Photo: ACI Sport
There is expected to be over 30 drivers at every Italian Formula 4 round this year, with the season kicking off at Imola this weekend.
The 2022 campaign will be the first using the new Tatuus T-421 car, and has been purchased by 14 teams with the intent of racing it in the Italian championship.
As in previous seasons, Prema and Van Amersfoort Racing will be fielding the largest line-ups and the ones that are most likely to include the champion, with Formula 1 juniors from Red Bull (karting graduate Arvid Lindblad who will debut once he turns 15), Mercedes-AMG (Andrea Kimi Antonelli) and Ferrari (James Wharton and Rafael Camara). Iron Lynx also has a Ferrari junior in Maya Weug, who will be under pressure to perform after her lacklustre rookie season.
The seven-round season includes trips abroad to the reprofiled Spa-Francorchamps and the Red Bull Ring, with the ‘home’ rounds being Imola, Misano, Vallelunga, Monza and Mugello. The entry list is anticipated to go way beyond 40 for the Spa round, and the series may need to run heat races or have non-qualifiers if that is the case.
While it would be a safe bet to predict that on of the Prema or VAR stars will become champion, and it is Prema duo Antonelli and Camara who lead the way in Germany’s technically identical ADAC F4 series, there’s the increased presence of former part-timer US Racing to factor in this year too with current British F4 leader Alex Dunne and Polish rising star Kacper Sztuka.
Other names to keep an eye out on are Formula Delta Brasil race-winner Pedro Clerot at AKM Motorsport and Jenzer Motorsport’s William Karlsson who is the reigning champion of the Formula Renault 1.6-spec Formula Nordic series. Both are prioritising other F4 series, but when they appear they are sure to turn heads.
2022 Italian F4 entry list
| Team | No | Driver | 2021 (’22) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Van Amersfoort Racing | #2 | Arias Deukmedjian | 9th in US F4, 18th in FRegional Americas |
| #17 | Emmo Fittipaldi | 3rd in Danish F4 | |
| #24 | Arvid Lindblad | Senior karting (shifter karting) | |
| #33 | Brando Badoer | Senior karting (28th in F4 UAE) | |
| #34 | Martinius Stenshorne | Senior karting (10th in F4 UAE) | |
| #96 | Jules Castro | Senior karting (33rd in F4 UAE) | |
| Prema | #7 | Charlie Wurz | 20th in Italian F4 (F4 UAE champion) |
| #12 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | 10th in Italian F4 (8th in F4 UAE) | |
| #13 | James Wharton | Senior karting (5th in F4 UAE) | |
| #20 | Conrad Laursen | 9th in Italian F4, 19th in ADAC F4 (12th in F4 UAE) | |
| #88 | Rafael Camara | Senior karting (2nd in F4 UAE) | |
| US Racing | #11 | Pedro Perino | 33rd in Italian F4 |
| #22 | Alex Dunne | 8th in ADAC F4, 16th in Spanish F4 (1st in British F4, 6th in F4 UAE) | |
| #37 | Kacper Sztuka | 36th in Italian F4 | |
| #37 | Nikhil Bohra | 22nd in ADAC F4 (20th in F4 UAE) | |
| #37 | Marcus Amand | 12th in ADAC F4, 40th in Italian F4 | |
| Iron Lynx | #47 | Niko Lacorte | Senior karting |
| #83 | Maya Weug | 35th in Italian F4 | |
| #83 | Ivan Domingues | (16th in F4 UAE) | |
| Jenzer Motorsport | #19 | Valentin Kluss | Junior karting |
| #26 | Alex Partyshev | 25th in Spanish F4 | |
| #27 | Ethan Ischer | Junior karting | |
| # | William Karlsson | FNordic champion | |
| R-ace GP | #54 | Frederik Lund | 14th in Danish F4 |
| #55 | Marcos Flack | 11th in British F4, 20th in ADAC F4 | |
| AKM Motorsport | #36 | Ismoilkhuja Akhmedkhodjaev | (36th in F4 UAE) |
| #35 | Pedro Clerot | 4th in FDelta Brasil | |
| BVM Racing | #54 | Kim Hwarang | Senior karting |
| Cram Motorsport | #80 | Ricardo Escotto | (25th in F4 UAE) |
| #79 | Giorgios Markogiannis | 38th in Italian F4 | |
| AS Motorsport | #5 | Giovanni Maschio | Senior karting |
| #39 | Manuel Quondamcarlo | ||
| BWR Motorsports | #3 | Alfio Spina | Senior karting |
| #87 | Rishab Jain | ||
| PHM Racing | #15 | Nikita Bedrin | 5th in ADAC F4, 8th in Italian F4 (4th in F4 UAE) |
| #41 | Jonas Ried | 25th in Italian F4 (23rd in F4 UAE) | |
| #46 | Victoria Blokhina | (37th in F4 UAE) | |
| #77 | Taylor Barnard | 17th in ADAC F4 (9th in F4 UAE) | |
| Maffi Racing | #48 | Elia Sperandio | F4 testing |
| Cars Racing | #21 | Andrea Frassineti | Shifter karting |