Photo: Red Bull

Hitech GP has announced that Red Bull junior Chiara Battig will be part of its British Formula 4 line-up next year.

The 15-year-old Swiss is already racing for the team in Saudi Arabian F4, where Hitech operates all of the cars. The 10-race championship is Battig’s first in single-seaters, and she sits 12th in the standings with a best finish of seventh place.

Her first mileage in an F4 car came in the Red Bull Driver Search at Estoril in August, which led to her being signed as one of the brand’s junior drivers.

“I’m thrilled to join Hitech for 2026. Karting has given me a great foundation and with the benefit of the Saudi Arabian F4 championship experience, I feel ready to take the next step,” said Battig.

“British F4 is the right place for that and I’m looking forward to the competition and iconic British tracks, and of course Silverstone. I’m excited to get started and fight for strong results.”

Battig was in the Alpine F1 team’s female-focused Rac(H)er programme in 2023, but departed it for 2024. Although she won a third successive Swiss championship on OK Junior karts, she lacked results abroad until joining Formula 2 racer Victor Martins and his brother Nicolas’s Victory Lane team for the step up to senior karting.

In the opening round of this year’s CIK-FIA European championship for OK karts she looked like a victory contender for most of the weekend and finished the final in fifth, but scored no points in the subsequent three rounds and dropped down to 15th in the standings.

She was also 29th in Champions of the Future, 46th in WSK’s Super Master Series and on OK-N karts is currently second in the CotF Academy Program.

“Chiara brings an impressive track record in karting and the Saudi Arabian F4 championship, and we’re excited to see what she can do in her first season,” said Hitech’s British F4 team manager Dominic Stott.

“The transition to single-seaters is a big step, but she has already shown that she’s ready for it. We’re looking forward to seeing her build momentum throughout the season.”

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Photo: Meritus GP

The Saudi Arabian Formula 4 championship will return for a second season this year, with a five-round calendar.

Bahrain will host pre-season testing and the opening round this week, then a mid-week round two on October 15/16.

Next month there will be two rounds in one week, with races in Jeddah on November 10/11 and then November 14/15. The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix venue will also host the finale on December 5/6.

In the inaugural season last year, all cars were centrally run by Meritus GP, which previously centrally ran F4 South East Asia. Local company AlTawkilat will be championship promoter this year, but has not stated if it will directly run the cars.

There have been 10 drivers announced so far, a group consisting mostly of 15-year-olds and including Red Bull juniors Scott Lindblom and Chiara Battig who are single-seater newcomers.

Lindblom was fourth in entry-level sportscar series Ginetta Junior this year, and in 2024 primarily raced in the OK kart class. The Swede won the title WSK Euro Series title and came eighth in Champions of the Future.

His year started by coming 11th in WSK’s Super Master Series for OK Junior karts, and in that category he was previously third in the World championship, fourth in WSK’s Euro Series and 15th in the CIK-FIA European championship.

Battig joined the Red Bull Junior Team less than seven weeks ago, having previously been part of the Alpine Formula 1 team’s female-focused Rac(H)er programme in 2023, and steps up from karting.

She came 15th in the European championship for OK karts this year, with her rookie season in senior karting starting on a victory-contending high but then mostly lacking results. The Swiss was 29th in CotF, but on OK-N karts is currently second in the CotF Academy Program.

Making the same step this weekend is Thibaut Ramaekers, the 2025 CIK-FIA world champion on OK karts. The Belgian claimed that title last month, after being CotF runner-up and fifth in the CIK-FIA European championship.

His 2025 began on X30 Senior karts, coming fifth in the IAME Winter Cup.

Faris Organji, 17, is one of three local drivers confirmed for Saudi Arabian F4 and will be debuting in single-seaters. The other two locals are F4 Middle East backmarkers Abdullah Kamel (16) and Farah Al Yousef (23), the latter of whom was the wildcard driver in the all-female F1 Academy series when it visited Jeddah this year.

Nina Gademan also has track knowledge and F4 experience from F1 Academy, where she currently sits sixth in the standings. The 22-year-old from the Netherlands started this year by coming 15th in Formula Winter Series.

Heading to Saudi Arabia from GB4, which now sits above F4 in the single-seater ladder, is Indian racer Ary Bansal and Ava Dobson. Last weekend Bansal became champion and 17-year-old American Dobson claimed her first podium.

Rounding out the grid is Adam Al Azhari. The Emirati was sixth in British F4 and 10th in F4 Middle East this year.

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Photo: Red Bull

Swiss karter Chiara Battig has been announced as joining the Red Bull Junior Team, and stepping up to Formula 4 next year.

The 15-year-old was selected after contesting the Red Bull Driver Search at Estoril earlier this month, which involved testing in F4 cars run by Campos Racing. It was Battig’s first running in single-seater machinery.

Battig came 15th in the CIK-FIA European championship for OK karts this year, with her rookie year in senior karting starting on a high but then lacking results. In the opening round she looked like a victory contender for most of the weekend and finished the final in fifth, but scored no points in the subsequent three rounds and dropped down the standings.

“It means a lot to me to be a Red Bull junior driver,” said Battig. “I think the RBJT is really exciting, and I think they are making really good progress with their drivers. It’s my first time in a single-seater car, we adapted really well and I’m happy about that.”

“My ultimate goal is to reach Formula 1 and become world champion. My plan for next year is to race in F4 and my mindset is that I know what I’m capable of. I hope to inspire young female karters to take the same journey I am making now.”

Battig was in the Alpine F1 team’s female-focused Rac(H)er programme in 2023, but departed it for 2024. Although she won a third successive Swiss championship on OK Junior karts, she lacked results abroad until November when she joined Martins and his brother Nicolas’s Victory Lane team for the step up to senior karting.

Two eye-catching outings raised expectations for 2025, but bad luck masked her pace before the European championship opener at Campillos.

She was 46th in WSK’s Super Master Series earlier this year and is currently 25th in Champions of the Future, while on OK-N karts she is currently third in the CotF Academy Program.

RBJT chief Helmut Marko said Battig’s “performance was very good” at Estoril, and “the speed she showed in the formula car means we are looking forward to a very successful season” in 2026.

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Photo: FIA Karting

Round one of the CIK-FIA European championship at Campillos was a breakthrough event for two karting talents.

Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 junior James Anagnostiadis won the senior OK category, but for much of the weekend it looked like Formula 2 racer Victor Martins’ protege Chiara Battig would be victorious.

The 15-year-old Swiss was in the Alpine F1 team’s female-focused Rac(H)er programme in 2023, but departed it for 2024. Although she won a third successive Swiss championship on OK Junior karts, she lacked results abroad until November when she joined Martins and his brother Nicolas’s Victory Lane team for the step up to senior karting.

Two eye-catching outings raised expectations for 2025, but bad luck masked Battig’s pace earlier this year. That changed at Campillos on Friday, as with slick tyres on a damp track she set “a perfect lap” to take pole. Anagnostiadis was ninth, 0.411 seconds off the pace, and VDK Racing’s Thibaut Ramaekers and Tony Kart’s Thomas Pradier topped the other qualifying groups in slippier conditions.

Anagnostiadis and Battig also ran in the same heats, and in a wet first race Ramaekers comfortably beat both. Anagnostiadis climbed seven places to beat Battig to second.

Battig won and Anagnostiadis was third in their next two heats, Forza Racing’s Filippo Sala denied Battig victory in their fourth heat then she rebounded to comfortably beat Anagnostiadis and Sala as they shared the podium in their final heat.

Anagnostiadis’s Mercedes stablemate and Prema team-mate Kenzo Craigie was 14th in his qualifying group, but recovered to make fifth his average finishing position in the heats.

Battig built a lead from pole in superheat A, with Anagnostiadis and Craigie starting second and sixth. McLaren junior Dries Van Langendonck got into second and Craigie gained two spots on lap one.

Craigie utilised fresh tyres to make three passes in the next three laps, but his hesitant then crash-causing lap four move on Battig ended her race. He rode over her hand too, and after winning by two seconds was disqualified so Anagnostiadis inherited victory.

Ramaekers led lights-to-flag in superheat B, which combined with three heat wins denied Anagnostiadis pole for the final, with the confident Battig starting eighth. Kart Republic’s reigning champion Joe Turney had such a bad weekend that he failed to make the 19-lap final.

Van Langendonck passed Anagnostiadis on lap one of the decisive race, then Fusion Motorsport’s Zac Drummond cleared him too. But as Anagnostiadis “did not expect at all to win”, he was taking it easy and was aware of a puncture risk.

Van Langendonck took the lead at the penultimate corner on lap eight, with Drummond behind Anagnostiadis and Sala. Soon Ramaekers was losing further ground, and Forza’s Jensen Burnett got involved before he punctured.

Kart Republic’s Iacopo Martinese, from 14th on the grid, passed Sala for third on lap 12, and Anagnostiadis claimed the lead a lap later. He then pulled away as punctures ended Drummond and Martinese’s victory hopes, and Van Langendonck held off Sala for second at the finish.

But a bumper penalty demoted Sala to 10th, so a late charge from Parolin’s pre-event favourite Christian Costoya earned him third ahead of Ramaekers and Battig.

Final results (19 laps)

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