Formula Scout Top 50 Drivers of 2025: 30-21

80

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 three of the countdown with the drivers we placed from 30th to 21st

30. Sebastian Wheldon

New entry • F4 returnee went global with wins in Europe and UAE

After winning a Formula 4 title in 2023 in the Skip Barber Formula Race Series and starring in USF Juniors cars in 2024, Wheldon returned to F4 machinery for his third year in single-seaters but relocated his career from the United States to Europe and the United Arab Emirates.

He joined the Prema team to race in three championships this year, starting off with F4 Middle East (after a winning debut in the Formula Trophy at the end of 2024). Wheldon began his campaign with a podium, then two further top-five finishes put him seventh in the standings, behind three of his team-mates.

In Italian F4 he had a far more successful time, and again started on a high with victory and fastest lap in the season opener. A second place followed in his next race, then in rounds two and three he took a win and another podium each time.

There was a dry run of three podium-free rounds that followed, but in the season-closing quintuple-header at Misano three of the wins and two of the poles went to Wheldon. Those results put him third in the standings, not far from second, while in the sister E4 championship he came fourth with one win and two other podiums.

Wheldon’s year ended with the FIA F4 World Cup in Macau, where he set the pace in practice and qualifying. He crashed out at the first braking zone of the qualification race, but impressively recovered to fourth in the main race.

29. Victor Martins

Down 9 • Results didn’t reflect rapid pace in F2

The Williams junior was the fastest driver in Formula 2 this year, yet came 11th in the standings. He failed to see the chequered flag six times, and only had a podium view three times.

Martins was on pole for the feature races in Melbourne and Silverstone, his average starting position was fifth and his median starting position was 2.5 due to being so consistently near the top in qualifying.

He finished higher than where he started in nine races, usually slipping back since he only had the 13th best race pace in the field. But at the ART Grand Prix team, that still translated into being able to score over three times as many points as his team-mate.

Lots of things did not go Martins’ way during the year, most notably having his two poles do nothing for his race chances. In Melbourne the race was cancelled, and wet weather at Silverstone led to him dropping down the order and coming 19th. He was also on the receiving end of contact from some of his less mature rivals, but that was an accepted risk in opting to remain at this level for a third year – a commitment that ultimately didn’t pay off.

28. Alex Ninovic

New entry • GB3 champion with victories in five countries

Although he was taking a step up Britain’s single-seater ladder, 2024 British F4 runner-up Ninovic faced many new circuits as he graduated to GB3. However it was at those venues where he outshone his usual rivals, ultimately leading to title success.

Only half of this season’s rounds were in Britain, and the championship’s new, more powerful car presented further challenges. In the opening round, Ninovic had a fourth, a fifth and a non-finish and left the event seventh in the standings.

It only took four more races for Ninovic to move up into the points lead, and from there he continued to score big and was crowned with a 148-point gap to second place.

The Australian won from pole at Zandvoort, Spa-Francorchamps, the Hungaroring, Silverstone, Brands Hatch, Donington Park and Monza, with double victories at the two British tracks. He was GB3’s only driver to star at ‘home’ and abroad.

27. Martinius Stenshorne

Re-entry • F3’s top sprint race scorer

Stenshorne was ninth in Formula Scout’s end-of-year list in 2023, when he was Formula Regional European Championship runner-up, and last year he stepped up to the FIA Formula 3 Championship with Hitech GP. Although he won a sprint race, he scored no feature race points until the season-ending race where he finished fifth and took fastest lap.

For 2025 he decided to stay with Hitech, and a new F3 car made it difficult to build on any end-of-2024 momentum.

But Stenshorne delivered from the off, starting his sophomore campaign on the podium, winning the Monaco sprint race, taking victory in the Red Bull Ring feature race from 15th on the grid and claiming two other podiums in the season’s second half to make him the year’s top scorer in sprint races.

He more than doubled his 2024 points tally, improved to fifth in the standings after being 18th as a rookie, was in the top seven on single-lap and race pace and delivered all but one of Hitech’s points. Now no longer a McLaren junior but still guided by Nicolas Todt’s All Road Management, he also ran highly on his F2 debut in Baku.

26. Evan Giltaire

Up 14 • FRME champion also starred in FREC

Giltaire first started racing for ART GP in FREC back in 2023, and his first full season last year may have only featured two podiums but his haul of 97 points from eight races that he finished in the top 10 put him seventh in the standings.

This year he more than doubled his number of points-scoring races, came close to doubling his 2024 points tally, more than doubled his podium count and claimed his first two poles. For the second season in a row the highlight was in the opening round, this year at Misano, where Giltaire broke his pole duck and converted it into his sole victory of 2025.

Before FREC was FRegional Middle East, and that campaign led to the second title of Giltaire’s single-seater career. In a series new to him and the team, he won three times and had five other podiums from the five-round season, allowing him to beat Freddie Slater to the crown.

A similar title challenge in FREC ultimately didn’t follow after he went seven rounds without a podium, but Giltaire was back on form at the end of the year and starred too at the Macau Grand Prix. In qualifying he was third fastest, he finished fourth in the qualification race then was sixth in the main race.

25. Pedro Clerot

New entry • Uber-consistent FREC campaign earned plaudits

Aside from a points-free weekend at Spa and a single 10th place finish in Hungary, Clerot’s lowest result in FREC this year was seventh as he utilised a superb level of consistency to come fourth in the standings and only miss out on third on victory countback.

Clerot’s highest-scoring weekend was at Zandvoort, where he claimed a double pole and converted first place on the grid into a victory and a second place. He was also on pole at the Red Bull Ring, where he won again and was fourth in the event’s other race, and he collected four other podiums in rounds at the Hungaroring, Barcelona and Monza.

The Brazilian became the first Van Amersfoort Racing driver in FREC to surpass 200 points in a campaign since 2020, and his seven podiums was a haul nobody driving for the team has ever bettered.

There was a run of four rounds where Clerot was in the top five in every race, which not even the champion achieved this year.

24. Gabriel Gomez

New entry • Marked himself out by threatening Prema’s Italian F4 supremacy

Having only been 18th in Spanish F4 last year, driving for the inexperienced TC Racing team, it wasn’t expected that Gomez’s switch to US Racing for his second full year in single-seaters would lead to him being one of the best F4 drivers on the globe.

His title-winning potential was shown from the off, as he started the Formula Winter Series with two wins and two poles. He remained on the podium through the next seven races, including another win and three more poles, and he was crowned champion by a huge margin.

Prema was not present in that paddock, whereas Gomez had to take on the drivers of the dominant Italian outfit when he then headed to Italian F4 and E4. In the former he won four times, took seven other podiums and five poles, inflicting defeat on Prema more times than anyone else. In the latter championship, lasting nine races, he had two wins and three second places.

Although he was far from Prema’s champion in both, Gomez was runner-up in the standings twice and has a lot of career momentum behind him now.

23. Tim Tramnitz

Up 12 • Solid second F3 season was built on strong early form

Quietly impressive is the best way to describe Tramnitz’s sophomore FIA F3 campaign, as he scored strongly enough while his MP Motorsport team was on the pace early in the season that, even with a six-race points-free run following that, he finished fourth in the standings.

He was the fourth-highest scorer on the grid in feature races, making the podium at Bahrain and the Red Bull Ring and finishing fifth in Melbourne and Monaco. Tramnitz’s two team-mates’ combined points tally from the season was less than his, and he outperformed his season-long data metrics thanks to maximising the package he had early in the campaign.

While he only qualified in the top five twice, and there were no standout results, Tramnitz was getting the job done on track each race in a way few others were able to when F3’s new car was introduced.

22. Theophile Nael

Re-entry • Macau GP win followed starring F3 drives

Nael was 16th in this list in 2023, when he romped to the Spanish F4 title. He continued to impress last year, but with less headline results as he continued with Sainteloc Racing for the step up to FREC and FRME.

He won once in each championship, and decided to stick with the French team again into 2025. This time he only did three FRME rounds, with a return of three podiums that was still enough to put him seventh in the standings.

Focus moved on from that point to FIA F3, which meant having to leave his long-time team. Nael joined VAR, and enjoyed a stellar start to life at his new home. He qualified third on his F3 debut, rising from 10th to seventh in Melbourne’s sprint race and making the podium in the feature race.

His next points came in round five at Barcelona, and it was a similar story. He qualified fourth, rose to fifth in the sprint race and second in the feature race. There was only one point next time out at the Red Bull Ring, as VAR lacked qualifying pace, but Nael starred again in the feature race Silverstone with a charge from ninth to second. Further points finishes put him eighth in the standings – the third-highest rookie – with more points than his two team-mates combined.

Nael capped off 2025 at the Macau GP. Driving for Pinnacle Motorsport, he set the qualifying pace and stayed cannily in contention through the two races to wind up as winner of the grand prix.

21. Lochie Hughes

Up 9 • Continued stellar rise up road to Indy

Hughes has sped up the Road to Indy, coming third in USF2000 in 2023, winning the 2024 USF Pro 2000 title and placing third in his rookie Indy Nxt season this year.

The Andretti Global driver was on the podium in seven out of the first eight races, with the exception being a fifth place (with the fastest lap) around the tricky Detroit street circuit.

In just his third weekend in the championship, Hughes claimed a double pole on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course and converted those into a victory and a second place.

His next win was at Gateway, his first ever oval race at this level, and a performance that left the Australian in shock as he found a level of extreme confidence on the high line. He also made the podium on an oval at the Milwaukee Mile.

Hughes was third fastest on single-lap pace across the season and fourth on race pace, and for drivers who were stepping up to single-seaters’ second tier he was way clear of the next best driver who was 13th in the standings.

Written by Ida Wood