Formula Scout Top 50 Drivers of 2025: 50-41

Each year, the Formula Scout team forms its own ranking of the best performing junior single-seater drivers of the past 12 months. Here is part one of the countdown with the drivers we placed from 50th to 41st

50. Jan Przyrowski

New entry • Raised his game to feature in two F4 title fights

Spanish Formula 4 sophomore Przyrowski made big strides in 2025, boosted by the continuity of remaining in Campos Racing’s line-up, having strong team-mates and a winter series to gain extra mileage in.

Last year he came 10th in Spanish F4, with two podiums and three fastest laps, and he was able to double his points and podium tally in a campaign by this March as he went on a roll in the inaugural Spanish F4 Winter Championship.

Przyrowski took both poles in round one, converting each into a win, and also won in rounds two and three to be runner-up in the standings. He was beaten to the title by team-mate Thomas Strauven, and their friendly on-track rivalry helped both to raise their game.

That continued into the main championship, where Przyrowski won three of the first four races. He was on the podium at all but one track, his run of seven successive poles incorporated three rounds, and he scored over 200 points in a field which was very competitive at the front. In every race he showed major improvements on the level he had performed at in 2024.

49. Salim Hanna

New entry • Top rookie in Europe’s most competitive F4 field

The seven-race Formula Trophy season in the United Arab Emirates a year ago was Hanna’s sole single-seater experience before embarking on a four-pronged Formula 4 attack in 2025.

F4 Middle East was the first championship he raced in, driving a Mumbai Falcons-branded car run by Prema, and he took a maiden podium en route to sixth in the standings. He remained with Prema for Italian F4 and its sister championship E4, and Hanna – under the guidance of countrymen Juan Pablo and Sebastian Montoya – continued to grow as a driver.

The Italian F4 season begin with Hanna starting on pole, and he converted it into a second place finish. There were five further podiums across the campaign, putting him fourth in the standings and topping the rookie classification.

In E4 he was seventh, adding one podium to his 2025 tally, and his busy schedule was completed by joining Virtuosi Racing in British F4 for two weekends. His first time in the paddock at Thruxton delivered his first victory, then in the Formula 1-supporting non-championship round at Silverstone he won both races.

48. Pepe Marti

Re-entry • Earned FE seat after matching F1-bound team-mate

Marti came 10th in Formula Scout’s end-of-year ranking in 2023 after winning three races en route to fifth in the FIA Formula 3 Championship. That was his sophomore F3 season and his third year with Campos.

This year was his fifth as a Campos driver, his second racing in Formula 2, and also featured three victories.

Missing the last two rounds, having began pre-season preparations for his recent step up to Formula E, meant Marti came eighth in the standings. But at the point when he dropped off the grid, he was ahead of F1-bound team-mate Arvid Lindblad.

Marti was only 15th fastest in the F2 field for single-lap pace, but across the season he was fourth best on race pace and he finished higher than where he started in 13 out of 23 races. There were four occasions where he gained nine or more places, the first being the Bahrain sprint race where he climbed from 11th place to victory.

He also won the sprint races at the Red Bull Ring and Hungaroring, and his sole feature race podium was at Monza.

47. Liam McNeilly

New entry • Visa issues prevented a likely USF2000 title

The 2024 USF Juniors runner-up began 2025 by winning both races and coming 0.0566 seconds shy of a double pole in USF2000’s St. Petersburg season opener. Next time out at NOLA Motorsports Park it was three poles and three victories, then McNeilly headed home to England.

Following that, US state officials deemed his visa invalid. It prevented him from re-entering the country and continuing his season. They did not believe he was a racing driver, despite proof of that fact as multiple parties sought to get his visa approved again, and McNeilly sank to 14th in the standings after missing almost three quarters of the campaign.

There was an opportunity to contest the Canadian event in Toronto a few months later, yet with little to gain now from returning to USF2000, he instead stepped up to USF Pro 2000 for the weekend. He started and finished fifth on his debut, and qualified fourth for race two. That position was kept through the race, and his points-per-race average was the sixth best in the 2025 field.

Even later in the year he made his GB3 debut at Donington Park, with his cameo resulting in a podium.

46. Salvador de Alba

New entry • The fastest junior single-seater driver on ovals in 2025

The switch from NASCAR Mexico, where he was champion, to open-wheel racing in 2022 has proven fruitful for Mexican de Alba who has maximised his oval experience in USF Pro 2000 and now Indy Nxt.

His rookie campaign in IndyCar’s primary feeder series last year featured two podiums, both on ovals, and he finished in each of the top four places across this year’s four oval races. There was also pole for the season finale at Nashville Superspeedway, a different kind of challenge compared to other ovals, and it was a result that he came close to achieving earlier in the year.

De Alba was the quickest on absolute pace around ovals, and fourth on race pace, with one victory at the Milwaukee Mile. On road and street courses, he had five top-five finishes and that put him fifth in the standings for a second season in a row.

The 26-year-old was more competitive at every track compared to 2024, showing he’s not stagnated yet in his fourth year of single-seater racing.

45. Roman Bilinski

New entry • Led Rodin to its best ever year in FIA F3

The FIA F3 Championship has three-car teams, yet Bilinski scored over half of Rodin Motorsport’s points in 2025.

After three years in Formula Regional, which included a title in New Zealand but only two podiums in Europe and never coming higher than 15th in the championship, Bilinski stepped up to F3 with a point to prove.

Making the podium on his debut and also scoring in the feature race in Melbourne was a strong start, and two rounds later at Imola he netted two top-eight finishes. In the following round in Monaco he topped his qualifying group, which translated into starting and finishing second in the feature race.

At Silverstone he also claimed a double points finish, from row eight of the grid both times. In the feature race he was an impressive fourth, having climbed nine spots on lap one.

Bilinski’s season ended at Monza with a maiden victory in the sprint race, and further points the next day that contributed to 2025 being Rodin’s best ever in FIA F3. It was the most impressive year of his own career, in the first season after a serious injury had threatened to derail it.

44. Alessandro Giusti

Down 17 • Williams junior’s lengthy scoring run was unmatched in F3

Giusti’s second place finish in the FIA F3 sprint race at the Red Bull Ring was not only the best result of his rookie season, but marked the end of a remarkable nine-race scoring run. It was a feat nobody else achieved this year.

That podium in Austria followed his third place in the Barcelona feature race, which he started from sixth and marked his best Friday and Sunday results by some margin. But on Saturdays, only three drivers scored more sprint race points in 2025 than Giusti.

When MP had top-10 potential, Giusti tended to do a good job of ensuring that translated into results and when he struggled for pace it mirrored what was happening to more experienced team-mate Tim Tramnitz. The team became less competitive over the course of the year, and in the season’s second half he fell from fifth to 10th in the standings.

43. Ariel Elkin

New entry • Made big leap up ladder and with his performances

Elkin was buried in Italian F4’s midfield two years ago, then made a sideways step to USF Juniors in 2024 and was fourth in the standings with three wins. He moved two rungs higher on the road to Indy for 2025, racing in USF Pro 2000.

His debut weekend started well by qualifying seventh in St. Petersburg, but he retired in race one after finding a wall and then missed race two.

Following that he was routinely one of the most competitive drivers, winning twice on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course and then on his oval racing debut in assured style in the Freedom 90 around Lucas Oil Raceway.

Although there were only two podiums in the second half of Elkin’s maiden campaign in the third tier of single-seaters, he finished six of those nine races in the top five and that consistency was enough to make him championship runner-up while rivals had more retirements and finishes outside of the top 10.

Later in the year he did two Eurocup-3 rounds, and then made a winning cameo in SMP F4’s winter series in Russia.

42. Jack Jeffers

New entry • Third title from four years on the US single-seater scene

There were four drivers with the potential to win the USF2000 title this year, and after McNeilly’s enforced early exit it was sophomore Thomas Schrage who then became the leading driver after taking seven podiums in a row.

After that, rookie Jeffers went on an even more impressive run of eight successive podiums in the last three rounds. That included five victories and three poles, and sent him to what ended up being a comfortably claimed title. He was crowned with a race to spare at Portland, and in the first race there got to have a straight fight with Schrage.

Jeffers finished second in the first three races of the season in St. Petersburg and at NOLA, and took his first win and a third place on IMS’s road course. His sole non-finish was in race one at Road America, which marked the first time he started from pole. The incident that ended his race involved his car going airborne and then into a wall.

Race two the next day was also a low point full of learning, as he started from pole again but lost out in battles, had a wide moment and finished seventh. His only other bad result was on his oval racing debut, as he came ninth in the Freedom 75.

41. Tuukka Taponen

Down 27 • Ferrari junior was ART GP’s top scorer in FIA F3

ART Grand Prix’s highest-scoring driver in FIA F3 this year navigated his rookie season well while his team wasn’t always on the pace, and made the top 10 in the standings as a result.

He finished fourth in two of the first three feature races of 2025, and netted a maiden podium in a sprint race during that time, then in Monaco he took his best result of the season by finishing second in the sprint race.

Only one point followed in the next four rounds, meaning Taponen fell from fifth to ninth in the points table, but he bounced back at the Hungaroring with his first feature race podium.

Having qualified 24th then finished 14th and 20th in the season-opening races in Melbourne, Taponen felt ART made a “good step up” for round two at Bahrain where he had his highest-scoring weekend. There were eight races in total which he scored in, fewer than sophomore team-mate Laurens van Hoepen but leading to a greater haul of points.

His results were also far better than his pace metrics for the season, indicating he maximised what he had, having been the 16th best for single-lap pace and 12th best for race pace across the year but with a 46-point feature race haul that was the seventh best in the field.

Written by Ida Wood