Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

F1 Academy, the all-female Formula 4 championship that runs exclusively on Formula 1’s support bill, has named a group of drivers who will be on the grid next year.

The first two are Campos Racing duo Alisha Palmowski and Rafaela Ferreira, who will be remaining with the team for a second season. They currently sit fifth and 13th in the standings ahead of tonight’s season-ending race in Las Vegas.

Palmowski has scored a win and three other podiums this season, and was 2024 GB4 runner-up. Ferreira’s best race result in F1 Academy is a fifth place, and last year on home soil she came fourth in Brazilian F4 with three victories.

The pair will run with the liveries of F1 teams Red Bull Racing and Racing Bulls next season, as they have done this year.

ART Grand Prix has signed Lisa Billard for 2026, with the 16-year-old having made her debut last month in Singapore as the wildcard driver with Hitech GP. She finished 16th in the second race there.

Her main programme through 2025 has been French F4, where she came 19th in the standings with two top-10 finishes.

Esmee Kosterman was also announced as having landed a full-time F1 Academy seat for next season, but with no mention of which team she will race for. She scored points on her debut this year, as the wildcard driver in her home round at Zandvoort.

Prior to that she had done three British F4 rounds, and currently sits eighth in the Saudi Arabian F4 championship where Hitech runs all the cars. Last year she cameoed in Indian F4.

All 10 of F1’s constructors lend their liveries to a driver and their car in F1 Academy, and next year Cadillac will become the 11th team in the pitlane at every grand prix.

They will join F1 Academy’s livery initiative in 2027, at which point the rest of the teams will be committed to doing so under a new multi-year agreement that has been reached.

The sporting regulations of F1 Academy were revised last year to cap drivers to two seasons, but now it has been decided that “from 2027, drivers who have competed in the two previous seasons may be granted an exemption to race in the series for a third season” in another regulation update.

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Photo: Red Bull

MP Motorsport’s Rene Lammers was quickest in Spanish Formula 4’s in-season test at Barcelona.

The teams are at the track for the rest of the week as there is another test there and then the season finale.

Lorenzo Campos and Ricardo Baptista will be racing at Barcelona but not in Spanish F4, as both step up to Eurocup-3, and are being replaced at Monlau Motorsport and Drivex School respectively. Former TC Racing driver Santiago Baztarrica takes Campos’s F4 seat, with the pair currently 23rd and 27th in the standings, while Rafaela Ferreira makes her second outing of the season with Drivex. She won in Brazilian F4 last weekend and is 12th in F1 Academy with one round remaining.

Yani Stevenheydens joined Global Racing Service’s line-up last time out at Valencia’s Ricardo Tormo circuit, but is returning to Eurocup-3 at Barcelona so the team has called up 19-year-old Pablo Riccobono, who came 16th in French F4 this year.

Rodin Motorsport will be without Kyuho Lee, currently 22nd in the standings, and MP is expanding to seven cars as it adds Rocco Coronel to its line-up. The Red Bull junior has raced in entry-level sportscar series Ginetta Junior for the last year, coming seventh in its 2024 winter series then winning the main championship in 2025.

It was super close at the top in the first test session on Wednesday, with 0.095 seconds splitting the top five. Hudson Schwartz pipped MP team-mate Ean Eyckmans by 0.018s, Campos Racing’s Thomas Strauven was 0.029s behind in third, and Niklas Schaufler was 0.001s ahead of Lammers in fourth. Half a second covered the top 14, with 0.895s between first and 20th.

Tecnicar Motorsport’s Wiktor Dobrzanski was absent as he was travelling over from Hockenheim, where he had been driving for Motopark in a private Euroformula test this week.

Lammers lowered the pace to 1m42.574s in session two, just edging Drivex’s Christopher Feghali by 0.007s and Campos’s Jan Przyrowski by 0.027s. MP’s Reno Francot and Schwartz were only 0.069s and 0.079s behind, and this time there was 0.429s between first and 20th and four other drivers within a second of the pace.

Eyckmans, Monlau’s Alexander Jacoby and Felipe Reijs were the only non-improvers in the 36-car entry list.

Session three featured red flags, and Francot led the way with a 1m43.117s prior to the stoppage. He improved to 1m42.760s with six minutes remaining, then with three minutes left Przyrowski set a 1m42.739s to take top spot by 0.006s over team-mate Noah Monteiro.

After the chequered flag, Campos’s Matus Ryba and Miguel Costa went fourth and sixth fastest, 0.045s and 0.074s off Przyrowski respectively and sandwiching Rodin’s Nathan Tye. Lammers was down in 24th, with his earlier benchmark not beaten as only Monteiro, Ryba, Rodin’s Emma Felbermayr and Jacoby set personal bests. A second covered the top 23.

Test results

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Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Tecnicar Motorsport will make its Eurocup-3 debut at Jerez this weekend, running USF Pro 2000 runner-up Ariel Elkin.

It had previously been announced that Spanish team Tecnicar would join the grid in 2026 when Eurocup-3 goes from being a Formula Regional-based series to a third-tier competition by introducing the Dallara 326 chassis.

Elkin, 18, came fourth in USF Juniors last year then leapt up to the third-tier USFP2000 for 2025. As a rookie he claimed three victories, three poles and will likely test an Indy Nxt car in the off-season as he evaluates where to race next year.

Alan Orzynski, currently second in the Formula 4-spec Skip Barber Formula Race Series, will become the fifth different driver this year to race Drivex School’s #15 entry in Eurocup-3 at Jerez, while Palou Motorsport is without Luciano Morano (who is yet to score this season) and has replaced him with Brazilian F4 points leader Heitor Dall’Agnol.

In the supporting Spanish F4 championship, there are also line-up changes for this weekend. Drivex’s other #15 car will appear for the third time this season, and will be driven by Rafaela Ferreira.

The 20-year-old Brazilian was fourth in her home F4 championship last year, and this year has been driving for Campos Racing in Europe. She came 24th in the Formula Winter Series standings as a part-timer, and is currently 11th in the all-female F1 Academy championship.

TC Racing is without Santiago Baztarrica, who sits 20th in the points table, and its three-car line-up will be completed by Brazilian driver Rogerio Grotta. He was seventh in Brazilian F4 last year, winning one race, and is currently ninth in the 2025 standings after two rounds.

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Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

Fionn McLaughlin was quickest on the opening day of Formula Winter Series pre-event testing at Algarve, as the field for the season ahead fully formed.

Before testing began, Campos Racing revealed its all-female line-up of Chloe Chambers, Rafaela Ferreira and Alisha Palmowski. The trio are all using the series as a warm-up for the female-only F1 Academy, where they will also be racing for Campos.

Palmowski and Ferreira will compete this weekend, then Chambers will replace Ferreira for FWinter Series round two at Valencia’s Ricardo Tormo circuit. In round three at Motorland Aragon, Chambers will be partnered by Ferreira.

Chambers came 16th in the all-female W Series for Formula Regional cars back in 2022, was a FRegional Oceania race-winner in 2023 and was sixth in F1 Academy with Campos last year. Ferreira took three wins en route to fourth in the 2024 Brazilian F4 standings, and Palmowski was a three-time winner and championship runner-up in GB4 last year.

AKM Motorsport will enter Georgi Zhuravskiy and Joanne Ciconte into FWinter Series. Zhuravskiy was 22nd in the FRegional-based Eurocup-3 series in 2024, and Ciconte made appearances in Australian and Spanish F4.

Andrea Dupe, Nordic 4 race-winner Sebastian Bach and the French F4-experienced Mathilda Paatz will race for AS Motorsport, and Dupe has also been signed for Italian F4.

The 16-year-old Dupe was 19th in the South Garda Winter Cup, 25th in the CIK-FIA World championship and 26th in the Champions of the Future series when racing on OK karts.

Hitech GP’s McLaughlin topped all three test sessions on Thursday, setting a 1m47.938s in the opening 55-minute session to lead team-mate Leo Robinson by 0.071 seconds and US Racing’s Maxim Rehm by 0.956s. Only seven laptimes in total were deleted due to track limits abuse, but that jumped up to over 70 in session two.

The pace was lowered to 1m45.847s, with other team-mate Thomas Bearman and Van Amersfoort Racing’s Maximilian Popov trailing McLaughlin by 0.3s. US’s Gabriel Gomez, Robinson and US’s Edu Robinson were the only other drivers with a second of the pace.

Everyone set their personal best laps in session three, and a 1m45.513s from McLaughlin put him just 0.054s ahead of Bearman as little over a second covered the top 13. Paatz joined the action too after missing the first two sessions, as over 70 laptimes were deleted again.

Several of Hitech’ squads across junior single-seaters this year, including in FWinter Series, will be entered as ‘Hitech Toyota Gazoo Racing’ to reflect a new alliance with Toyota focused on driver development.

Day one results

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Photo: Red Bull

Brazilian Formula 4 race-winner Rafaela Ferreira will compete in F1 Academy in 2025 representing Red Bull Racing’s sister team RB.

Ferreira debuted in Brazilian F4 in 2023, scoring a podium in the final round at Interlagos as she finished 13th in the standings. Continuing that improved form into 2024, she has won two reversed-grid races at Velo Citta and Buenos Aires as well as claiming a double pole position at Interlagos and a total of seven podium finishes.

She sits fourth in the standings with three rounds still to run, beginning with this weekend’s support races at Formula 1’s Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos, and RB has taken that opportunity to announce Ferreira as its supported driver for F1 Academy next year.

“This opportunity represents a big step in my career, and is a dream come true to work with a team that has so much talent,” said Ferreira. “I’m determined to give my best and go after great results. It’ll be something new for me, but I’m confident that we will achieve a lot together. I’m already preparing and am excited for next year!”

It is not currently clear which of F1 Academy’s teams will operate Ferreira’s RB-branded car.

The Red Bull group has supported three drivers in 2024, all racing for MP Motorsport, and appears set to do the same next year having already announced Chloe Chambers will replace Emely De Heus in its Ford-backed car.

Sisters Hamda and Amna Al Qubaisi, who have raced in the liveries of the Red Bull Racing and RB teams respectively, are like De Heus among those who must move on from F1 Academy after 2024 because of the championship’s mandated two-season limit.

“We’ve been impressed by Rafaela’s performance this season and are very pleased to welcome her to the team and work with her in F1 Academy in 2025,” said Sarah Harrington, a Red Bull performance coach who also manages its dedicated F1 Academy programme run separately to its Junior Team.

“Rafaela has great talent and potential and has already cemented herself as a race winner in Brazil. I’m looking forward to supporting her development and am excited to see what next season brings.”

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Photo: Hernan Capa

Brazilian Formula 4 held its first ever international round at Buenos Aires in Argentina last weekend.

For the fifth time in five rounds this season there were three different winners: Arthur Pavie and Rafaela Ferreira won the first two first races on Friday and Saturday, and Ethan Nobels was victorious on Sunday.

The championship lead, however, remains in the hands of Bassani Racing’s Matheus Comparatto who on 198 points is 16 ahead of TMG Racing’s Alvaro Cho.

On Friday, TMG’s Pavie and Cavaleiro Sports’ Nobels held a tight fight in qualifying. Pavie secured pole position for race one, and Nobels did the same for race three.

Nobels set a 1m39.941s, just 0.016 seconds faster than Pavie, and on the second-best laptimes Pavie pipped Nobels by 0.172s. He converted his race one pole into a lights-to-flag victory, his second consecutive win.

Alceu Feldmann Neto, who ahead of the weekend had switched from Bassani to Cavaleiro, had reversed-grid pole for race two which was the 50th race in Brazilian F4 history.

He lost the lead to TMG’s Ferreira before reaching the first corner, and she opened up a comfortable lead even before a late safety car deployment and won the race, with Rogerio Grotta in second and Ciro Sobral in third.

Nobels led from start to finish in race three, finishing more than nine seconds ahead of Ferreira. Cho completed the podium, and points leader Comparatto was only eighth.

The next round of Brazilian F4 will be at Interlagos on November 2/3 and support Formula 1’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Results round-up
Race 1 (19 laps)
1 Arthur Pavie TMG Racing 31m47.488s
2 Ethan Nobels Cavaleiro Sports +8.191s
3 Matheus Comparatto Bassani Racing +11.909s
4 Alvaro Cho TMG Racing +16.636s
5 Ciro Sobral TMG Racing +18.857s
6 Rogerio Grotta Cavaleiro Sports +21.861s
7 Rafaela Ferreira TMG Racing +45.013s
8 Alceu Feldmann Neto Cavaleiro Sports +47.423s
9 Cecilia Rabelo Bassani Racing +1m06.543s
10 Pepe Souza Cavaleiro Sport +1m08.718s
Pole: Pavie, 1m39.941s
Fastest lap: Pavie, 1m40.084s

Race 2 (9 laps)
1 Ferreira 20m21.016s
2 Grotta +0.516s
3 Sobral +0.920s
4 Cho +1.798s
5 Gino Trappa Bassani Racing +2.451s
6 Feldmann Neto +2.805s
7 Lucca Zucchini Cavaleiro Sports +3.390s
8 Joao Pedro Souza Cavaleiro Sports +4.364s
9 Nobels +5.062s
10 Comparatto +2 laps
FL: Grotta, 1:41.307s

Race 3 (19 laps)
1 Nobels 32m01.463s
2 Ferreira +9.067s
3 Cho +9.886s
4 Grotta +10.275s
5 Souza +17.501s
6 Rabelo +19.285s
7 Zucchini +25.198s
8 Comparatto +31.827s
9 Sobral +36.332s
10 Feldmann Neto (Bassani Racing) +42.550s
P: Nobels, 1m39.743s
FL: Trappa, 1:40.006s

Championship standings
1 Comparatto 194   2 Cho 178   3 Nobels 162   4 Ferreira 148   5 Sobral 104   6 Trappa 102   7 Pavie 101   8 Grotta 94   9 Zucchini 82   10 Favarete 44

The post Pavie, Ferreira and Nobels win on Brazilian F4’s trip to Argentina appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Brazilian F4

Brazilian Formula 4 had 12 cars on track at Autodromo Velo Citta for round three after a two-month break, and Rafaela Ferreira made history as the championship’s first female winner.

The weekend had lots going for it: a series veteran returning, pole positions claimed by tiny margins and of course Ferreira’s victory.

Alvaro Cho, who missed round two, topped qualifying to take race three pole by 0.018 seconds over TMG Racing team-mate Arthur Pavie. Bassani Racing’s points leader Matheus Comparatto was third, 0.048s, and Ferreira was 0.053s off pole in fourth.

Comparatto claimed race one pole with his second-best laptime by an even tighter margin, 0.004s, and converted it into victory after leading all but one lap.

Pavie jumped pat Cho at the start and tried to attack Comparatto through the early laps. Genaro Trappa also had a good launch, going from fifth to third. But Comparatto had the race under control won ahead of Pavie.

Starting third was rookie Ethan Nobels, who had the best reaction when the lights went out but then found the back of Chovand they had light contact. After going four-wide move into the opening corner with Lucca Zucchini and Nobels, he fell to fifth. His Cavaleiro Sports-run car seemed to have no problem, as he managed to overtake Zucchini and Trappa during the race to finish third.

Trappa and Guilherme Favarete came home fourth and fifth. Cecilia Rabelo met the checkered flag in eighth, but got a 10s penalty due to a last lap incident with Rogerio Grotta. So reverse-grid pole for race two was inherited by Ferreira.

She had an strong start jump to that race, as did Cho from third. Ferreira shook off her team-mate then, and also on a restart after a brief safety car period. Nobels settling for third behind them, and ahead of Comparatto and Trappa.

Race three had Cho, Pavie, Comparatto, Ferreira and Nobels in the top five spots. The podium trio had good starts, keeping their positions. Rafaela however tried the outside line at turn one, loosing ground to Nobels and Trappa, who started from row three.

An early incident between Rabelo and Zucchini prompted a safety car period. Cho kept his nerves on the lap five restart and led all the way.

Pavie tried following and managed to get within 0.5s of him late on on, but Cho was unstoppable for his second win of 2024. Comparatto was third throughout, figuring that it was the best suitable outcome to his title hopes, as his lead grew back to 40 points over fourth-placed Nobels who managed to neutralise an attack from Trappa on lap six.

Ciro Sobral was clever to overtake Trappa after their failed attack on Nobels. He than defended well from Ferreira, who climbed back the field after her initial drop.

Sobral and Ferreira had last lap contact, with the later losing her spoiler while Sobral still finished fifth.

Results round-up
Race 1 (22 laps)
1 Matheus Comparatto Bassani Racing 32m13.636s
2 Arthur Pavie TMG Racing +2.074s
3 Ethan Nobels Cavaleiro Sports +2.787s
4 Genaro Trappa Bassani Racing +26.747s
5 Guilherme Favarete TMG Racing +30.476s
6 Alvaro Cho TMG Racing +30.826s
7 Lucca Zucchini Cavaleiro Sports +34.018s
8 Rafaela Ferreira TMG Racing +45.752s
9 Rogerio Grotta Cavaleiro Sports +47.429s
10 Cecilia Rabelo Bassani Racing +48.430s
Pole: Comparatto, 1m26.456s
Fastest lap: Pavie, 1m27.137s

Race 2 (14 laps)
1 Ferreira 22m33.858s
2 Cho +3.257s
3 Nobels +4.230s
4 Compaatto +5.775s
5 Trappa +6.619s
6 Pavie +6.759s
7 Zucchini +14.473s
8 Joao Pedro Souza Cavaleiro Sports +18.042s
9 Grotta +19.436s
Ret Rabelo
FL: Pavie, 1m27.373s

Race 3 (21 laps)
1 Cho 32m14.637s
2 Pavie +0.785s
3 Comparatto +6.137s
4 Nobels +11.425s
5 Ciro Sobral TMG Racing +17.078s
6 Favarete +17.532s
7 Trappa +18.636s
8 Ferreira +24.846s
9 Grotta, 25.329s
10 Souza +28.856s
P: Cho, 1m26.383s
FL: Pavie, 1m26.341s

Championship standings
1 Comparatto 136   2 Nobels 97   3 Cho 87   4 Ferreira 83   5 Trappa 75   6 Sobral 56   7 Grotta 56   8 Zucchini 50   9 Pavie 43   10 Favarete 34

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