Mission accomplished. Louis Sharp entered this season with an almost solitary aim of winning the British Formula 4 championship, and he did just that. And in triumphing in the high-quality and competitive single-seater contest he became our latest – and by far our youngest – National Racing Driver of the Year, by sufficiently impressing Motorsport News readers to top our poll.
Little wonder, as throughout 2023 Sharp’s fast and feisty showings in the car and his engaging and eloquent showings out of it were both on full show. And both of them – as well as being remarkable in themselves – are remarkably precocious for his 16 years.
“It has been a really good year,” Sharp tells Motorsport News. “This was my first full year in the UK racing. There was a lot of highs but also a lot of lows, but we came away with the championship. Especially the second half of the year was really strong for us, so it was a cool year.”
Onlookers were already aware of Sharp’s skills from 2022. Having arrived in the UK from his native New Zealand with an 11th-hour entry with Rodin Carlin,
