Photo: Sauber Motorsport
Rodin Motorsport has added Emma Felbermayr to its 2025 Formula 4 line-up, and she will become the first car racing rookie in F1 Academy to receive Formula 1 team support.
Felbermayr’s car will carry the colours of the Audi-owned Sauber F1 team, which chose to place her at Rodin. Sauber has altered its F1 Academy strategy, having supported a driver at Campos Racing this year.
In addition to that series, Felbermayr will race for Rodin in Iberia’s Formula Winter Series and Spanish F4. She has a clash in her racing schedule on May 2-4, when F1 Academy is in Miami and Spanish F4 is at Navarra.
“I’m proud and thrilled to be joining Sauber for the 2025 F1 Academy season. This is an incredible opportunity to take the next step in my racing career and to challenge myself at this exciting level,” said Felbermayr.
“I’m looking forward to representing the team, growing as a driver, and making the most of the visibility and platform F1 Academy offers. I can’t wait to get started and see what we can achieve together.”
Felbermayr comes from a family of crane builders and sportscar racers, and graduates from karting. She was eighth in the ADAC Kart Masters, 16th in the South Garda Winter Cup and 19th in the German championship for OK Junior karts, and on OK karts was ninth in the German championship and South Garda Winter Cup and 19th in the WSK Champions Cup.
A rib injury interrupted her 2023, and on her return she transitioned to KZ2 shifter karts. Since then she has come 35th in the WSK Final Cup and 36th in the CIK-FIA European Championship.
“Emma is young, but has already shown her potential, and we are looking forward to seeing her represent us on the international scene from next year,” said Sauber’s chief operating officer Mattia Binotto .
“We’re also thrilled to be partnering with Rodin Motorsport for our F1 Academy operations, counting on their decades-long experience with junior drivers in several series, and having most recently clinched the 2024 F1 Academy title. This marks the beginning of an exciting journey, and we can’t wait to see what we can achieve together.”
Felbermayr’s 19-year-old brother Horst Felix was a finalist in the 2021 Richard Mille Young Talent Academy shootout while in shifter karting, but missed out on a paid-for Spanish F4 seat. He came seventh in Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux last year, 19th and 20th in the German and Italian equivalents this year and guests in the Porsche Supercup.
Horst Felbermayr, and his son of the same name, were ninth in the European Le Mans Series’ GT2 class in 2005. The elder of the two was fifth in the 2008 Le Mans 24 Hours’ GT2 class (with the family company branding the Proton Competition team he drove for), while the younger – Emma’s father – was eighth in class in 2010, third in ELMS’ GTE Am class in ’11 and seventh in its LMP3 class last year.