn one next time by. That was the closest he got to reclaiming first place, and Tye won the 17-lap race by 0.571s.

Petrovic was busy holding off Nacho Tunon (Tecnicar) and Fisher through lap 10, but a lock-up on lap 11 meant Tunon got through while Fisher was demoted to sixth by a double dive from Burnett.

Monteiro cleared Daniel Kelleher (Campos) and Fisher early in lap 12, and when Schormans (who ended lap one in 22nd) overtook Kelleher a lap later he also joined the fight for fourth as Tunon escaped ahead.

Schormans and Fisher eached gained back a spot on lap 14, and Monteiro dived down Petrovic’s inside on lap 15 to lead the pack. He had the pace to pull away as Petrovic continued defending but still lost fifth to Schormans.

Race results (17 laps)

The post Spanish F4 Winter Championship starts at Algarve with win for Tye appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: F4 Spain

The grid is growing for Spanish Formula 4’s main and winter championships, the latter of which starts next month.

G4 Racing has announced the Karras brothers, Jean Paul and Philippe Armand, will be in its line-up for both seasons after running the pair in 2025.

They started their single-seater careers in F4 Central European Zone two years ago, with two fourth places putting Philippe Armand 16th in the standings. He then represented Greece in the Motorsport Games’ F4 event, qualifying seventh, finishing 12th in the qualification race then retiring from the main race.

Sainteloc Racing signed the brothers for the 2025 Spanish F4 Winter Championship, in which both failed to score. They continued with Sainteloc for round one of the main championship, then did the last three rounds with G4. Jean Paul was the lead brother in the standings after both finished a race in the top 10 at the last round.

TC Racing, the F4 team founded by Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois that is now active in karting too with its TC Junior Team, will run Beau Lowette in the two Spanish F4 championships.

The 16-year-old Belgian is a single-seater rookie who has raced in European karting over the last three years. He was Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals runner-up in the Rotax Junior class in 2023, and has been in senior classes since.

In Rotax Senior he was 2024 RMC Winter Cup runner-up and 13th in Belgium’s BNL Series, and on OK karts was 13th in WSK’s Euro Series, 27th in its Final Cup and 31st in the CIK-FIA European Championship.

Completing an F4 paddock switch for 2026 is Pablo Riccobono Bello, who came 16th in the centrally-run French F4 last year and will do a double Spanish F4 programme with Global Racing Service. He joined the team ahead of the main championship’s 2025 season finale.

Racing in Spanish F4, but yet to be confirmed for the winter championship grid, are Jorge Bruno and Max Radeck at Drivex School. The team now has six drivers, with at least three to be entered under the ‘DX Racing Team’ banner.

Bruno is already a race-winner in single-seaters, having spent 2025 in Formula 2 Argentina (a relaunched entry-level series for halo-shod cars previously known as Argentinian Formula Renault 2.0 and then Formula Nacional Argentina). As a part-timer he took a victory and two other podiums en route to 10th in the standings.

Radeck is from Portugal and has primarily competed in his home country’s karting scene.

Monlau Motorsport also has two drivers signed for Spanish F4 later in the year: Rahim Alibhai and Miki Blascos.

American racer Alibhai came 22nd in a part-time USF Juniors campaign last year, finishing eighth on his debut, and the 15-year-old is a member of Fernando Alonso’s A14 Management scheme.

Blascos did three Spanish F4 rounds in 2025 with Monlau and was 24th in the standings.

The post Grid grows for 2026 Spanish F4 Winter Championship appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Campos Racing

A breakout year featuring 12 victories and two Spanish F4 titles has set expectations high for a leap up to third-tier single-seaters for 2026 that was planned long in advance as the Belgian revealed to Ida Wood

There is a wave of exciting Belgian talents currently winning in karting’s biggest events and making an impact in entry-level single-seaters, and leading that group is 17-year-old Thomas Strauven. This year he became the second driver in Spanish Formula 4 history to win the title with four races to spare, and he fell just short of the 400-point marker which Richard Verschoor and Nikola Tsolov reached in their title-winning seasons.

But with a 157-point winning margin, he officially became the most dominant champion in terms of his gap to what was a strong opposition.

This season was Strauven’s third in the Spanish F4 paddock, but that’s not a fact that should diminish his 2025 excellence. He did one round with MP Motorsport in 2023, and last year joined Rodin Motorsport for a double programme.

The first championship he contested was the Spain-based Formula Winter Series, and only scored in one of the four rounds but that included a victory that helped put him 12th in the standings. In Spanish F4 he started off very strongly at Jarama, finishing third with the fastest lap in the season-opening race, winning the next one from pole and finishing 10th in the third to depart round one second in the standings.

In round two at Algarve he took two third places, taking the fastest lap in both of those races, to sit third in the points. But there were only three top-five finishes in the next 12 races as the season literally heated up and Strauven dropped to seventh in the standings after missing the final round.

In conversation with Formula Scout this year as he romped to the title, Strauven said he “wasn’t really stressing about” his worsening form over the course of 2024.

Photo: Spanish F4

“Because in the beginning of the year, it was really cold every time, and I thought the car was really good in the cold conditions. Maybe because [Rodin] are British, I don’t know,” he said half-jokingly.

“The car was really strong when it was really windy. When the track was really hard to drive; the car was reacting really good. But while we were getting through the season, like the hottest race [of each weekend] would always be the worst race.

“I didn’t know really if it was me or the car, because I didn’t really have team-mates to compare with. So in the beginning of this year, we could only see how the car was in the [Spanish F4] winter series, and I think it’s really good [again]. But now in hot temperatures [in 2025], we can also see that it’s handling really well and we’re getting the same results as in the winter.”

In 2024, Strauven scored 122 points while the drivers of Rodin’s other two cars scored 25 between them.

“At Rodin it was really hard for me because: one, I was like 0.5 seconds off [the pace]. And I don’t know where to look for the 0.5s. And it was also hard for me when I’m the first [-placed] of the team and I’m one second faster than my team-mates. It looked like I drove well, but maybe if there was [to be] someone else and he’s faster than [me then] I drove bad. So it was pretty hard. I like it more with [strong] team-mates and more team-mates, so you have more data.”

By joining Campos Racing for 2025, who he “felt really confident with” after testing with them, Strauven became part of a six-car line-up and used that to improve himself and maximise results.

Strauven was certain that without such strong opposition, and team-mates, this year his own performances would’ve been worse. He particularly credited team-mate Jan Przyrowski, who was runner-up to Strauven in the Spanish F4 Winter Championship and third in the main championship.

“We were pushing each other, you know. If I’m faster, he wants to push more. And then he’s faster and I want to push more. I think we’re both getting stronger with each other [as benchmarks] because we are two strong team-mates.”

Photo: Spanish F4

Przyrowski won four races to Strauven’s two in the three-round winter championship, but the latter only finished one race outside of the top four and claimed more of the extra points for taking pole.

There was also a super start to the main championship for Przyrowski, who won three of the first four races. But he didn’t win again after that, while Strauven starred at every track and was on the podium in all but four of the season’s 21 races.

It felt similar to Tsolov’s 2022 domination, which was unsurprising given Strauven had Jose ‘Josete’ Perez as his race engineer. Perez engineered Tsolov in F4, and in the FIA Formula 3 Championship this year.

“I think he’s a really good engineer,” said Strauven. “I have a really good connection with him. We make some jokes as well. I really like him as a guy. And I learn a lot [from him].”

Strauven was not anticipating the level of form that meant he won at all but one track, and he tried to not think about his title prospects during the season.

“I always stayed in myself. Not like ‘ooo, I’m going to win this easily’. So I was always trying to keep my foot on the floor. And obviously tried to do my best.

“I didn’t really expect this domination. I definitely thought we had a chance to win the championship. But with three other really good drivers that were fighting a lot with me — Jan, Rene Lammers and Ean Eyckmans — it wasn’t expected. That’s quite cool to be 100 points ahead [of them].”

Eyckmans, another Belgian, and Lammers drove for MP and came second and fourth in the standings. There was a season-long trend though of when one was a rival to Strauven, the other was far from the podium.

Photo: Spanish F4

Eyckmans put Strauven under a lot of pressure in round three at Algarve, but that forced the championship leader to improve and as a result he delivered his only weekend where he won every race.

“I think my racecraft wasn’t really that good at the end of last year and in the beginning of this year,” Strauven reflected.

“Like I would always be good driving from P10 to the front, and starting from P1 [I wasn’t]. Now, all of a sudden at Portimao, I made it click and [every time] there’s someone behind I stay cool and try to get my head down and try to go and look ahead.”

The slipstream effect at Algarve made it hard for Strauven to pull away, so he had to “change the mindset”.

“When you’re starting a bit more in the back, [I knew] just take it easy, overtake some guys. I was quite good in overtaking, but my defending was just worse. So I think I made a good improvement in my defending through the year.”

Strauven converted his first pole of 2025 into victory, but failed to do so with the next six. With his Algarve breakthrough, only one of the next six poles didn’t lead to a win and over the year there were six victories where he had to pass rivals to win.

After winning the main Spanish F4 title in the penultimate round of the year, Strauven entered the Barcelona finale with the 400-point target in mind but wanting to “not take too many risks” to achieve it. He dominated race one, then had to take risks in the next two races as he qualified 10th.

Prior to that weekend, there were only two qualifying sessions where Strauven had been outside of the top two, and those outliers had been a fourth and a fifth place. On the final day of the season, some bold moves meant Strauven recovered to fifth and fourth in the final two races but ended eight points shy of his goal.

Managing his career is Benjamin Bailly, who came seventh in FIA Formula 2 back in 2010, and he secured Strauven his Campos seat not just for 2025 but also for 2026. A dominant year in Spanish F4 was far from their original racing plan.

Photo: Spanish F4

“I wanted to do Eurocup-3 or something [at the Formula Regional level] this year, but I think whatever you do, you need to be with a winning team [for career momentum] to get up to Formula 1 or F2. You always need to be in a winning team to win championships.

“We couldn’t find the budget to do Eurocup-3 with a good team, then Campos offered us a year of F4 and Eurocup-3 next year. So I’m really happy with them. And also in [Spanish F4’s] winter series, I got to learn how they work. I like the way they work a lot. They [have been] doing a really good job to make the car on point and get me also ready [to perform well].”

The Eurocup-3 part of the deal was announced a few days ago, and it will be a big jump as the championship introduces a faster car that moves it up from FRegional to F3 level. But the Campos-Strauven combination looks well placed to shine.

CV

Age 17
D/O/B April 5, 2008
Country Belgium

Car racing
2025: Spanish F4 champion (10 wins, 10 poles, 11 fastest laps), Spanish F4 Winter champion (2 W, 3 P, 4 FL)
2024: 7th in Spanish F4 (1 W, 1 P, 3 FL), 12th in FWinter Series (1 W)
2023: 32nd in Spanish F4

Karting
2023 (all OK): 2nd in WSK Super Master Series, 17th in Champions of the Future, 30th in CIK-FIA European Championship
2022: 2nd in LeCont Trophy – OK, 10th in WSK Open Cup – OK, 39th in WSK Final Cup – OK, 10th in CotF – OK Junior, 11th in CIK-FIA European Championship – OK-J, 13th in Italian Championship – Junior, 35th in CIK-FIA World Championship – OK-J
2021: 2nd in IAME Int. Games – X30 Jr, 6th in Rotax Max Euro Trophy – Rotax Jr, 11th in IAME Euro Series – X30 Jr, 19th in BNL Karting Series – Rotax Jr, 28th in WSK Final Cup – OK-J
2020: 34th in Rotax Max Euro Trophy – Rotax Jr, BNL Karting Series champion – X30 Mini, 2nd in Rotax Max Int. Trophy – Rotax Mini, 6th in IAME Euro Series – X30 Mini, 7th in IAME Winter Cup – X30 Mini, 30th in IAME I-Games – X30 Mini
2019: Rotax Max Int. Trophy winner – Rotax Micro, 2nd in BNL Karting Series – Rotax Micro

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Photo: Spanish F4

Noah Monteiro will remain with Campos Racing for a sophomore season in Spanish Formula 4 next year.

The 16-year-old, son of Portuguese ex-Formula 1 racer and touring car icon Tiago, is the team’s sixth signing for 2026 in a line-up consisting of rookies and returnees.

As a rookie he came ninth in the Spanish F4 Winter Championship with one podium, then was eighth in the main championship in a campaign which began with pole position. He was second in the rookie classification in the standings.

“I’m proud to announce that I will be continuing in F4 Spain with Campos for the 2026 season. Grateful for the trust and support from the entire team and my partners,” said Monteiro.

“We’ve built something strong together and I’m excited to keep pushing, improving, and chasing even better results in 2026.”

Monteiro stepped up to single-seaters at the start of 2025 after coming eighth in the CIK-FIA European championship, 18th in the World championship and 14th in the Champions of the Future series for OK karts last year.

“It is a pleasure to be able to count once again on a driver like Noah for the 2026 F4 Spanish season,” said Campos’s team principal Adrian Campos Jr.

“In his first year in single-seaters, he has clearly shown how quickly he can adapt to a category that is as demanding and competitive as this one, going head-to-head with drivers who have far greater experience. Noah undoubtedly has real talent, particularly highlighted by his race consistency and remarkable maturity for a driver who has just turned 16.”

Another Spanish F4 driver with a famous racing relation is Louis Cochet, who joins MP Motorsport’s line-up for 2026.

The 15-year-old Frenchman is the nephew of former Super Formula racer and Le Mans 24 Hours podium-finisher Jonathan Cochet, and steps up from karting.

He finished 17th in the South Garda Winter Cup in the OK Junior class, then on OK karts came 13th in the WSK Final Cup, 14th in Champions of the Future, 17th in the CIK-FIA European championship and 20th in the World championship.

“I’m extremely proud to be able to make my single-seater debut with MP,” said Cochet. “The Spanish F4 championship is one of the leading F4 series in the world, and MP have been a dominant force in the category since it started back in 2016.

“Their experience in the series will certainly help to increase my learning curve, allowing me to be competitive right from the start. I look forward to a winter of further honing our cooperation, in order to hit the ground running once the racing truly gets underway.”

MP’s team principal Sander Dorsman added: “Louis has more than proven his speed and racecraft in karts, and is ready to make the all-important switch to single-seaters. We are fully prepared to give him all the support that he needs to turn 2026 into a successful first year on the road to F1.”

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Photo: Spanish F4

Campos Racing and Drivex School have been adding drivers to their 2026 Spanish Formula 4 line-ups.

Drivex has signed 17-year-old British racer Nathan Tye, Argentinian 16-year-old Simon Bulbarella, Canadian 15-year-old Jensen Burnett and Sebastian Frigolet.

Tye raced in Spanish F4 this year with Rodin Motorsport, winning once and claiming one other podium en route to seventh in the main championship and coming fourth in the winter championship with two podiums.

In 2024 he was a Campos driver, with a half-season in the Formula Winter Series resulting in 17th in the standings and two podiums putting him 11th in Spanish F4.

Bulbarella will be stepping up from senior karting. He was competitive on the South American scene before racing in Europe this year, where he was 15th in the FIA Karting Academy Trophy and 25th in the Trofeo Andrea Margutti on OK-N karts.

Burnett has had an excellent rookie year on OK karts in 2025, coming sixth and ninth in the CIK-FIA European and World championships, seventh in WSK’s Super Master Series and 12th in Champions of the Future.

Frigolet, from Mexico, was ninth in WSK’s Final Cup on X30 Junior karts in 2023. Last year in the OK-N Junior class he was 12th in WSK’s Open Series, 13th in its Champions Cup and 19th in WSK SMS.

Campos now has five drivers, with Luna Fluxa, Vivek Kanthan and Jacob Micallef now being joined by Ty Fisher and Daniel Kelleher.

Fisher, soon to turn 15, hails from Canada and raced single-seaters in the USA this year. His first open-wheel racing experience came in the YACademy Winter Series, where he was third in the standings with two wins and one other podium. He then came fourth in IndyCar support series USF Juniors with three victories, two other podiums and three poles.

In 2024 he won the IAME Grand Nationals and was runner-up in SuperKarts USA’s SuperNationals on KA100 Junior karts.

“Joining Campos for next season feels like the perfect step forward in my career,” Fisher said of his F4 switch.

“When I tested with them earlier this year, the level of professionalism and trust they showed gave me tremendous confidence — I felt at home straight away. I’m coming to Europe in 2026 to compete in Spanish F4 with everything I have, and with Campos behind me, I’m confident we can achieve great things together.”

Kelleher is already 15, but the Irishman will be a single-seater newcomer. Last year he finished sixth in the IAME Winter Cup on X30 Junior karts, came 14th in the European championship on OK Junior karts, and was 15th in the CofF Academy Program on OK-NJ karts.

In 2025 he raced exclusively on OK karts, and was fourth in CotF, seventh in the European championship and 13th in the World championship.

“It is a privilege to take this significant step in my career and become part of Campos Racing for the Spanish F4 championship,” said Kelleher.

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Photo: Red Bull

Spanish Formula 4 has revealed a draft calendar for 2026, while Eurocup-3 has updated its schedule for next year.

As has been the case since 2019, Spanish F4 will have a seven-round campaign. Valencia’s Ricardo Tormo circuit moves from an October date in 2025 to opening the 2026 season on April 10-12, the earliest it has ever featured in a campaign.

Round two is at Algarve in Portugal on June 5-7, and provisionally is the championship’s sole trip abroad. Spanish F4 usually holds two rounds annually outside of Spain, although Algarve (2016 and ’18) and Paul Ricard (2020) in France have been the sole non-Spanish track in previous seasons.

There is a one-week break after Algarve before round three at Motorland Aragon, then round four will be on August 8/9 but has no venue yet.

Later in the year are rounds at Jerez (September 25-27), Navarra (October 9-11) and Barcelona (November 6-8). Aragon, Jerez and Barcelona have been raced on in every Spanish F4 season.

Paul Ricard is the only circuit from 2025 not on 2026’s calendar, but will likely be in contention against former venues Jarama and Spa-Francorchamps to fill the vacant slot.

Spanish F4 could support Eurocup-3 on August 8/9, as its updated 2026 calendar features that date without a track. Eurocup-3 was launched in 2023 by Spanish F4’s promoter.

This July, Eurocup-3 announced major technical changes for 2026 that would move it up the single-seater ladder and an eight-round calendar featuring five Formula 1 track that was published while subject to FIA approval.

• Feature: The changes Eurocup-3 is making for 2026

Belgian track Spa-Francorchamps was to host the 2026 season opener on an unconfirmed weekend in April, then Eurocup-3 was going to visit Paul Ricard (May 1-3), Austria’s Red Bull Ring (May 16-18), Algarve (June 5-7) and Imola in Italy (July 3-5).

A notable inclusion was round six, which was to take place on Madrid’s new ‘Madring’ which will be home of F1’s Spanish Grand Prix from 2026 onwards. While without a confirmed date, Eurocup-3 was due to visit several weeks ahead of F1 in August and potentially be part of the first ever motorsport event on the temporary circuit.

Round seven was also noticable for being at Silverstone (September 11-13). European series rarely visit the track due to it often requiring shipping cars and equipment to Britain. Barcelona was penned in to close the season on November 6-8.

The Paul Ricard, Imola and Silverstone rounds all supported European Le Mans Series races, and remain on the updated 2026 calendar along with Algarve and Barcelona.

Spa-Francorchamps, the Red Bull Ring and Madrid have been dropped, Monza (July 31-August 2) and the Hungaroring (October 23-25) have been added and round five is without a venue.

Assen, Jerez, the Red Bull Ring and Spa hosted Eurocup-3 this year but will not in 2026, while Imola, Silverstone and the Hungaroring are brand new to the championship.

Eurocup-3 and Spanish F4 launched winter series this year, and will run again in 2026. Their calendars can be found here.

2026 calendars

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