Formula 4

Should be fun.

And Kunal and I will be back on the Indian Motors, Indian Racing Festival, Indian Formula 4 broadcast on Hotstar this Saturday and this Sunday as well.

So tune in to that in the meantime.

But for now, we've got to excuse us because we have to end the stream.

And then obviously on the day, you also need to prove that you can drive the F1 car.

Because it wasn't just driving in the F1 car, it was also getting into it and doing a couple Formula 4 sessions with an actual team helping you and also observing you of whether you can actually drive the car.

So beforehand, obviously I had to go grand, I had to announce it, I was saying,

Thomas is going to drive the Alpine F1 car.

Yeah, the first man to crash an F1 car live on their own Twitch stream.

There you go, yeah.

But even then, even worse, they had to observe me in the Formula 4 sessions.

And if I wasn't good enough or if I did some stupid things, then I couldn't drive the F1 car.

Yeah, he always had incredible intensity of preparation and detail throughout his career.

And, I mean, even doing something as low-key as a Talbot Sunbeam race at Alton Park, where they just put local club racing drivers or Formula 4 drivers together in this – sort of manufacturer promotion thing.

He did that.

He did one race there and there was a tyre guy who was getting all the tyres ready and he went and introduced himself to him and got him to measure the diameter so he had equal diameter tyres and he made sure he had the best set of tyres for his car.

And we're getting tons of kids coming through it.

And then we're going to, and then we're taking the best kids and we're putting them in Formula 4, Formula 3, Formula 2 with Otmar's team.

I think the

beauty of what Rob's doing is, isn't that 14 million or 15 million goes to 13, right? So you save the two in carding or the one.

The ones that we look at, they won't just come out the top of Fat Carton League.

We'll get them all the way.

We've got a kid in Formula 4 now and we'll have eventually eight kids in Formula 4.

Then we'll have kids with Otmar in Formula 3 and Formula 2.

We could also try to go through this program.

The program will be aiming to get into F3, F2, F4, Formula Regional, all of that.

So there is definitely potential for that to happen.

They're taking on assets from AIX Racing.

Reigning F1 world champion Londo Naris has launched his own race team and young driver program.

So he's joined forces with British karting team Fusion Motorsport to establish LN4 Fusion, which will compete in Formula 3 and Formula 4 next year.

They've acquired some assets of AIX Racing, and they want to process a 2027 F2 entry.

So that's pretty cool.

Salihulic drove brilliantly in Brazil to win.

that race for the 34 Corvette with Charlie Eastwood and Peter Dempsey as well who is a standout bronze this year as you might expect with his history in Formula 4 in the UK and further afield as well but Peter Dempsey then taking the race victory after He shone in Le Mans as well, setting a blistering time during his bronze session.

Although, of course, that was eventually cancelled because of the infringement that was found on that 34 car with the rear, with the diffuser strake that was a bit too close to the ground, I seem to remember.

So they failed the ride height check.

Antonelli replaces Hamilton at Mercedes.

After proving to be too good for karting by the end of 2021, Antonelli started racing in cars by 2022 and went on to dominate similarly in Formula 4 and later Formula 3.

Nothing seemed to phase this teenage sensation, a trait we are seeing in real time this season as he takes on the best drivers in the world and makes it look routine.

Toto Wolff was quick to sign him to Mercedes Academy, and after impressing in his F2 debut season, the German was convinced Antonelli was ready for a fast-track jump into the big time.