Driving Towards F1’s Doors; A Guide to Junior Single-Seater Categories

The world of junior single-seaters is a varied and exciting landscape. Competitions are held at national, regional and international level, with a multitude of championships involving very different cars and drivers at very different stages of their careers.

LN4 Fusion aims to compete across the full racing ladder, creating a pathway from karting to the doorstep of Formula 1.

Formula 4
Established by the FIA as the first step for drivers coming out of karting, Formula 4 runs at national level, with championships organised all around the world — from Europe to the USA, and from Asia to Australia.

The Italian F4 Championship and its sister series, E4, are considered among the highest-profile, together with the F4 British Championship. All three run the same technical package: Tatuus-built cars powered by 1.4-litre engines producing around 180 horsepower.

The relatively modest power and speed keep races closely contested, which helps develop a driver's racecraft alongside their technical understanding. 

Formula Regional
The most recent addition to the FIA's development ladder, Formula Regional was created to bridge the gap between F4 and the high-powered FIA Formula 3 car.

It runs at regional level, with championships in Europe, the Middle East, Japan, Oceania and the Americas. The cars produce around 270 horsepower, depending on the technical configuration adopted by each series.

The FIA Formula Regional European Championship (FREC) is regarded as the leading one for its technical excellence and competitive level. Racing across Europe on Formula 1 Grand Prix circuits, it features Tatuus-built cars powered by engines developed by Autotecnica Motori. In its relatively short history the championship has produced many of the current F3 and F2 front-runners, as well as F1 talents such as Kimi Antonelli and Isack Hadjar.

FIA Formula 3
Launched in its current form in 2019, the FIA Formula 3 Championship is a centrepiece of the driver development strategy put in place by the FIA.

It marks both a technical and a competitive step up for drivers and teams arriving from Formula 4 and Formula Regional. It also runs in support of Formula 1 at selected rounds of the World Championship, providing a powerful media platform and the chance to work in close proximity to the stars of F1. The cars are powered by 380-horsepower Mecachrome engines and exceed 300 km/h. The state-of-the-art chassis is built by Italian manufacturer Dallara. Many of today's Formula 1 stars honed their skills in Formula 3, and the name carries deep historical weight, its earlier iterations having welcomed nearly every great driver in the sport's history.

FIA Formula 2
Formula 2 is the final step of the FIA ladder towards Formula 1, a series in which every element is built around identifying and promoting excellence.

The Dallara-built cars are the closest thing to Formula 1 in performance and engineering philosophy, with Mecachrome engines producing 620 horsepower.

The Pirelli tyres mirror the F1 approach, and drivers must manage multiple compounds across a weekend, exactly the challenge awaiting them in Formula 1. Races are longer too, with the Feature Race run over 170 kilometres or 60 minutes.

The series runs alongside Formula 1 and most of the current F1 grid has prior F2 experience, and most of the manufacturers' junior programmes have a strong presence there to make final evaluations of their members ahead of possible F1 promotions.

In 2025, LN4 Fusion co-founder Lando Norris became the first FIA F2 graduate to win a Formula 1 World Championship.