Home Featured Formula Scout Top 50 Drivers of 2024: 40-31

Formula Scout Top 50 Drivers of 2024: 40-31

by Formula Scout
Part two of Formula Scout’s countdown of the year’s best junior single-seater drivers continues with those ranked from 40th to 31st

40. Evan Giltaire

Down 14 • Was a winner early in first full FREC campaign 

After looking promising in a couple of outings at the end of 2023, Giltaire stayed with ART Grand Prix for a full rookie campaign in Formula Regional Europe. The reigning French F4 champion looked like a potential title challenger as he calmly took his maiden win on the opening weekend at Hockenheim. However, thereafter his season lost rhythm as he struggled to get on top of tyre degradation, while team-mate Alessandro Giusti gained the upper hand as the team recovered from a dismal 2023 season.

After that initial high, Giltaire could only manage one more podium, in the first race at the Red Bull Ring.

He acknowledged that his inability to nail routinely a top five slot in split qualifying hampered his chances of progress in races. Overall, an average position of 6.7 in qualifying in his group meant he was only the season’s 13th fastest qualifier, leaving him stuck in the pack and exposed to the risk of midfield contact accordingly.

He did take second place in the rookie standings behind Noah Stromsted but will be looking to challenge for the main title in his sophomore year in 2025.

Giltaire had looked well-placed for a strong finish on his Macau debut, but starting the feature race from ninth he was a victim of team-mate James Wharton’s crash at Lisboa putting an end to his race.

39. Noel Leon

Up 11 • Progressed to score podiums in F3 and Macau

After dominating a weak Euroformula field in 2023, Leon’s first season in FIA Formula 3 was characterised by continued progress.

The in-season testing at Barcelona marked a turning point after a slow start for the Mexican and his Van Amersfoort Racing team. At Imola, he achieved his first podium in a chaotic conclusion to the sprint race, where he lost the lead on the last lap to cross the line in second place, then stood on the top step after a penalty for Oliver Goethe, only to then be penalised himself for a restart infraction and demoted to third.

After that Leon became a regular points scorer while his team-mates struggled. He became a frontrunner in the final rounds of the season, snatching three more podiums – including second in the Hungaroring feature race – to allow him to squeeze into the top 10 in the final standings.

He went on to finish on the podium at the Macau Grand Prix in a one-off return to FRegional machinery, and joins Prema for his second season in F3 in 2025.

38. Hiyu Yamakoshi

New entry • Took the fight to Slater after Italian F4 switch

Yamakoshi was a revelation as he moved across to the Italian F4 championship with Van Amersfoort Racing, after combining the French and Spanish championships in 2023. The Japanese driver endeared himself to his team with his willingness to listen and learn, his conduct off-track and his speed on-track.

In a season where the rest of the filed was left somewhat in Freddie Slater’s shadow, Yamakoshi was the Englishman’s main challenger in the opening rounds. When he took three poles at Imola, he seemed to have rattled Slater slightly for the first and only time in the year. His two wins in Emilia-Romagna were fully deserved, while he was his own harshest critic for the mistake which cost him a hat-trick.

He took three more podiums at Vallelunga but lost direction mid-season before bouncing back in Barcelona, although a disastrous weekend at Monza cost him second in the final standings.

He did take two more victories in the Euro 4 series but lacked the consistency to challenge for overall honours, with Monza again proving his downfall.

Self-effacing, approachable and modest, if he can add a bit more aggression to his racing, Yamakoshi could shine in FRegional next year as he steps up with VAR.

37. Christian Ho

Up 4 • Singaporean was standout star of Eurocup-3

Ho looks like the next big talent from southeast Asia, and like many drivers with sighs set on Formula 1 he relocated to Europe for his karting career.

As a single-seater rookie in 2022 he was fairly anonymous, but since teaming up with Campos Racing last year he has become a rapid driver capable of winning streaks and title attacks. Spanish F4 was the first place he showed it, keeping the title fight going to the final round and winning the last four races, and in 2024 he stepped up to the FRegional-based Eurocup-3 and came two points short of being champion.

Failing to meet the chequered flag in the first two races meant he already had a 30-point margin to close, and while he took pole for the next race a slow start and a penalty meant he finished fourth and the gap to the top grew.

Ho’s response was two wins and two poles at Algarve, although retiring his car from second place in race three meant he was still 13 points behind in the title race, then a win and a second place from his double pole at Paul Ricard earned him the points lead.

The perfect weekend for main rival Javier Sagrera at Zandvoort while he only picked up one podium meant Ho trailed by 23 points ahead of the Spanish leg of the season, where his team was likely to have the advantage over the MP Motorsport outfit from the Netherlands than ran Sagrera.

A 10-second penalty for Ho denied him a double podium at Motorland Aragon and grew Sagrera’s advantage, and at Jerez only two points were snipped off as Ho claimed a lights-to-flag race one win and was fifth in race two after a prolonged battle with a team-mate that Ho couldn’t win due to their similar pace.

Ho finished second in race one of the Barcelona finale then comfortably took pole for the title decider. That was converted into a fifth win with ease, but the presence of guest drivers meant Sagrera earned two more points than usual in fifth and therefore pipped Ho to the crown – although that remains under appeal.

The 18-year-old Singaporean has not yet announced his 2025 plans, but there’s scant places left on the FIA F3 grid so there’s a risk that the off-season rather than results could slow his career momentum.

36. Sami Meguetounif

New entry • Fast but inconsistent rookie won two F3 feature races

Meguetounif was immediately up to speed upon his FIA F3 debut, fighting for the podium in the season opener at Bahrain as he made the most of Trident’s highly competitive package.

A costly mistake in qualifying impacted his results in the second round of the championship at Melbourne, but he bounced back at Imola with a superb race management to win the feature race.

However, the Frenchman was not always able to accompany his speed with consistency, and only scored five points in the next five rounds.

He was aware he just needed to put it together, and so he did in the last two rounds to be fifth in the feature race at Spa-Francorchamps and then comfortably win the final race of the year at Monza, which he executed perfectly as he left the title contenders to squabble behind him.

Meguetounif did what his title-winning team-mate Leonardo Fornaroli could not by winning a race – twice – but never otherwise finished on the podium and therefore only scored just over half as many points and finished eighth in the standings. Rather than stay to put that right in 2025, another step up to Formula 2 beckons.

35. Tim Tramnitz

Down 6 • Red Bull junior was strongest in F3 sprints

Tramnitz quickly emerged as the leading driver of MP Motorsport’s all-rookie line-up in FIA F3.

The experience gathered during pre-season testing allowed him to finish fifth and third in the opening round of the season at Bahrain. The expectations were high after that, but the MP car was not always able to fight at the front.

Still, the Red Bull junior continued to make the podium in reversed-grid sprint races, twice finishing in second place at Imola and Monaco while the season was still in its early stages.

Results were hard to come by in the middle of the year but the German continued to progress as the season went on and kept maximising the opportunities he had. He capped off the season by scoring points in the last four races, and finally stood on the top step in the sprint race at Monza.

Ninth in the final standings, he scored more points than anybody – and 64% of his own total – in sprint races, so will be trying to lead MP forward into the top half of the top 12 in qualifying to score bigger in 2025.

34. Callum Voisin

New entry • Drove Rodin to the top step in F3

Without a doubt, Voisin was one of the standout drivers of the second half of the 2024 FIA F3 season.

The Rodin Motorsport package lacked competitiveness and his lack of experience in the series didn’t help either, which led to him going points-free for the first six rounds.

However, the Silverstone round was an important turnaround. Helped by the mixed weather conditions and his and his British-based team’s local knowledge, Voisin extracted the maximum from the car and showcased his talent by qualifying ninth and finishing the sprint race in fourth place, before charging to first in a highly strategic feature race only to then be classified third because of a penalty.

The points streak continued at the Hungaroring and Spa-Francorchamps, where he starred again claiming pole position and then winning the feature race in slippery conditions.

33. Ollie Bearman

Down 27 • Managed three more F2 wins amid F1 call-ups and Prema struggles

Bearman’s 2024 season was far off the expectations for a sophomore of his pedigree. Prema’s struggled with the set-up of the new F2 car was evident in its all-star line-up’s lack of results, with the car proving difficult to handle especially in the race.

However, Ferrari junior Bearman still put it on pole in Jeddah – a remarkable turnaround from Bahrain one week earlier – before he had to withdraw to make his surprise F1 debut.

More F1 commitments and the unpredictability of his car impacted the Briton’s performances from thereon. Qualifying became a struggle, and it was difficult to reach the front starting from the back. Nevertheless, Bearman still delivered when he found himself in a position to do so, winning the sprint races at Spielberg, Monza and Lusail.

The highlight of his season though was the Monaco feature race, where he charged from 12th place on the grid to fourth at the chequered flag, including a blistering opening lap, strong race pace and a brilliant move on his teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

32. Nikita Johnson

Up 16 • Teen won frequently in Indy Pro 2000 and twice in GB3

Velocity Racing Development’s protege is still only 16, but has already proven himself on three rungs of the Road to Indy and now on the British racing scene too.

After taking two wins and two other podiums from five races in 2023, Johnson raced in the third-tier USF Pro 2000 full-time this year and won eight races but lost the title due to non-finishes and a disqualification. He not only won three more races than the champion, but became only the fourth driver in the last 27 years to surpass seven victories in a season.

Johnson was victorious in four of the first six races this season. That run was ended when he was disqualified from victory in race two on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course due to having a modified component on his car, and he not just lost the 30 points for winning but was also docked a further 30 points as a penalty.

His lead went from 55 to 15 points, but then he finished second from pole in race three and his closest title rival ran out of budget and dropped off the grid. The following race however also contributed to Johnson losing the title, as the Freedom 90 awarded additional points due to running on an oval. Johnson crashed out halfway through and had a penalty, and now he had just a one-point lead over Lochie Hughes.

A perfect weekend at the Road America triple-header put Hughes ahead, and Johnson rebounded by going unbeaten at Mid-Ohio but that was a two-race weekend so a big points gap still existed.

Then came Toronto. Johnson ploughed into the back of another car one corner into race one, then his attempt to pressure Hughes for the lead in race two turned into a spin and a race-ending crash. Now he was third in the points, and another unbeaten weekend in the Portland finale only moved him back up one spot.

VRD isn’t active in Indy Nxt, the next rung of the Road to Indy, so the team prepared Johnson for 2025 by also having him race in GB3 this year. He joined the grid after turning 16 and won twice en route to 11th in the standings. For 2025 he will stay there but join Hitech GP.

31. Noah Stromsted

New entry • Summary

Against a dominant Prema and drivers with more FRegional experience, Stromsted probably did the maximum he could this year by coming sixth in FREC.

He was over 50 points shy of fifth place, but was classified as top rookie and in addition to four second places (one of which came from a pole position claimed in heavy rain at the Red Bull Ring), he had three other top-five finishes and three fastest laps.

Wet-weather form propelled him to strong results at multiple circuits, but Stromsted admitted to Formula Scout there was a pace struggle in the dry during the season’s first half. The building of experience helped him following that, and 62% of his points came after season’s halfway point.

Stromsted also scored 99.1% of Race Performance Motorsport’s points, individually matching the team’s combined podium tally from the previous two seasons and single-handedly earning it sixth place in the teams’ standings for 2024. Had he been with a more established outfit, there’s no doubt Stromsted’s struggles would have either been resolved quicker, been less costly in terms of points, or both.

There were also cameos in FRegional Middle East and FIA F3 either side of turning 17, and Stromsted will step up to the latter full-time for his fifth year of single-seater racing.