Italian F4 Championship Explained

Italian Formula 4 Championship is the first formula racing series regulated according to FIA Formula 4 regulations. The inaugural season was the 2014 Italian F4 Championship, effectively replacing the Formula Abarth.

The Italian F4 championship is regarded as amongst the most competitive of the national/regional F4 championships. ^[1] . Lance Stroll, Lando Norris, Mick Schumacher, Jack Doohan, and Zhou Guanyu have since driven in Formula One, and numerous Italian F4 drivers have had professional careers in other series.

History

Gerhard Berger and the FIA Singleseater Commission launched the FIA Formula 4 in March 2013.^[2] The goal of the Formula 4 is to make the ladder to Formula 1 more transparent.

The Italian Formula 4 was the first FIA Formula 4 championship to be launched. The Italian championship was launched by the ACI-CSAI on December 12, 2013.^[3]

WSK Promotions, well known for its kart races in the WSK Euro Series e.a., was contracted to promote the championship.^[4]

Cars

See also: Tatuus F4-T014.

See also: Tatuus F4-T421.

Italian race car constructor Tatuus was contracted to design and build all the cars.^[5] Tatuus had also built all the cars for the Formula Abarth. The chassis is a monocoque made of carbon fibre.

The engine is a 1400cc Fiat-FPT.^[6] This is the same engine used in the Formula Abarth between 2010 and 2013. It is detuned to fit the FIA Formula 4 regulations to, down from the original .

Starting from 2022, Tatuus F4-T421 have been used instead of Tatuus F4-T014.

Costs

The original goal of Formula 4 was to keep total costs for competitors under 100,000€ (in 2014) per season, but as of 2024 typical costs in the Italian championship far exceed this figure. One 2022 estimate put the season cost of competition at "upwards of 250,000€", one of the most expensive F4 series globally ^[7] .

Champions

Drivers

scope=col	Season	scope=col	Driver	scope=col	Team	scope=col	Poles	scope=col	Wins	scope=col	Podiums	scope=col width="40"	Fastest laps	scope=col	Points	scope=col	Clinched	scope=col width="50"	Margin
2014	Lance Stroll	Prema Powerteam	5	7	13	11	331	Race 15 of 21	94
2015	Ralf Aron	Prema Powerteam	7	9	13	6	331	Race 18 of 21	108
2016	Marcos Siebert	Jenzer Motorsport	4	4	9	1		Race 20 of 21	15
2017	Marcus Armstrong	Prema Powerteam	5	4	13	1		Race 19 of 21	36
2018	Enzo Fittipaldi	Prema Theodore Racing	9	7	10	5		Race 21 of 21	21
2019	Dennis Hauger	Van Amersfoort Racing	7	12	16	9		Race 18 of 21	136
2020	Gabriele Minì	Prema Powerteam	8	4	12	2	284	Race 18 of 21	76
2021	Oliver Bearman	Van Amersfoort Racing	8	11	15	2	343	Race 18 of 21	111
2022	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Prema Powerteam	14	13	15	14	362	Race 18 of 20	104
2023	Kacper Sztuka	US Racing	9	9	12	8	315	Race 20 of 21	35
2024	Freddie Slater	Prema Powerteam	11	15	16	10	383	Race 17 of 21	161

Teams

scope=col	Season	scope=col	Team	scope=col	Poles	scope=col	Wins	scope=col	Podiums	scope=col width="40"	Fastest laps	scope=col	Points	scope=col	Clinched	scope=col width="50"	Margin
2014	Prema Powerteam	13	13	11	31	303	Race 15 of 21	58
2015	Prema Powerteam	9	12	22	7	339	Race 19 of 21	35
2016	Prema Powerteam	7	9	21	9	439.5	Race 19 of 21	43.5
2017	Bhaitech	9	8	17	6	565	Race 18 of 21	89
2018	Prema Theodore Racing	13	12	28	8	667	Race 19 of 21	187
2019	Van Amersfoort Racing	9	12	24	10	576	Race 21 of 21	28
2020	Prema Powerteam	15	6	24	8	596	Race 21 of 21	101
2021	Van Amersfoort Racing	11	13	23	4	585	Race 18 of 21	102
2022	Prema Powerteam	19	16	38	19	800	Race 18 of 21	289
2023	Prema Powerteam	10	12	40	9	791	Race 17 of 21	245
2024	Prema Powerteam	12	16	30	12	763	Race 17 of 21	221

Winter Trophy

scope=col	Season	scope=col	Driver	scope=col	Team	scope=col	Poles	scope=col	Wins (Trophy)	scope=col	Podiums	scope=col width="40"	Fastest laps	scope=col	Points	scope=col	Clinched	scope=col width="50"	Margin
2014	Ralf Aron	Prema Powerteam	2	1 (2)	2	1	38	Race 1 of 2	0

Trophy

In the concurrent Italian F4 Trophy for drivers over the age of 18.

scope=col	Season	scope=col	Driver	scope=col	Team	scope=col	Poles	scope=col	Wins (Trophy)	scope=col	Podiums	scope=col width="40"	Fastest laps	scope=col	Points	scope=col	Clinched	scope=col width="50"	Margin
2014	Brandon Maïsano	Prema Powerteam	8	6 (17)	17	6	406	Race 12 of 21	176
2015	Kevin Kanayet	Malta Formula Racing	0	9 (21)	17	1	337	Race 17 of 21	28

Woman Trophy

scope=col	Season	scope=col	Driver	scope=col	Team	scope=col	Poles	scope=col	Wins (Trophy)	scope=col	Podiums	scope=col width="40"	Fastest laps	scope=col	Points	scope=col	Clinched	scope=col width="50"	Margin
2015	Julia Pankiewicz	RB Racing	0	11	17	0	343	Race 17 of 21	112
2016	Fabienne Wohlwend	Aragon Racing DR Formula	0	18	18	0		Race 11 of 21	N/A
2019	Amna Al Qubaisi	Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema	0	17	19	0		Race 13 of 21	271
2020	Hamda Al Qubaisi	Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema	0	15	15	0	375	Race 12 of 21	N/A
2021	Maya Weug	Iron Lynx	0	11	20	0	437	Race 21 of 21	43
2022	Maya Weug	Iron Lynx	0	18	20	0	400	Race 20 of 20	91
2023	Tina Hausmann	AKM Motorsport	0	7	15	0	310	Race 20 of 20	9

Rookie Class

The result of the championship was decided by different standings. Wins and points of the rookie standings are present in brackets.

scope=col	Season	scope=col	Driver	scope=col	Team	scope=col	Poles	scope=col	Wins (rookie)	scope=col	Podiums	scope=col width="40"	Fastest laps	scope=col	Points (rookie)	scope=col	Clinched	scope=col width="50"	Margin
2016	Jüri Vips	Prema Powerteam	2	1 (8)	7	3	140 (247.5)	Race 20 of 21	40
2017	Leonardo Lorandi	Bhaitech	0	1 (19)	2	4		Race 16 of 21	107
2018	Petr Ptáček	Bhaitech	0	0 (11)	6	3	182	Race 18 of 21	22
2019	Paul Aron	Prema Powerteam	1	2 (9)	8	0	226	Race 18 of 21	87
2020	Gabriele Minì	Prema Powerteam	8	4 (6)	12	2	284 (318)	Race 19 of 21	67
2021	Nikita Bedrin	Van Amersfoort Racing	0	1 (6)	4	0	103 (240)	Race 21 of 21	1
2022	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Prema Powerteam	14	13 (14)	15	14	362 (378)	Race 18 of 20	97
2023	Arvid Lindblad	Prema Powerteam	4	6 (8)	10	3	263.5 (322.5)	Race 18 of 20	15.5
2024	Alex Powell	Prema Powerteam	1	0 (10)	6	0	176 (343)	Race 21 of 21	15

Drivers graduated to F2

• Bold denotes an active Formula 2 driver.
• Gold background denotes Italian F4 champion.

Driver	Italian F4				FIA Formula 2					Current series
	Seasons	Races	Wins	Podiums	Seasons	First team	Races	Wins	Podiums
Marcus Armstrong	2017	21	3	11	2020–2022	ART Grand Prix	27	0	2	IndyCar Series
David Beckmann	2015	20	1	4	2021-2022	Charouz Racing System	3	0	1	Formula E
Juan Manuel Correa	2016–2017	24	3	4	2019, Present	Sauber Junior Team by Charouz	16	0	2	FIA Formula 2 Championship
Alessio Deledda	2018	20	0	0	2021	HWA Racelab	3	0	0	Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters
Felipe Drugovich	2017	6	1	2	2020–2022	MP Motorsport	27	3	4	Formula One reserve
Lando Norris	2015	9	0	1	2017–2018	Campos Racing	26	1	9	Formula One
Gianluca Petecof	2018–2019	38	5	13	2021	Campos Racing	3	0	0	Stock Car Pro Series
Mahaveer Raghunathan	2014	18	0	0	2019	MP Motorsport	20	0	0	Italian GT Championship
Marino Sato	2015–2016	42	1	2	2019–2022	Campos Racing	33	0	0	European Le Mans Series
Mick Schumacher	2016	18	5	10	2019–2020	Prema Racing	46	3	11	Formula One reserve
Robert Shwartzman	2014–2015	27	2	8	2020–2021	Prema Racing	27	4	6	GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup
Richard Verschoor	2016	3	0	1	2021-Present	MP Motorsport	3	0	0	FIA Formula 2 Championship
Jüri Vips	2016–2017	27	2	13	2020–2022	DAMS	11	0	1	?
Lirim Zendeli	2017	18	0	2	2021	MP Motorsport	3	0	0	USF Pro 2000 Championship
Guanyu Zhou	2015	21	3	9	2019–2021	UNI-Virtuosi Racing	49	2	13	Formula One

Circuits

• Bold denotes a circuit will be used in the 2024 season.

Number	Circuits	Rounds	Years
1	Imola Circuit	15	2014–present
2	Mugello Circuit	12	2014–present
3	ACI Vallelunga Circuit	11	2014–present
	Autodromo Nazionale di Monza	11	2014–present
5	Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli	10	2015–present
6	Adria International Raceway	5	2014–2018
7	Red Bull Ring	4	2019–2022
	Circuit Paul Ricard	4	2018, 2021, 2023–2024
9	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps	2	2022–2023
10	Autodromo dell'Umbria	1	2014
	Hungaroring	1	2019
	Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya	1	2024

Notes and References

1. Web site: Series . Feeder . 2023-02-25 . From F4 to F1: The feeder series ladder explained . 2024-12-02 . Feeder Series . en.
2. Web site: FIA reveals Formula 4 plan. Autosport. 13 January 2014.
3. Web site: The Italian Formula 4 Championship at the starting blocks. ACI-CSAI. 13 January 2014.
4. Web site: WSK to promote the Italian F4 Championship. Italian Formula 4 Championship. 13 January 2014.
5. Web site: Formula 4 to feature a Tatuus chassis. Italian Formula 4 Championship. 13 January 2014.
6. Web site: Formula 4 powered by Abarth. Italian Formula 4 Championship. 13 January 2014.
7. Web site: Gascoigne . Roger . 2022-01-07 . The new F4 series aiming to boost single-seater racing in central Europe . 2024-12-02 . Formula Scout . en-US.