Formula Scout Top 50 Drivers of 2023: 40-31

Part two of our countdown of 2023’s most impressive junior single-seater racers

40. Enzo Fittipaldi

Down 26 • Scored more F2 podiums, and a breakthrough win

Fittipaldi surprised with Charouz Racing System in Formula 2 last year, but was unable to win, and after becoming a Red Bull junior he joined Rodin Carlin in an attempt to make the ultimate step. Carlin had come second in the teams’ standings in 2022.

His 2023 season was pretty much like the previous one. He finished in the points more often, but scored two fewer points, in a campaign that was shorter by three races. Fittipaldi improved his championship position too, but only by one place as he came seventh in the standings, and en route to outscoring team-mate Zane Maloney he achieved a desired maiden win.

That success came in a sprint race though. It was at Spa-Francorchamps, where Fittipaldi enjoyed his best weekend of the year as following up his win by finishing third in the feature race after fending off Maloney in the closing laps.

In 2024 he will be Van Amersfoort Racing’s lead driver, with his F2 experience to be used in the development of the new car.

39. Rafael Camara

Down 2 • Consistently strong in FRegional but couldn’t break into the title fights

It is difficult to shine when your team-mate is Andrea Kimi Antonelli, but Camara managed to showcase his talent for the second year in a row alongside the young Italian star.

The Ferrari junior made his Formula Regional debut at the start of the year in the Middle East championship, where he finished third with six podiums to his name but no wins. Therefore he was far from challenging champion Antonelli and even PHM Racing’s championship runner-up Taylor Barnard who was 21 points ahead.

In the European championship he claimed pole positions, podium and wins, but again was never in the title fight.

The Brazilian excelled in race one at both Spa-Francorchamps and the Red Bull Ring, as he won both quite comfortably from pole. He had pole again for race one at Monza but ended up in retiring due to a mechanical failure. The next day he had just overtaken Antonelli for the lead of race two when red flags waved and without a restart the results were taken from the previous lap. That meant he was classified second. Had it all gone right at the Temple of Speed, he would have been fourth in the championship as he only missed out on that position to VAR’s Kas Haverkort by one point.

Camara will stay with Prema for a second FREC season in 2024.

38. Enzo Peugeot

New entry • Pau excellence launched French F4 title bid

Peugeot conquered wet and dry conditions to win the Pau Grand Prix, and did so from third on the grid. He held that position in a five-car lead train until a safety car and then red flag period as rain hit. When racing eventually resumed a long time later, Peugeot bravely passed Kevin Foster for second then pressured Evan Giltaire until he found a corner with enough grip off-line to go past him into the lead.

There were then more laps spent behind the safety car, and after the final restart Peugeot pulled away to comfortably win.

The Pau weekend was the highlight of his French Formula 4 season, as he won race one and finished second in race two at the track before winning the grand prix. Furthermore, he was also a double winner at Misano and Ledenon. A reversed-grid race win at Spa-Francorchamps and podium at Nogaro helped his points haul, but left him just short of the title by four points after a far from ideal last round at Paul Ricard.

37. Louis Sharp

New entry • Won the British F4 title as a protege of his team’s owner

Rodin protege Sharp already caught the eye as a rookie in British F4 in 2022. Despite not being old enough to contest the opening round, he won twice and finished fourth overall – before winning both F4 support races at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

He returned to British F4 this year with Carlin as a strong title and made a fine start, winning the season opener from the front row and the second race of the weekend from 20th on the reversed grid.

Sharp struggled to kick on from that over the following rounds as wins were shared around much of the grid, and impressively consistent rookie Will Macintyre took over the points lead.

But a double win at Croft after the summer break was the start of a stronger run-in for Sharp. Going into the Brands Hatch decider just one point ahead of Macintyre, he rose to the occasion to clinch a deserved title in convincing fashion.

36. Simon Sikes

New entry • Reaped the rewards of a full-time USF2000 programme

Sikes managed to complete just about half a USF2000 season in each of the last three years, but moving from Legacy Autosport to Pabst Racing for 2023 meant he finally got to do a whole campaign. And even when he joined the team, he initially only had the budget for one test day.

The paddock already knew Sikes could be quick, as he got four podiums in a row in 2021, but the scale of his success this year was probably not predicted by many as he took six wins, eight other podiums, seven poles and nine fastest laps to win the title by 103 points. Only 26 points covered second to sixth in the standings.

Although Sikes didn’t have any unbeaten weekends, he did make the podium in all three races of the Portland finale as well as the Sebring and Toronto double-headers. His most dominant display was in race three at Mid-Ohio, where in 14 laps of green flag action he built a lead of 10.3 seconds. Sikes will stay with Pabst for the step up to USF Pro 2000.

35. Kush Maini

New entry • Surprise F2 package caught the eye

Maini took a big risk stepping up to F2 after a bittersweet FIA F3 season where speed wasn’t accompanied with results, but he obtained high reward.

The Indian surprised everyone — his team included — with a rocket start to the season, which had him fourth in the standings with 49 points after ten races. He also stepped on the podium in the Melbourne sprint race.

The Indian would only score 13 more points over the remainder of the season as Campos Racing became less competitive and struggled with tyre degradation. Notwithstanding, he had the chance to showcase his talent in several qualifying sessions, with second at Silverstone and third at Yas Marina Circuit his best results.

His strong performances resulted in him becoming an Alpine junior ahead of the season’s last round, as well as being signed as Mahindra’s reserve driver in Formula E.

Now also mentored by F1 double world champion Mika Hakkinen, Maini will go up against 2023 FIA F3 champion and Fernando Alonso’s protege Gabriel Bortoleto at Invicta Racing (formerly known as Virtuosi Racing) in F2 next year.

34. Alessandro Giusti

Up 12 • Hot conditions in France opened the doors for winning FREC form

Giusti built on his French F4 title from last year as he stepped up to FREC with G4 Racing, and proved he could take the challenge to more experienced drivers at that level.

The Frenchman debuted with seventh place at Imola then scored just a single point in the next nine races. Then at a hot Paul Ricard he stormed to pole and won race one convincingly, which he followed up with fifth place in race two. Giusti excelled again next time out at the Red Bull Ring, where he was second in race one then won race two from pole. He followed that up at Monza by inheriting race one victory after Antonelli and ART Grand Prix’s Marcus Amand hit penalties.

Those results lifted him to sixth in the standings, where he remained despite taking one point in the last five races, and he was second in FREC’s rookie classification. He outscored his team-mate Michael Belov, a FRegional veteran, by 87 points over 16 races.

33. Richard Verschoor

Down 11 • F2 underdog made marginal gains with his fourth team

Like in 2022, Verschoor was often the underdog in F2, but this time with VAR. He came ninth in the championship with 108 points, scoring 89% of VAR’s tally to do the heavy lifting in earning them seventh in the teams’ standings.

A remarkable drive from 11th on the grid earned him his maiden feature race victory at the Red Bull Ring, the same place he was denied it the previous year due to not having enough fuel left in his car at the end of the race.

Then he struggled at both Silverstone and the Hungaroring. However, he put his season back on track with strong performances in the Spa and Zandvoort feature races and then podiums in the Monza and Yas Marina sprint races.

Post-season he returned to F3 with Trident for the Macau Grand Prix, seeking to defend his 2019 FIA World Cup crown, but could only finish sixth after a weekend where he was never in the mix.

The Italian team has also obtained his services for the 2024 F2 season, and he is “eager to work tirelessly on developing the new car together”.

32. Esteban Masson

Re-entry (41st in 2021) • Bounced back from 2022 in style, at least in Eurocup-3

The 2021 French F4 champion needed to redirect his career after a tough 2022 FREC season where he drove for FA Racing and ART Grand Prix and scored a sole point. And he did so.

With limited budget, Masson signed with Campos Racing to compete in Eurocup-3 — a new continental FRegional-based series with restrained costs and an upgraded car.

He had a slow start to the season at Spa a with sixth and a seventh place, but soon got up to speed. He won twice in round two at Motorland Aragon, and would double up again at Zandvoort and Barcelona’s season finale. In between, he also topped the podium at Estoril and Valencia.

Masson went to Barcelona just one point ahead of main title rival Mari Boya and 15 points clear of Sebastian Ogaard. A perfect weekend there, scoring 56 out of 56 points, meant he was crowned champion with a 30-point advantage.

He also took part in selected FREC rounds with Sainteloc Racing, achieving better results than in 2022. His best was a second place on home soil at Paul Ricard. He was classified 16th with 39 points, having missed four of of the 10 rounds.

An excellent pirvate test in a GT3 car earned him a drive in Kessel Racing’s GTE Am-class Ferrari in the World Endurance Championship finale at Bahrain, where he also shone. As a consequence, he is moving on to endurance racing in 2024 with ASP Team and will drive one of its Lexuses in WEC’s new LMGT3 class.

31. Dennis Hauger

Down 7 • Small improvements weren’t enough to regularly shine in F2

On the surface, Hauger’s second season in F2 looked much like his first, and once again he was with the reigning champion team. This time it was MP Motorsport rather than Prema, and like the previous year he took two wins and two other sprint race podiums.

He was also team-mate to Jehan Daruvala again. Last year Daruvala had the upper hand by 11 points and three positions in the standings, while in 2023 the gap was 54 points and four championship places but in Hauger’s favour against a team-mate in his fourth year in F2.

The start of the season didn’t go well for Hauger, with an engine issue putting him out of the Bahrain feature race and then red flags denying him a shot at pole in Melbourne. He finished second and first respectively in the sprint races at those two tracks, which stood as his only podiums until round nine at the Hungaroring where he took another sprint race win after a lowly qualifying position.

A sprint race podium and a retirement at Spa followed, and consistent scoring thereon meant Hauger came eighth in the standings. That didn’t meet Red Bull’s expectations, meaning he has lost his junior status for 2024, but he did end this year by returning to F3 and finishing second in the Macau GP.