by Alex Johnston
Championship winners, Kings and Queens of consistency and people who stood out for other reasons! Here are my top 10 lower formula drivers of 2024!
Louis Foster
Since Louis Foster ventured off to the US for the 2022 season, he’s really made a name for himself and topped it off in 2024 by dominating the Indy NXT season.
Driving for Andretti, he was first or second in 11 out of 14 races and beat his next closest challenger - Jacob Abel - to the title by over 120 points.
That form caught the eye of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, who have snapped up the 21 year old Brit for a rookie IndyCar campaign in 2025.
Abbi Pulling
Before the F1 Academy season has begun people had predicted French driver Doriane Pin would run away with the championship. Step forward, Abbi Pulling.
Pulling started strongly and never looked back, finishing on the podium in every single race, and beating Pin to the title by, like Foster in Indy NXT, over 120 points! A strong season for both Brits!
Pulling also ran in British F4, finishing seventh overall - despite missing two rounds - and in 2025 will join the GB3 Championship, sticking with the Rodin team she has become accustomed to in recent seasons.
Leonardo Fornaroli
All I should need to say here is ‘a pass on thelast corner of the last lap, at Monza, to win the championship on home turf’. Incredible stuff by Fornaroli to take the F3 title this year.
All the more impressive; he won the title without a single race win to his name, instead showing the consistency all teams desire in a driver. In my opinion, Ferrari should be doing everything they can to sign this guy to their academy.
He’s now debuted in Formula 2 with Rodin but will make his full season debut with Invicta Racing next year.
Rafael Camara
This young Ferrari Academy driver is the real deal. Camara saw off PREMA teammate James Wharton to win the FRECA title in 2024 thanks to a strong start to the season that saw him take third or better in the first seven races.
In all, he won seven races and took five other podiums on the way to the title and has been rewarded with a seat in F3 for 2025 with regular challengers, Trident.
Since his single seater debut in 2022, he’s never finished lower than fifth overall in a championship he’s entered…early shout for a title contender?
Arvid Lindblad
Coming into PREMA’s F3 team from Italian F4, the expectation for many was that 16 year old Brit Lindblad would take the time to get up to speed in F3 during 2024 before mounting a series title challenge in ‘25.
What no one saw coming was the teenager winning the season opener before taking three more season wins to end the year fourth overall, just 40 points behind eventual champion Fornaroli.
He’s stepping up to Formula 2 in 2025 with Campos and if he’s as comfortable in F2 as he was in F3…he might well be in RB’s other seat in F1 in 2026.
Liam McNeilly
Liam McNeilly may not be a household name in America or indeed the UK but if he keeps running the way he did in USF Juniors - he might well follow in the footsteps of Louis Foster in a matter of short time.
The 18 year old Brit finished just four points off the title in his first year in American single seaters, and also debuted in the USF2000 series taking a pole position and a podium in his one outing, showing he can adapt very quickly indeed.
He is yet to announce his 2025 plans but he’s done his chances of finding a seat no harm whatsoever.
Gabriel Bortoleto
To win F3 and F2 back to back, you must be very, very good and it appears Gabriel Bortoleto is just that. By doing the back to back he joins Oscar Piastri, George Russell and Charles Leclerc - elite company.
He’s joining the Audi/Sauber/Stake set up in F1 for 2025 and beyond, and there is certainly no denying he’s earned it.
Joshua Duerksen
For someone who finished 19th in FRECA in 2023 to join the F2 grid for 2024, there was always going to be remarks over money, potential lack of talent and other things not best mentioned in an article designed to praise.
For Josh Duerksen, he put all those remarks to bed over the course of a strong season in F2 for AIX Racing. Although he started slowly, albeit capably, the Paraguayan 21 year old would end the season with one sprint race win in Baku and a feature race win at Abu Dhabi with a further podium in Imola as well as Monza in a wholly surprising and unexpected season for the South American.
He’ll return to F2 in 2025, sticking with AIX and hoping to improve on his overall impressive 10th place overall position.
Freddie Slater
Freddie Slater broke incredible records in 2024, racing for PREMA in Italian F4.
The young Brit won 15 of 20 Italian F4 races and competed in F4 UAE (champion), Euro-4 (second) and GB3 (one round only) before testing F3 machinery.
He’s since been announced for a FRECA campaign with PREMA in 2025 and is a huge talent.
Tymek Kucharczyk
Kucharczyk is aiming to emulate Robert Kubica who, to this day remains the only ever Polish driver to race in Formula 1.
Teenager Kucharczyk missed out by under 40 points on the GB3 title - his consistency a key factor in his season as he took points in 20 of 24 races.
Budgetary issues are rumoured to be holding him back from a 2025 plan announcement but wherever he ends up, he’ll do well.
📸 Image credits: GB3 Championship, Formula Motorsport Limited, BBC Sport, Indy NXT, Alpine, Liam McNeilly.
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