Nerea Marti will step down from Formula Regional to Formula 4 this year as she has signed with Campos Racing to drive in the F1 Academy series.
The 21-year-old last raced in F4 four years ago, coming 16th in the Spanish championship with one podium finish to her name.
She was due to make her FRegional debut in 2020 having landed a W Series seat, but the season was cancelled and she had to wait until 2021. Marti made the podium in her fourth start, and by finishing every single race in the top eight she managed to come an impressive fourth in the standings.
Although she picked up two more podiums last year, two non-score meant she finished three places lower in the points table. For 2023 she now moves into another all-women series, with Formula 1 itself organising F1 Academy.
“I’m extremely happy joining Campos Racing for the very first season of F1 Academy,” said Marti.
“It provides an excellent new opportunity to continue taking steps forward in my racing career and I have no doubts that together I and Campos Racing will manage to meet all our goals.”
Marti is the first driver to be signed by Campos for F1 Academy, and is the fourth in total to commit to the championship which is yet to reveal where it will be racing with its seven-round calendar.
The other teams to have signed drivers are ART Grand Prix (Lena Buhler), Prema (Bianca Bustamante) and Rodin Carlin (Jessica Edgar).
“We are proud to have Nerea for the first season of F1 Academy,” Campos’s team principal Adrian Campos Jr said.
“She has regularly been one of the most competitive female drivers in the last seasons, I am sure we will manage to achieve strong results together. It’s exciting to have a driver from Valencia at a Valencian team and fighting for an international championship.
“Nerea has enjoyed the support of Formula de Campeones and the Circuit Valencia Ricardo Tormo since she embarked on her single-seater career and we hope she will have their support to continue making progress at the highest international level.”