Photos: Ian Salvestrin
As the Italian F4 championship celebrates its 10th anniversary, commentator Ian Salvestrin joins the Formula Scout Podcast to discuss some of the highlights of the first decade and his take on its current crop of talent
While he is involved with multiple car and kart racing series around the globe, Ian Salvestrin’s distinctive voice, enthusiasm and catchy, if sometimes a little corny, driver nicknames have established him as the “voice of Italian F4” for English-speaking audiences.
His level of research, paddock insight and close relationships with drivers and their families put some other commentators to shame.
After attending “one or two races in 2015” Salvestrin’s Italian f4 involvement really took off during its third season in 2016, which he recalls “coincided with the change in the broadcast scene; I guess you could say it’s when live streaming became commonplace rather than experimental”.
“Before Motorsport TV came into existence, it was Motors TV which was run out of England and so we had an English broadcast. It was a highlights series in 2016, so we did hal- hour highlights of each round.”
“[2016] was a trial year. It was on-and-off for 2017 or ’18 off memory because as WSK we were still doing the FIA World and European Karting Championships, which was priority. And then I think from 2018 or ’19 [I’ve been doing it] ever since.”
We are now so accustomed to live streaming of every possible series, it is hard to remember what life was like beforehand. “The world has changed. Everything is broadcast in English and I would like to think to a reasonably high quality,” he says proudly.
What have been his most cherished memories from those 10 years?
Often it has been “the unknown drivers who have gone on to star” who have left the greatest impression on him.
“There has been a lot of favourites that have come in, who have done okayand other unknowns who have not necessarily won the series but have gone on to be absolute stars which no one picked. The classic is Ollie [Bearman] in 2021. He was a good driver in world karting. He did the last couple of races in 2020 with US Racing and he was in the top three or top five. Then Van Amersfoort in 2021 and he just wiped the floor, and we all know the story since.”
On a personal level, a highlight has been the “very good genuine life friends” he has made, thanks to his close involvement with the series over so many years. “Speaking selfishly, you get to know drivers and their families. Week-in, week-out with them. You’re travelling all around the country, so you stay in the same hotels, airports, racetrack.”
On-track, Salvestrin picks out the 2020 season as a personal highlight. “Gabriele Mini in 2020 was class. He was brilliant. That was possibly, and this is a subjective opinion, the strongest season in the series in my humble opinion. You had phenomenal drivers in it, Dino [Beganovic] was there, Johnny [Edgar], Dexter [Patterson], mind you, he was given a crap car, Sebastian [Montoya], Jak Crawford, who won a couple of rounds.
“Remember that was the delayed start year, 2020, so we didn’t start the first round until July at Misano. Gabriele dominated – three pole positions. He was really good. We knew him for the previous five years from WSK karting. He was a worthy winner. He beat Francesco Pizzi to the title.”
That year was remarkable already due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on motorsport, and particularly society’s response and the sport’s reaction to get racing back underway.
Salvestrin has strong views on what he sees as government overreaction, but the circumstances undeniably created a unique atmosphere and camaraderie in paddocks (and led to Formula Scout’s trackside reporter co-commentating with Salvestrin).
“I was actually looking at some highlights the other day and sadly those video highlights will be ever ruined by those ridiculous face masks we wear, so every photo, every video there, we look like clowns,” rues Salvestrin.
“It was bizarre circumstances just to travel, just to make it to the track. There was drivers, there was mechanics, there was journalists, who are not at this round because they’ve tested…”. His “lack of respect for that farcical period” means he can’t bring himself to add the word “positive”.
“It was a tough period to travel, just to be at each race, so it brought everyone stronger. There was a real sense of family, of friendship there and, and ferociously competitive on the track.”
Aside from that year, illuminated by Mini’s brilliance and darkened by the pandemic, he also picks “Ollie the year later” as a highlight.
“Then 2016 with Mick [Schumacher] and Marcus [Siebert] was a strong championship and that came down to the final round. That was David [and] Goliath, not so much Marcus and Mick because they’re both good drivers, but Jenzer Motorsport, the small team versus the monster, which Prema has now become, competing in IndyCar next year, World [Endurance Championship], F4 and Formula 2.”
Salvestrin was also involved in the launch of Formula Regional Europe, initially under the same ACI Sport and WSK banner as F4, in 2019. “That was really good, those events. That was certainly a highlight to have the two championships running together and many of the F4 drivers going into FRegional which still happens now anyhow, but due to circumstances another organisation, or Renault directly, is now doing FRegional,” he reflects.
While FREC ended up being merged with the Formula Renault Eurocup, Italian F4 has grown in strength so much – after seeing off early competition from ADAC F4 – to not only rank as the most prestigious of the FIA-sanctioned F4 series but prove so popular that a multinational spin-off called Euro 4 was launched last year.
Photo: ACI Sport
Salvestrin believes that the success of Italian F4 and the country’s other racing series is due to a combination of factors.
“Italy is the world centre of the karting. If you want to be a professional basketballer you go to America. If you want to be an ice hockey player you go to Canada or Finland. If you want to play cricket, you go to England or my country, Australia. For karting it’s Italy. There is no question.”
“Another reason is, that’s where the industry is,” he says. From the 1960s into the 1990s customer junior single-seaters were largely manufactured in Britain by the likes of March, Ralt and Reynard. Now the segment is dominated by two Italian factories, Dallara and Tatuus.
Salvestrin relates the experience shared with him recently by a competitor in Spanish F4. “They have a van driving from their base in Spain to Italy two or three times a week: Tatuus, the car is manufactured in Italy, the electronics are in Italy, [tyre supplier] Pirelli’s in Italy, the engines are in Italy, the race suit suppliers are in Italy, everything.”
With grids again nudging upwards towards 40, Italian F4 appears in rude health. But could it suddenly implode in the same way as Germany’s ADAC F4 series did at the end of 2022, collapsing under the weight of its own success?
“I can’t see that happening anytime soon because there’s a very good, strong, solid base,” he replies. “I can’t see it collapsing, so to speak. Not at all, because the industry is there, everyone is there. So many people live there, non-Italian people living there and speaking the language, and [the Italians] have learned English [which] has improved dramatically over the past two decades. It has just become a heartland.”
Turning to this year’s championship, Salvestrin is in no doubt that the title fight is already as good as over.
“Ollie was the first English driver to win the series. I dare say, we will have another English champion in 2024. I realise we have only had three of seven rounds. That’s nine of 21 races. Freddie [Slater] has been absolute class. He’s well prepared.
Photo: ACI Sport
“We knew this. He’s a world junior karting champion, he got pole position for his first KZ2 gearbox karting race in 2023. Anyone who’s ever driven a KZ2 kart knows they are absolute violent monsters. They are ferocious. He got pole position in the first race. He won races in KZ2.”
“He did do a couple of races in the Euro 4 series and Italian F4 and got a pole position last year. He’s extremely well prepared with ADD Management, with Prema of course. Nice as possible family. You would not meet a nicer family in the paddock. His parents, he’s the oldest of five, I just cannot speak highly [enough] about them. He’s a class act.”
Like Bearman, Slater has a younger brother who also races. Thomas Bearman recently had a breakthrough karting weekend in Italy, while Alfie Slater is currently 18th in Ginetta Junior, the entry-level sportscar series Freddie won last year.
Despite the older Slater’s dominance, with seven wins from nine races so far, his lead is ‘only’ 38 points over Salvestrin’s “pleasant surprise” of the season so far, Van Amersfoort Racing’s Hiyu Yamakoshi.
“Imola – pole position for all three races by 0.3 seconds, but VAR have struggled since they won the title with Ollie in ’21; a big project to go instantly to Formula 3 and F2 racing. It seems as though their F4 and FREC [programmes] have suffered but they’re back.”
Yamakoshi is the only man to defeat Slater so far this year, winning twice at Imola. “[But] he did frustratingly, dare I say, throw away a win in race three. But he’ll learn from that. He won’t make that mistake again, but he’s quick,” he says.
Slater’s team-mates Tomass Stolcermanis and Alex Powell, a Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 junior, are two more drivers Salvestrin singles out for praise and has high expectations of.
“[Stolcermanis] won a couple of races with the Energy Corse team in karting. Freaking hell, he’s a talent. On his day he pulls off some unbelievable moves. I think when it clicks with Tomass, people will be watching and saying freaking hell, this kid’s good.
Photo: Prema
“Kean Nakamura Berta, a former junior world champion as well, Euro champion. I don’t know what to say. He’s had a couple of incidents. A couple not through his own fault. He’s had one podium, it just hasn’t happened for him so far. He’s also an Alpine F1 junior. He’s also in that bracket.”
Beyond the pre-season favourites, Salvestrin rates Maxim Rehm, “an outstanding young talent,” and his Australian compatriot Jack Beeton highly.
Beeton took pole at Vallelunga with US racing, the reigning champion team. “It’s his second year in the series. He won F4 South East Asia, [where] the level might not quite be the same, to put it politely, but he still won the series. And it’s good experience. The problem is it’s three rounds in and Freddie’s won seven out of the nine races.”
Aside from his driving ability, he emphasizes Slater’s professionalism in front of the media. “One thing which is very impressive about Freddie is his skill with the media. He’s excellent. He’s one of the best I’ve seen,” he says. Praise indeed from a commentator who has seen so many top talents embark on their single-seater careers.
While media training is now a core part of a young driver’s education, Salvestrin laments the difficulty of interviewing some of the less talkative drivers.
“In years gone by, I’ve had to interview so many racing drivers. And some drivers from various countries are not so good with the media and it’s one word, one syllable answers. I love it when an American wins a race. I don’t even need to ask a question, just give them the microphone and go and have a coffee. Come back in five minutes and they’ve just written a Hollywood-style speech. The Americans are absolutely brilliant!” he enthuses.
“Some of the people with the media, it’s natural. It’s just the same as some are natural drivers or some are natural footballers or natural runners or whatever. Some are just natural with the media and Andrea [Kimi Antonelli] is actually very good. I must say he’s got that very bubbly personality which he’s had since he’s eight years old [while] Freddie’s a well-spoken Englishman.”
Photo: ACI Sport
The key to Slater’s performance is in his preparation, Salvestrin believes.
“That’s critical because they’re racing three times in the weekend. Then it’s three weeks to the next race, so it’s very concentrated to excel in that that short period, the qualifying sessions very short, you’ve got one lap [with peak grip], so the preparation’s absolutely key. And this is where Freddie’s done very well, but as I said, he took pole position in his first ever KZ2 kart race which Andrea did too,” he notes. “Not a coincidence!”
Clearly, for Salvestrin, a young driver that can perform on a KZ2 kart (against the older, more experienced opposition who can spend many years becoming the standard setters in shifter karting) is a talent to watch for.
Salvestrin’s commentaries are peppered with self-created driver nicknames, some of which stick as they move up – “Dynamite Dino” or the “Boy from Brazil”, for example.
“It’s just a natural creation. And sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t,” he admits. “I do try and give interest to the people watching. We had so many safety cars at the weekend. Immensely frustrating. I can only describe the race order on lap eight so many times without giving other pieces of information. Certainly [I have] no intention of ever being disrespectful or turning it into a gimmick or a sideshow.”
With multiple racing series competing for fans’ attention, and F1 squeezing other categories out of the media spotlight, a bit of humour can help get attention, as long as it is in combination with the knowledge and passion that we expect from those calling the races for the television and streaming audiences.
While Slater is in a commanding championship position, his rivals can reduce the pace gap. Will anybody launch a challenge in the season’s second half as Kacper Sztuka did in 2023? If they do, Ian Salvestrin (and Formula Scout) will be there.