Almost no enthusiasm for German F4: ADAC forms team for French F4

The German feeder series for Formula racing classes, the ADAC F4 championship, will not take place in 2023. Only five drivers were willing or able to participate for the whole season. The ADAC is therefore striking out in a different direction.

Germany loses own F4 championship

It is a story that came up more often in 2022; something seems to be going on in the German motorsport world and perhaps in entire motorsport. At the higher level, there seems to be too little interest from the German audience and the German motorsport federation to bring F1 to the country and organise a profitable F1 weekend. At lower level, there seems to be little enthusiasm in the step-up classes worldwide, but more importantly, there is not enough budget available for young talents.

Formulascout.com reports that the ADAC F4 championship has been cancelled for 2023. Altogether, that is the bottom line; the ADAC will not accept entries for the championship. The racing class that was founded in 2015 under the name of Formel Masters has seen a large decline in entries in recent years, with only five 'full time' participants remaining in 2022. Among others, Lando Norris, Mick Schumacher and Zhou Guanyu competed in the ADAC F4.

Germany makes talent spot available in France

ACI Sport, which currently organises the Italian F4 championship, is expected to make an announcement soon to fill the gap left by the ADAC. Going in a different direction, the German motorsport federation, instead of organising the championship, will now set up a team to compete in the championship's French counterpart, the FFSA F4, offering a unique opportunity to two talents.

By doing so, the association hopes to give a good impetus to the promotion of (German) racing talent after all. ADAC president Dr Gerd Ennser said, “We have a lot of talented motorsport athletes in Germany. However, in recent years a large number have been unable to make the step up to formula racing due to the very high costs involved. For this reason, we are striking out in a new direction: with the new ADAC Formula Junior Team, we are creating an uncomplicated route into formula racing for young drive."