An Extravaganza Of An Opening Round - Spanish F4 Recap

Spanish Formula 4 headed to Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Spain for round one which saw two different winners across the three different races. 35 drivers lined up to tackle this circuit. 9 experienced drivers and 26 rookies. 

(Image credit to Spanish formula 4 championship)

Race 1

As soon as the lights went out the front row of Vivek Kanthan and Rocco Coronel got away faster than anyone else. Kanthan led the way with Coronel, Aleix Piñera and Noah Monteiro behind. A yellow flag came out in sector 3 when Rodrigo Martínez speared into the gravel trap.

On the restart Kanthan tried breaking the toe of Coronel with Piñera waiting to pounce if the Dutchman and American ahead of him collided. Further back, Kasper Schormans was putting pressure on Sheffield born Drivex driver Nathan Tye which was under scrutiny during the race. A clean break from Kanthan gave the American a lengthy advantage but there would be heartbreak to come. Coronel was keeping Piñera behind while Kanthan was pulling further away in front. 

With a clean finish at the end, Kanthan would stand on the top step of the podium only for him to receive a post race penalty for continuously breaching the track limit system giving Coronel the victory. The post race podium looked like this: P1 Rocco Coronel, P2 Aleix Piñera and P3 Noah Monteiro. 

Race 2 

Coronel grabbed the lead from pole man Piñera with a faster reaction time racing down to turn 1. Piñera then had to deal with Kanthan spinning the GriffinCore driver around. To make the situation worse Andrej Petrovic had no time to react to the spinning GriffinCore car on the outside of the corner and collided into the sidepod of Kanthan's car. 

To the horror of the fans, the incident wasn't over as GRS driver Pablo Riccobono was sitting behind another driver, with no sight of who was in front of the next driver, Riccobono smashed into the back of Petrovic's T-Code car. Riccobono was saved from a certain injury due to flying debris by the halo system around the front and side of the driver. 

The race was red flagged for around 6 minutes and then restarted with Coronel looking good for a haul of big points on the Saturday as Kanthan’s Griffincore car was taken back to the garage. 

Coronel’s task at the restart was simple, keep out of the DRS of Piñera to be comfortable out front unopposed and it would be all or nothing for the Dutchman and MP Motorsport. After the chaos of the opening lap, all remaining 33 drivers learned how easily things can get away from you and settled back down into their rhythm once again. Coronel would lead Piñera and Monteiro and that is how it remained in the top 3. Around the back of the pack, there were battles everywhere you looked and several incidents in the main pack created by lockups, track limit warnings, and the tyre degradation to increase temperatures since February. Most drivers were getting the balance right, some very wrong. 

RedBull junior Coronel handled the race with an ease of a Capybara whilst behind Piñera and Monteiro, a sensible drive from Ty Fisher and Jensen Burnett was keeping the Canadian flag prominent at the front of the field. Time had run out to challenge the Dutchman and despite only crossing the line a car length or so ahead of Piñera and Monteiro, it was a relieved Rocco Coronel that claimed his second win in a row. This time it wasn't going to need to be referred to the stewards to look at to make it happen. 

After coming so close to a win overall in the Spanish Winter championship, to do so twice in his first weekend must have been icing on the cake as far as Coronel was concerned. He now leads the Spanish Formula 4 with one race to go on Sunday. Could the unthinkable happen in his first round as a rookie? Could we see the Dutchman strengthen his points lead at the top? Is it possible for him to get a hat-trick on the same weekend he took his first win? 

Race 3

Kanthan blasted away from the grid in the lead but the real star of the start was KCL's Borys Lyzen who leapt forward from third on the grid to fight with Monteiro up front and to the fans’ surprise, outstandingly secure second place around the outside of the Portuguese GriffinCore driver. Timing the start to perfection is never easy and we can see again how the pole unlocked pure magic to grab second place on a damp and cold surface. This would give him the chance to go catch Kanthan and it turned out only he would have the pace to match and pressure the leader from lights out to checked flag. Elsewhere, other drivers were making good on a strong qualifying effort including Spain's Luna Fluxà, who was looking fast and confident in the top 10. 

It didn't take long for squabbles to develop as Monteiro and Tye banged wheels in their fight of who would secure third place before the British driver secured the position but seconds later his joy would turn to despair as he was the first to catch a damp patch on the track which forced him off the road and through the gravel. It wouldn't be the last, just a lap later Fluxà spun the Campos around, beaching her car in the gravel trap. These guarantee points were soon gone. The safety car made its first appearance of the race, bunching up the pack and giving the drivers a chance to gather their thoughts and align their focus once more but the rain over their heads was becoming heavier than before. Just keeping the tires  warm for the restart would be a mighty, challenging hill to climb. 

Upon the restart, Tye thought attack was the best line of defense and this time it was Canada's Ty Fisher who found that out the hard way. The rain increased resulting in more drivers making errors. Jean Paul Karras recovered from a spin while Max Radeck could not. He walked away disappointed while the safety car returned to the circuit. It would be needed again dramatically when Sebastián Frigolet was nearly sent rolling after a collision with his DXR teammate Sam Urus whilst at turn 1 Drivex’s number 44 Elliot Kaczynski tangled with T-Code’s other driver Nacho Tuñon. Fortunately, both Kaczynski and Frigolet walked away uninjured. 

There was nearly more drama for Tye when he was battling with Schormans and neither were going to give up the fight. The final contact saw Riccobono bounce off MP's number 39 Louis Cochet in contact putting both men in the gravel. It was the last lap when the two drivers clashed with a sigh of relief from Kanthan as he had been hunted down by Lyzen all the way to the checkered flag but it was Kanthan who responded brilliantly with a win on the Sunday after the hecticness on Saturday. 

Article Written by Alexandria Kinsella- Evans ©️ 2026