The 5 nuggets to follow in 2023

Ollie Bearman
17 years old, Great Britain, Formula 2, According to

Ollie Bearman congratulated by champion Victor Martins. © Florent Gooden / DPPI

He is Ferrari's main hope for the years to come. The first driver to succeed in being crowned champion of both German and Italian F4 in 2020, the Briton launched a daring challenge this year, that of jumping the box F3 Regional to move up to F3 FIA directly, like Theo Pourchaire had achieved it before him in 2020. And it must be said that it was a real success. The protégé of the Team beat his two teammates repeating at Prema, in this case Arthur Leclerc and Jak Crawford, and even finished 3rd in the championship, only seven points behind champion Victor Martins.

After a start to the season marked by learning where he made a few logical errors, such as at Imola where he received a 20-second penalty for a collision with Grégoire Saucy, Bearman ended up very quickly getting up to speed with point of having probably been the most consistent driver of the season with 5 podiums in main races, which no one else has managed to do. In 2023, he will continue with Prema, but this time in Formula 2. His age and inexperience will be his Achilles' heel on paper, but within the Italian structure, we are placing a lot of hope on the steering wheel of the British, who will be one of the obvious outsiders of the season. 

ALSO READ > Oliver Bearman, the new British nugget

Isaac Hadjar
18 years old, France, Formula 2, Hitech Grand Prix

Isack Hadjar, pilot Red Bull © Sebastiaan Rozendaal / Dutch Photo Agency / DPPI

With Ollie Bearman and Zane Maloney, who played in the two best FIA Formula 3 teams (Prema and Trident), Isack Hadjar was the big revelation of the FIA ​​Formula 3 season this year. The Habs, despite their rookie status, managed to break the glass ceiling which seemed to limit the Hitech team in recent seasons. Often placed but rarely winning in the past with Liam Lawson or Jüri Vips who had achieved great performances without really playing for the title, Oliver Oakes' structure this time monopolized the front positions with the Frenchman. For two-thirds of the year, Isack was Victor Martins' main opponent. He even scored a pole position and a main race victory in Austria, but also two other reverse grid successes in Bahrain and Silverstone.

Only a lackluster end to the season prevented him from truly fighting until the very last race for the title, but the quality of his performances, his overtaking and his burst of speed finally convinced Helmut Marko , aware of having enormous talent in his hands. The Austrian even told us during the season that he was already thinking about the Tricolore, which he also calls the new Cheers, for a seat at Alpha Tauri in 2024. This will obviously lead to a big year in Formula 2, in the ranks of Hitech. The Silverstone team has also gone out of its way to keep Hadjar, while discussions were advanced between Red Bull and DAMS for the Frenchman for 2023. Like Ollie Bearman, Isack Hadjar will be a big outsider for the title.

ALSO READ > Helmut Marko: “If he performs in F2, there is a high probability of seeing Isack Hadjar in F1 in 2024”

Nikola Tsolov
16 years old, Bulgaria, Formula 3, ART Grand Prix

Nikola Tsolov, Spanish F4 champion.

Here is another nugget that is not necessarily very well known yet, but which we will have to watch very closely in 2023. Nikola Tsolov is Bulgarian, and he is currently managed by the structure of Fernando Alonso (A14 Management), the Spaniard pinning a lot of hope on his little protégé. Very competitive in karting where he stood out in 2021 thanks in particular to his 4th place at the European Championship and his 5th final position at the World Championship, the 16-year-old then brilliantly succeeded in his transition to the car by winning the Spanish F4, like Richard Verschoor, Christian Lundgaard, Franco Colapinto and Kas Haverkort before him.

At Campos, he ended the domination of MP Motorsport by winning 13 of the 21 races of the year, including eight consecutively, all enhanced by 15 pole position starts! The boy is going very fast. So quickly, that he decided to skip FRECA and go straight to Formula 3. Tsolov signed with ART Grand Prix, whose colors he will defend. The step will be high, but Théo Pourchaire, within the French team, did not succeed in this bet in 2020 by finishing vice-champion? As for the team led by Sebastien Philippe, we have a lot of hope on Tsolov but we obviously do not underestimate the transition that awaits the Bulgarian. We can indeed imagine a gradual rise in power for the nugget of Fernando Alonso, and see him being a candidate for victories in the second part of the season. Unless he is definitely in a hurry and creates a surprise from the start.

ALSO READ > Nikola Tsolov joins ART Grand Prix

Andrea Kimi Antonelli
16 years old, Italy, FRECA, Prema

Andre Kimi Antonelli © Prema

Kimi is probably the most publicized driver of current promotional formulas. Like Ollie Bearman before him, the Transalpine won the German and Italian F4 this year, a feat that we are unfortunately not ready to see again as the ADAC championship will disappear. After a complicated first meeting at Imola, Andrea Kimi scored nine victories in ten races and won the Italian championship with a 104-point lead. In Germany, he won 9 times in 15 races, and was crowned despite one less contested meeting. It calms you down. Member of the junior program Mercedes, the Italian will play next year in FRECA.

And if this championship is probably one of the most difficult for rookies, due to the particularities of the Tatuus T-318, Kimi has the talent and determination it takes to challenge for the title from the first year. There remains one factor still unknown regarding his season: his physical state. Winner of the FIA ​​Motorsport Games in F4, the native of Bologna broke his wrist at Le Castellet and was deprived of the valuable end-of-season tests in FRECA. He has since undergone surgery, and is expected to take part in all rounds of Formula Regional Asia (now called Formula Regional Middle East), although he was initially only expected to take part in two or three. With limited testing, the challenge looks even greater for Kimi. But this is not likely to worry the Mercedes driver.

ALSO READ > Portrait of Andrea Kimi Antonelli, the new star of Mercedes

Tuukka Taponen
16 years old, Finland, F4 Italy, Prema

Tuukka Taponen will discover single-seaters with Prema © Prema

He is neither more nor less than the OK 2021 karting world champion. Recent winner of the Scuderia detection program, Tuukka Taponen has joined the Ferrari Driver Academy. Brilliant kartman to the point of having finished 3rd in the final of the European championship and even 2nd in the world championship in Portimão in 2020, Taponen finally touched his Holy Grail by being crowned in Campillos (Spain) last year in OK . Despite this, Tuukka Taponen took his time before joining the car. This time, 2023 will be the right year, since he signed with Prema in Italian F4. Unlike other kart drivers before him, he did not take part in any preparatory rounds last year and will discover the championship at Imola next April. A boy to watch very closely given the talent demonstrated on the kart tracks. Note that his future teammate Ugo Ugochukwu, member of the academy McLaren, will also be followed. 

ALSO READ > Tuukka Taponen joins the Ferrari Driver Academy