In 2017, when he raced for the last time in Brazil as an F1 driver, Felipe Massa said goodbye to the public at the Interlagos circuit with a pessimistic forecast. For him, the country would take years to have a representative in the category again.
The paulista believed that it would not be just sponsorships and money that would take Brazilians back to the biggest championship in world motorsport. It would also be necessary to invest in the training of pilots, something that, according to him, the country had failed to do.
The biggest consequence of this is that for seven years no competitor from the country has reached F1. The last to enter the category as a starter was Felipe Nars, in 2015 —Pietro Fittipaldi competed in two races in 2020, but as a Haas reserve.
After 15 years of emptiness and frustrated projects to find and train new talent, a new initiative will try to break that gap. Starting this weekend, 16 drivers aged 15 and over will compete in the unprecedented F4 Brasil.
The competition was born from the union between the recently created Associação dos Pilotos de F4 do Brasil and Vicar, which, in addition to being an investor and promoter of the new competition, also organizes Stock Car.
The aim of the championship is to resolve gaps in the training of athletes and fill the gap between karting and formula competitions, such as F1 and Indy – whoever wants to pursue a career on the tracks usually needs to leave the country and seek basic competitions in Europe or the States. United.
“When you send a 15-year-old boy to Europe, he has to learn a new language, he’ll be away from his family, friends, his girlfriend, and he’ll have to learn to cook and live alone. In other words, 90% of everything that can go wrong will be out of the car,” he tells Sheet Fernando Julianelli, CEO of Vicar.
According to the executive, by continuing his career without having to leave the country at such a young age, the pilot will have a greater chance of success. “When he arrives in Europe after competing here, he will be more mature.”
The last similar initiative in Brazil had been the Formula Renault, contested from 2002 to 2006, which helped to form names like Lucas Di Grassi, Daniel Serra, Allam Khodair and Bia Figueiredo.
Without similar projects, the presence of Brazilian drivers in the F4, F3 and F2 championships has been decreasing over the last few years, which has hampered the rise to F1.
“If there are no drivers in the lower categories, F4, F3 and F2, there is no way to send them to F1. Now, if we increase that number, we will have more chances of reaching F1”, says Alberto Cho, executive vice president. of the F4 Drivers Association in Brazil.
The businessman is the father of Álvaro Cho, the youngest boy on the grid – he is 14 years old and will turn 15 on June 27. In all, of the 16 pilots, 10 are linked to the association.
The championship will also feature important surnames from national motorsport, such as Fernando Barrichello, son of Rubens Barrichello.
As F4 Brasil is licensed by the FIA (Federation Internationale de Automobilismo), the minimum age to compete is 15 years old. Thus, Cho will only be able to debut from the second stage, on July 31, in Interlagos. The season opener will be this Saturday (14), at 9:40 am, at Autodromo Velocitta, in Mogi Guaçu, a municipality in the interior of São Paulo.
There will be six stages throughout the championship, and each of them will have three races on the same weekend, two on Saturdays and one on Sunday. The evidence will be broadcast by BandSports.
By having the seal of the FIA, the championship will also count points towards the super license, necessary for a driver to reach F1. To have this kind of driver’s license, each driver needs to accumulate 40 points over the course of basic competitions. The F4 champion will add 12 points.
Furthermore, the car that will be used here is the same model recently launched in Europe, made in Italy and used in the main base categories in the world, the Tatuus F4 T-021, with Pirelli tyres.
For pilot Felipe Giaffone, also a member of the association and father of pilot Nicolas Giaffone, 18, using this model helps to reduce the distance between pilots trained abroad. “Racing this car and the same tires made and used in Europe is a great opportunity,” he says.
In all, Vicar invested around R$ 20 million to buy 17 cars, in addition to spare parts and tires. To recover the investment, the promoter of the category will be able to sell 30% of the sponsorships of the cars – for now, Banco de Brasília is the only partner in the category. The other 70% will belong to the teams.
The idea of the association that brought together ten drivers from the grid was born precisely to facilitate negotiations for these sponsorship quotas. Although they are free to pursue individual partnerships, the group has offered the market the possibility of joint sponsorship, appearing in ten cars.
“In our case, of the 16 pilots, 10 are from the association. So, visibility is guaranteed. The probability of having an association pilot on the podium is great, and the chance of visibility for the sponsor, too”, explains Ricardo Gracia, member of the association, and father of pilot Ricardo Gracia Filho, 17.
Fernando Julianelli says that, even with the investment needed to organize the championship, F4 in Brazil will be one of the cheapest in the world. According to the Vicar executive, this is possible because the category will run together with Stock, on the same tracks and weekends.
“First, we amortized the cost of the event with Stock Car. Second, we approved the Stock Car teams to manage the cars. So, a large part of the cost of the workshop is already amortized on top of Stock”, he explains. “In addition, the workforce and part of the inputs are in Real, so, when you compare this internationally, the F4 in Brazil is very attractive”, he concludes.
Programming of the first stage of the F4 at the Autodromo velocitta
Saturday (14)
9:40 am – Race 1 (25 minutes + 1 lap) – BandSports
14:40 – Race 2 (18 minutes + 1 lap) – BandSports
Sunday (15)
12:10 – Race 3 (25 minutes + 1 lap) – BandSports
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