20. Mattia Colnaghi

Up 9 • Followed Spanish F4 title with Eurocup-3 glory

Photo: Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull

Photo: Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull

With two titles in as many years in single-seaters, it’s no wonder that Colnaghi was snapped up by Red Bull before he even had this year’s Eurocup-3 crown in the bag.

After overhauling more experienced competition to become Spanish Formula 4 champion last year, the Italo-Argentine driver had to settle for being runner-up to fellow graduate and MP Motorsport team-mate Maciej Gladysz in Eurocup-3’s winter series at the start of 2025 after a disastrous double non-score in the deciding round.

He started the main campaign with a pole, win and fastest lap at the Red Bull Ring, but was only on the podium twice more across the first nine races, and was trailing Red Bull-backed rookie Ernesto Rivera at the top of the standings at the halfway mark.

After that though, while Rivera was wildly inconsistent – scoring just three times in the last nine races – Colnaghi was never off the podium and put the title out of the reach of the more experienced Valerio Rinicella and Kacper Sztuka with a round to go.

Colnaghi missed the final round to test himself against a deeper field at the Macau Grand Prix, proving his class with an impressive run with with PHM Racing to fourth in the main race as leading rookie.

19. Caio Collet

Up 7 • Indy Nxt runner-up secured a seat in the top tier

Photo: Travis Hinkle

Photo: James Black

Third in Indy Nxt as a rookie in 2024, Collet came into 2025 with his sights set firmly on the title, but had the misfortune to come up against the toughest of newcomers in Dennis Hauger.

Given how well proven Formula 2 drivers have adapted to IndyCar over recent years, Hauger came in arguably overqualified, and Collet and his HMD Motorsports team were left scratching their heads wondering how to keep up with the Andretti driver’s early pace.

They kept plugging away at it though and a breakthrough finally came mid-season at Road America, where Collet put a pass on Hauger to take his first win in nearly a year.

That didn’t exactly open the floodgates, but Collet did convert two pole positions into two victories at Laguna Seca, with a retirement for Hauger there keeping the title alive. Collet made it three poles in a row next time out at Portland, only for Hauger to this time overtake for victory, putting the title pretty much out of sight.

Most importantly though, Collet gets to join his rival on the IndyCar grid next year.

18. Fionn McLaughlin

New entry • Car racing rookie won British F4 title

Photo: Red Bull

Photo: Red Bull

Signed up by Red Bull through its revived Driver Search shootout last year, McLaughlin became by modern standards a relatively late starter in car racing at the start of 2025 at the ripe old age of 17, but he quickly made up for any lost time.

Driving with Hitech GP, he was a frontrunner from the off in the Formula Winter Series, taking a win on his debut weekend on the Algarve and adding two more victories at Motorland Aragon to finish third in the standings.

In British F4, it took him nine races to win, but was never outside of the points over the next three rounds as he traded the championship lead with second year racer Martin Molnar.

McLaughlin’s win in an eventful third race at Zandvoort, when Molnar was among those involved in contact, would prove pivotal. He dropped some points too over the following rounds, but still did enough to ease away in the title race.

There might have been some doubts about the level in British F4 this year, with other drivers holding Formula 1 connections unable to do what McLaughlin did and live up to their hype, but he confirmed his potential at the FIA F4 World Cup in Macau.

Mechanical issues prevented him from doing any proper laps in practice, but he qualified sixth and went on to challenge for the win in the qualification race, only to hit the wall out of second place just a few corners from the end.

17. Enzo Deligny

New entry • The fastest driver in Formula Regional Europe

Photo: ACI Sport

Photo: ACI Sport

Deligny had lost the backing of Red Bull after a disappointing first season in the Formula Regional European Championship in 2024, but put that behind him with a much stronger 2025 campaign in which he was statistically the quickest driver on the always-competitive grid.

The French-Chinese driver remained with R-ace GP for a second season and team boss Thibaut de Merindol saw a big step in his maturity.

Marginally quicker than eventual champion Freddie Slater on qualifying performance across the year, Deligny claimed four pole positions and four victories during the season. The latter allowed him to finish third in the championship on countback against Pedro Clerot, who was more consistent but won only twice.

That inconsistency prevented him putting up a stronger challenge against Slater in the championship and there was still the odd wild moment, such as disqualification from third place at the Hungaroring for driving erratically on the slow-down lap.

Overall though we saw a much-improved Deligny this year, capped by a clean run to third at the Macau Grand Prix.

16. Dino Beganovic

Up 3 • First F2 campaign featured a pole and a win

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Beganovic wasn’t a factor in the Formula 2 championship fight like some of his fellow rookies were, but he certainly showed strong progression.

Having scored points just four times in the first half of the season, he did so 11 times out of 14 in the second half.

This not to say that the Ferrari junior was lacking performance in the early part of the year. He qualified fifth for the cancelled season-opening feature race in Melbourne, and by round four at Imola had put his Hitech car on pole position. He finished that race third, jumped by team-mate Luke Browning after being delayed in his pit-stop before the red-hot Alex Dunne passed both.

While Browning was now firmly in the tight fight, it took Beganovic longer to consistently find his feet, but fourth in the Silverstone feature race began a more competitive sequence of results. His season – which included two F1 practice runs for Ferrari – peaked on the streets of Baku, where he won the sprint race and came third in the feature race.

15. Thomas Strauven

New entry • Superior in winter and summer in Spanish F4

Photo: Campos Racing

Photo: Spanish Winter Championship

The standing and depth of the Spanish F4 championship seems to improve with every season that passes, making Strauven’s dominance of the series in 2025 all the more impressive.

There didn’t seem to be much to separate Strauven and Campos Racing team-mate Jan Przyrowski in terms of pace in the three-round winter championship at the start of the year, with the Belgian’s better consistency helping him to take the title.

The same trend was amplified in the main championship. Strauven had an early edge in qualifying, starting on pole for six of the first eight races, during which time Przyrowski matched him for wins with three apiece. But Strauven was only off the podium once in that time, and already opening up his championship lead.

While Przyrowski then started the next seven races from pole, he didn’t win again. Strauven on the other hand ended the season with a total of 10 wins and seven other podiums from the 21 races, and 157 points more than his nearest rival – which wasn’t Przyrowski but rookie compatriot Ean Eyckmans.

14. Arvid Lindblad

Down 3 • FROC title and early F2 promise were key to F1 chance

Photo: TGR NZ

Photo: Red Bull

Lindblad ends this year with arguably the best prize of any driver on this list, as the only one who will be an F1 driver in 2026.

He took an important step towards that already in the first six weeks of the year when he won the Formula Regional Oceania Championship, giving him enough points for a superlicence. In truth, his prior record was a clear cut above the rest of what wasn’t the strongest field ever assembled in New Zealand, but stepping down a level and getting the job done under scrutiny and pressure is sometimes easier said than done.

Getting it done meant he could step up to F2 with less pressure to achieve results; valuable in the context of the struggles other highly rated drivers have had at that level.

Still, Lindblad did adapt impressively, which likely helped lead the FIA to grant special dispensation for him to receive his superlicence already at the age of 17.

That decision came less than two weeks after he won the Barcelona feature race from pole position. Including that result, across his first six rounds in F2, Lindblad had also won the Jeddah sprint race, come second in the Imola sprint and scored in all but one race.

At this stage he was third in the championship, just eight points from the lead, but he would score only seven times in the last 14 races and end up sixth in the standings. It was a tailing off that mirrored his previous campaigns in FIA Formula 3 and Italian F4, but it’s his quick adaptation at such a young age that should bode well for his next step.

13. Matteo De Palo

New entry • FREC’s surprise Slater challenger 

Photo: ACI Sport

Photo: ACI Sport

De Palo was arguably the biggest surprise package anywhere in junior single-seater racing in 2025.

That’s not to say that his potential had not been completely hidden previously, because his run to fifth in Spanish F4 as a car racing rookie in 2023 certainly showed promise. But there was little in his rookie FREC campaign in 2024 with Sainteloc Racing, finishing 17th in the standings, to put him among the favourites starting this season. After all, his new team Trident had yet to take a driver to victory in three previous seasons in the series.

Together, they put that right in race one at Misano. Maybe more surprising than that home victory was that it wasn’t a flash in the pan.

De Palo’s early 25-point advantage over Prema’s well-prepared Slater was eradicated in only five races, only for the Roman to go and win the next race at the Hungaroring. Slater started to pull away mid-season, but de Palo capitalised on two consecutive non-scores for his rival with a third win of his own at the Red Bull Ring to get in front again. They traded places again either wide of de Palo’s fourth win at Barcelona and he stayed close until the Monza decider, which he had entered only four points adrift.

Newly signed to McLaren’s driver development programme, de Palo’s first weekend in Papaya was underwhelming after a one-off switch to R-ace GP, but it’s with Trident that he steps up to FIA F3 next year – as Slater’s team-mate.

12. Mari Boya

Re-entry • New Aston junior came third in F3, second in Macau

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

49th in this list in 2023, when he was Eurocup-3 runner-up alongside his rookie season in FIA F3, it’s rare for a driver to stay in the latter series for a third season and rarer still for them to then make as positive an impression as Boya did in 2025.

The Spaniard’s appointment as an Aston Martin F1 junior in the middle of the year appeared to be one of the more left-field such signings, but it seemed to help him take a step forward.

At the time, six rounds into the season, he had been sixth in the standings with a couple of third-places to his name in the Monaco and Red Bull Ring feature races. So far, so solid. Next time out at Silverstone he won the feature race, having already finished third in the sprint race.

A second place would come later in the Hungaroring feature race and he ended the year third in the championship – and as the second-highest scorer in feature races.

Boya also made his experience count at the Macau Grand Prix to challenge for victory, ultimately finishing second.

11. Max Garcia

Up 31 • Prodigious rise continues with USF Pro 2000 title

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Garcia will still only be 16 years old when he makes his Indy Nxt debut next year after winning back-to-back titles on the IndyCar ladder.

While his USF2000 title in 2024 was hard-fought against several other drivers, with five wins from 18 races, his run to the USF Pro 2000 crown was far more dominant with nine victories from the same number of opportunities. He was on the podium in all but five races.

Such consistency was highly valuable. As an example, Alessandro de Tullio had three poles and three wins from the first four races, but the rest of his campaign was far more hit and miss and he finished fourth, 153 points behind Garcia.

Round three’s triple header at Indianapolis Motor Speedway was particularly wild and Garcia wasn’t able to avoid being involved, but he still finished all three races in the top four and increased his points lead over de Tullio from 16 to 57.

Written by Peter Allen

The post Formula Scout Top 50 Drivers of 2025: 20-11 appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Red Bull junior Fionn McLaughlin will bridge his jump from Formula 4 to Formula 3 for 2026 with a Formula Regional Oceania campaign.

The 2025 British F4 champion will drive for Hitech, the team he raced for in his maiden year of single-seater racing this year and with which he will step up to F3 next year.

The Irish driver already took three wins in the Formula Winter Series for F4 machinery at the start of this year before claiming five wins on his way to taking the British title.

As a relatively late starter in car racing, the 18-year-old will be racing in F3 in just the second season of his single-seater career, but he will now take in a short stint at the intermediate FRegional level as part of his preparation.

He is the fourth confirmed driver for Hitech’s debut effort in the New Zealand-based FRegional Oceania, which will run for four consecutive weekends through January and February.

His team-mates include Toyota junior Jin Nakamura, who is also part of Hitech’s F3 line-up for next season, as well as Kenato Le, who will feature on the same F3 grid but with rival team ART Grand Prix.

Double World Rally Champion Kalle Rovanpera will also race with the team having already tested a Hitech Formula 2 car ahead of competing in Super Formula next season.

With Freddie Slater and Yevan David also entered with other teams, there are now five 2026 F3 drivers confirmed to race in FRegional Oceania, with New Zealand’s own Louis Sharp also expected to join them.

The post Fionn McLaughlin to race in FRegional Oceania before F3 debut appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Macau GP Organising Committee

The 20-car entry list for the inaugural FIA Formula 4 World Cup in Macau on November 13-16 has been released.

There will be seven F4 champions on the grid, and the most experienced is local talent Tiago Rodrigues. He won the Chinese F4 title and gained his first Macau experience in F4 South East Asia in 2023, then contested last year’s Macau Grand Prix.

Marcus Cheong also has Macau experience from the F4 races there two years ago, with both he and countryman Rodrigues cameoing in Chinese F4 this year.

The other champions headed to Macau all claimed their titles in 2025, with the list consisting of Fionn McLaughlin (British), Alexdandre Munoz (French), Kean Nakamura Berta (Italian), Emanuele Olivieri (Middle East), Gino Trappa (Central European Zone) and Shimo Zhang (Chinese).

Drivers with experience higher up the single-seater ladder competing are Rodrigues, Ary Bansal, who won the GB4 championship in its first year using previous-generation GB3 chassis rather than F4 cars, and Trappa who did a round of the third-tier Euroformula championship earlier this year.

The Macau GP was a Chinese F4 round from 2020 to 2022 and was a non-championship round when it was on the F4 SEA calendar.

In each of those years drivers were entered by teams. It has not been stated whether the grand prix-supporting FIA F4 World Cup will be contested by multiple teams or centrally run by one, but a statement by the FIA indicates the latter:

With technical and operational support provided by Mintimes, the organiser of the Chinese F4 championship, in association the [French F4-organising] FFSA and Ligier, the ultimate level playing field has been created. This will allow these young talents to be fully focused on demonstrating their potential on Macau’s 6.120-kilometre Guia Circuit, ranked as one of the world’s most challenging FIA-homologated racing tracks.

F4 SEA has been a centrally run championship each season except for 2023, with French F4 and Indian F4 operating under the same model.

Entry list

The post Seven Formula 4 champions to contest inaugural FIA F4 World Cup appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Red Bull junior and newly crowned British Formula 4 champion Fionn McLaughlin will make the jump to FIA Formula 3 next year with Hitech.

The Irish driver, who turns 18 later this month, was signed by Red Bull through its relaunched Driver Search initiative in 2024 while he was still racing karts.

His single-seater debut came with Hitech in the Formula Winter Series at the start of this year where he won three races and finished third in the standings. He was then a contender from the start of the British F4 season, taking five wins and wrapping up the title during last weekend’s final round at Brands Hatch.

“I’m incredibly proud of everything I’ve achieved this year – it’s already been a whirlwind journey from karting to single-seaters, and now stepping up to FIA Formula 3 with Hitech is a dream come true,” he said.

“I want to thank everyone who has supported me along the way, especially Hitech and the Red Bull Junior Team for their trust and belief in my potential.

“This next step is a huge opportunity for me. The competition will be tough, but I feel ready for the challenge. I’ve learned so much this season, from adapting quickly to different circuits and managing the pressures of race weekends, and I’m excited to keep pushing forward and proving myself. My goal is to continue progressing and make the most of every chance I get on the path to Formula 1.”

Paul Bellringer, Hitech’s F3 team manager, said the squad had been “consistently impressed by [McLaughlin’s] speed, maturity, and racecraft” this year.

“His rapid development and ability to adapt to different challenges – such as new circuits, F1-grade tracks like Silverstone GP and Zandvoort, and varying track conditions – will stand him in good stead for FIA Formula 3,” he added.

“We’re confident Fionn is ready for this next important step in his career, and we look forward to supporting his continued development as he aims for the top.”

McLaughlin completes Hitech’s F3 line-up for 2026, joining Toyota-backed Formula Regional racer Jin Nakamura and Euroformula driver Michael Shin.

The post British F4 champion Fionn McLaughlin to leap up to FIA F3 with Hitech appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Red Bull

James Piszcyk won British Formula 4’s first race on Brands Hatch’s Grand Prix layout, but had his title hopes end as Fionn McLaughlin was crowned in second place.

The Hitech GP driver clinched the title with two races to spare by finishing 0.399 seconds behind main rival Piszcyk, who led lights-to-flag.

The poleman got a poor start, but managed to stay ahead of McLaughlin and Adam Al Azhari. His Rodin Motorsport team-mate initially challenged McLaughlin, but then came under attack from Argenti Motorsport’s Ethan Jeff-Hall.

He had started fifth after receiving a three-place grid penalty for a qualifying infringement but rose to third early on and kept with the top two while Al Azhari slipped backwards.

The leading trio would spread out, with Piszcyk briefly pulling more than a second away before being reeled in. McLaughlin was never close enough to make a move for victory, but held onto second comfortably ahead of Jeff-Hall.

Al Azhari set the fastest lap, but still finished more than three seconds behind Jeff-Hall in fourth, ahead of Virtuosi Racing’s Martin Molnar and Chris Dittmann Racing’s Tommy Harfield.

Further down the field, there was pre-race drama. Dries Van Langendonck and August Raber were due to start from the pitlane, but Raber encountered problems on the way from the paddock and missed the race. Rowan Campbell-Pilling was also absent due to repair work following an incident in qualifying.

Van Langendonck did take part in the race, and came from the back of the field to finish 14th. He was aided in his climb up the order when Cole Hewetson was forced to pit early on after contact sent him spinning and caused a rear-left puncture.

Chase Fernandez, who started directly ahead of Hewetson, avoided the drama and came home seventh, ahead of Xavier Avramides and Alexandar Savinkov. He spent most of the race battling with Thomas Bearman for 10th.

Savinkov managed to find a way through in the closing laps, then a race-ending off for Theo Palmer on the penultimate lap promoted the pair each up a spot in the points positions.

Race results (14 laps)

The post Piszcyk tops race one podium but loses British F4 title to McLaughlin appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Fionn McLaughlin held off Tommy Harfield to win the opening British Formula 4 race of the weekend at Silverstone.

Harfield kept McLaughlin under pressure throughout the race, but the points leader didn’t put a wheel wrong and finished 0.456 seconds clear at the chequered flag.

Chris Dittmann Racing driver Harfield had started from pole alongside Ary Bansal with McLaughlin third. Hitech GP driver McLaughlin got the best start and jumped into the race lead on the opening lap, while Harfield held onto second. The pair pulled away from the rest of the field, getting more than a second clear of Bansal who had a solitary race in third.

Through the first half of the race, McLaughlin managed to keep Harfield at arms length, but his chaser gradually closed the gap. In the final laps, Harfield was less than 0.2s from the race leader and looking for a way through. On the final lap, however, McLaughlin pulled clear again to finish almost half a second ahead of Harfield.

The victory extends McLaughlin’s gap at the front of the championship standings, as nearest rival Martin Molnar could only manage ninth overall.

There was drama on the opening lap when Henry Joslyn and Thomas Bearman had an incident at turn three while battling in the midfield. Both drivers were taken out of the race, but the incident was cleared without a stoppage. Xavier Avramides was forced to pit a few laps later with front wing damage, but returned to the track to finish the race.

After the opening lap, there was no movement within the top 10. Jimmy Piszcyk and Ethan Jeff-Hall passed Dries Van Langendonck at the start and kept out of reach of the rookie driver, but couldn’t challenge the race leaders.

Van Langendonck was kept under pressure from Adam Al Azhari, who got a good start to jump up from ninth to seventh, but there were no opportunities for Al Azhari to overtake his Rodin Motorsport team-mate. Rowan Campbell-Pilling finished eighth ahead of Molnar.

The closest battle for much of the race was at the tail end of the top 10. Ella Lloyd held onto 10th on track, but a five-second time penalty for track limits dropped her down the order. That meant the close battle between Chase Fernandez and August Raber was for the final points paying position. Fernandez just managed to get his nose ahead of Raber to take 10th, with only 0.409s separating them at the chequered flag.

Race results (22 laps)

The post McLaughlin extends British F4 lead with Silverstone win appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Red Bull

Hitech GP’s Fionn McLaughlin was quickest in British Formula 4’s in-season test day on Donington Park’s full Grand Prix layout.

JHR Developments’ Rowan Campbell-Pilling followed up his maiden victory last time out at Knockhill by setting the pace early on in session one.

Argenti Motorsport’s August Raber was first to lap sub-1m31s, and traded top spot with Virtuosi Racing’s Martin Molnar before McLaughlin broke into the 1m29s.

Raber returned to first place with a 1m29.779s when he crossed the line, then on his next lap Campbell-Pilling outpaced him by 0.007 seconds. The pace was lowered to 1m29.508s by Raber next, before Argenti’s Ethan Jeff-Hall had a run of personal bests at the top through to a 1m28.953s.

He was the only one to break the 1m29s barrier, with McLaughlin 0.274s behind in second and Raber improving to 1m29.277s on his penultimate lap to be third. Campbell-Pilling was fourth, and Xcel Motorsport’s Cole Hewetson was also within half a second of Jeff-Hall.

Different names led the way in session two, with Hewetson first into the 1m30s. He and team-mate Chase Fernandez continued improving in the first 12 minutes, with Rodin Motorsport’s Adam Al Azhari also briefly on top before Fernandez set a 1m29.029s benchmark that stood for a few minutes.

Next to go fastest was Fortec Motorsports’ Henry Joslyn, by just 0.025s, and he led the way for 10 minutes before McLaren junior Dries Van Langendonck posted a 1m28.875s that would go unbeaten in the session’s second half.

Behind the top three were Raber, team-mate Arjen Kraling, Molnar, Al Azhari, Ella Lloyd (Rodin) and Jeff-Hall.

Van Langendonck was making his second test outing with Rodin, having also driven at Brands Hatch this month.

The 14-year-old did half of the CIK-FIA European championship for OK karts this year but was still able to come eighth in the standings.

Another driver testing who is not a British F4 regular was Chris Dittmann Racing’s Piotr Orzechowski. The Pole has raced before, in round two at Silverstone.

Al Azhari and team-mate James Piszcyk went back-to-back at the top early in session three, then a 1m29.901s put Raber on top. A few seconds later he was usurped by Jeff-Hall , who improved three times in his next four laps to bring the pace down to 1m28.652s.

That lap kept him on top for 17 minutes before Joslyn went quickest by 0.111s. He later found another 0.099s, a key gain since McLaughlin beat his previous benchmark and got within 0.026s of him.

Jeff-Hall made a later gain to be 0.179s beind in third, with Molnar and Al Azhari within 0.26s of Joslyn. This time 0.5s split the top 11.

McLaughlin was the driver to beat in session four, with Van Langendonck briefly unseating him twice. A 1m28.281s set early on ended up being enough for first place overall, with Joslyn setting a new personal best 0.112s behind, and Molnar also beating his session three benchmark.

Raber pipped Van Langendonck to fourth. Al Azhari, Lloyd and Fernandez were the only non-improvers.

Test results

The post McLaughlin quickest, Van Langendonck appears again in British F4 test appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Red Bull

Fionn McLaughlin won British Formula 4’s first race at Knockhill after on-the-road victor Rowan Campbell-Pilling was penalised for jumping the start.

Campbell-Pilling had started from pole and led the entire race, but could not create a large enough gap to McLaughlin to negate his five-second penalty and was classified second.

The race was ended a few minutes early by red flags brought out after contact between Ella Lloyd and Theo Palmer left the latter stranded at the side of the track.

It was a considerable jump start for Cambell-Pilling, who was already far up the road before the lights went out and everybody else set off.

McLaughlin overtook Thomas Bearman for second off the line and set about trying to reduce the three-second advantage Campbell-Pilling had given himself. The leader was able to maintan the gap though, and despite setting the fastest lap McLaughlin finished 3.509s behind. Once the penalty was applied, he earned his fourth win to grow his points lead.

Bearman was unable to stay with McLaughlin. Initially he was only around a second behind, but the top two were able to pull away from him and he was 0.586s shy of being able to benefit from Campbell-Pilling’s penalty.

He had a lonely race, with the close battle for fourth going on for so long that its participants finished over eight seconds behind him.

James Piszcyk held the position for much of the race, having snatched the position at the start, but was usually under pressure from Ethan Jeff-Hall. He made multiple attempts to find a way past, but Piszyck defended well.

There were two instances where Jeff-Hall did manage to draw alongside, but he then had to drop back in behind, before his pressure led to Piszcyk making a mistake, locking up and losing fourth.

By this point, there was a train of drivers behind and Piszcyk was immediately under attack from Tommy Harfield. He got past on the following lap, with Martin Molnar following through to demote Piszcyk to seventh.

At the back of the train were Palmer and Lloyd, and were locked in their own battle in the race’s closing stages. They made slight contact as lap 20 began, and the incident left Lloyd with damage but she was able to continue. Palmer was not as lucky, and once his car had come to a stop he could not get it moving again.

Despite being the cause of the race-ending red flags, the pair were classified eighth and ninth ahead of Cole Hewetson and Ary Bansal, who got a poor start after a strong qualifying put him fourth on the grid.

Race results (20 laps)

The post Campbell-Pilling penalty hands McLaughlin his fourth British F4 win appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Fionn McLaughlin won an incident-packed final British Formula 4 race of the weekend at Zandvoort to open up his points lead.

Multiple safety car interruptions and two red flags broke up the race, with a final red flag calling an early end after only nine laps.

The first stoppage came after just two laps when Alba Hurup Larsen spun towards the back of the field. Charlie Edge tried to avoid the stationary car but hit the barriers at the banking. Initially, marshals tried to clear the incident behind the safety car but the red flags had to be thrown.

The race resumed behind the safety car, with the track going green again with 15 minutes on the clock. Adam Al Azhari had made his way up to third before the first red flag and challenged Martin Molnar for second on the restart. Molnar locked up as they approached the first corner, but managed to avoid contact. However, a few corners later, Molnar locked up again and hit Al Azhari, taking him out of the race. 

The safety car was brought out once more to clear the car of Al Azhari while championship contender Molnar limped back to the pits and retired.

McLaughlin once again got a good restart, pulling away from James Piszcyk and Ethan Jeff-Hall who now occupied second and third. He was beginning to build a gap when a spin for Cole Hewetson put his car into the gravel at Tarzan. Hewetson was able to continue, but left gravel strewn about the track which needed to be cleared. The safety car returned to the track once again.

Less than three minutes remained when the track went green for a third and final time. McLaughlin got a good restart, shaking off Piszcyk. There was little that could be done to challenge the race leader before an incident for Emma Felbermayr brought her to a stop on track, prompting another red flag with just 90 seconds on the clock. The session would not be resumed.

McLaughlin claimed the victory, ahead of Piszcyk and Jeff-Hall.

Between the stoppages, Tommy Harfield had challenged Ella Lloyd for fourth. Harfield kept the pressure on Lloyd, but safety car interventions left him with little time to actually make a move. Lloyd held onto fourth, with Harfield and Chase Fernandez close behind.

Thomas Bearman got a good start before the initial red flag to move up to ninth. He was then promoted to seventh by the incident for Al Azhari and Molnar. Henry Joslyn took eighth, as August Raber and Oleksandr Savinkov completed the top 10.

Race results (6 laps)

The post McLaughlin wins incident-packed final Zandvoort British F4 race appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Fionn McLaughlin and Henry Joslyn shared the pole positions in British Formula 4 qualifying at Zandvoort.

McLaughlin jumped to the top of the times with his penultimate lap of the session, managing a 1m37.073s around the Dutch circuit. The time was 0.074 seconds quicker than Martin Molnar in second.

It was Joslyn who set the pace in the opening laps but the order wouldn’t stay for long, with Ethan Jeff-Hall, Adam Al Azhari and Molnar – who set the best time across Friday’s two practice sessions – all taking turns at the top of the order. 

When the field came into the pits after their first runs, it was Molnar on top ahead of Jeff-Hall and Al Azhari. McLaughlin was only fifth.

The Hitech GP driver was the first to improve on the second runs, jumping to the top of the times with a lap 0.2s quicker than Molnar had managed.

Joslyn briefly knocked McLaughlin off the top spot, but McLaughlin bounced back with his penultimate lap of the session to go quickest.

Molnar slotted into second while Joslyn was third fastest overall, but the Fortec driver’s second-fastest time was enough to put him on pole for the first race of the weekend. Molnar again placed second in this ranking, 0.044s behind Joslyn while McLaughlin was third.

Jimmy Piszcyk had led Friday’s first practice and been second to Molnar in the second session, and he qualified fourth quickest ahead of Al Azhari and Chloe Chong, making just her second appearance of the season.

After running strong early on, Jeff-Hall slipped back to seventh by the chequered flag, ahead of Ella Lloyd. Chase Fernandez and Theo Palmer completed the top 10

Qualifying round-up
Race 1 grid
1 Henry Joslyn Fortec Motorsports 1m37.351s
2 Martin Molnar Virtuosi Racing +0.044s
3 Fionn McLaughlin Hitech GP +0.100s
4 Jimmy Piszcyk Rodin Motorsport +0.199s
5 Adam Al Azhari Rodin Motorsport +0.256s
6 Ethan Jeff-Hall Argenti Motorsport +0.354s
7 Chase Fernandez Xcel Motorsport +0.534s
8 Ella Lloyd Rodin Motorsport +0.608s
9 Theo Palmer Xcel Motorsport +0.649s
10 Thomas Bearman Hitech GP +0.732s

Race 3 grid
1 McLaughlin 1m37.073s
2 Molnar +0.074s
3 Joslyn +0.205s
4 Piszcyk +0.369s
5 Al Azhari +0.472s
6 Chloe Chong Rodin Motorsport +0.522s
7 Jeff-Hall +0.586s
8 Lloyd +0.664s
9 Fernandez +0.782s
10 Palmer +0.783s

The post McLaughlin and Joslyn takes British F4 poles at Zandvoort appeared first on Formula Scout.