Ethan Carney: The Youngster's Rise to British F4

Ethan Carney - The newest edition to the British F4 grid. (3rd April, 2026)

The Australian American driver is set to compete in the Wera Tools F4 British Championship in 2026 with Fortec Motorsport at just 16. In the past 2 years, Carney has been competing in the Ginetta Juniors championship, and is now looking forward to what the British F4 Championship lies ahead. 

Source: Ethan Carney Instagram

Carney started karting when he was 12 years old, in which he mentioned “was difficult at first, because I started a lot later than most people,” as we see with Formula 1 drivers nowadays, a lot of them started their careers and started karting between the ages of 5 and 8 (Lancashire, 2024).

However, this did not come as a disadvantage as he is progressing through his racing career expeditiously through his hard work and driven mindset, “I had a lot of catching up to do in my first year for sure, but it was so beneficial doing karting and it’s definitely something you have to do before moving up to cars.” 

Source: Ethan Carney Instagram

For the past 2 seasons, Carney has been driving the Ginetta G40 in the Ginetta Juniors, he continuously showed impressive results, qualifying in the top ten at every round of the Championship with numerous front-row starts, and finishing just outside the top ten in his 2025 season (FIA British F4, 2024). During the prestigious 500th Ginetta Junior race at the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit, Carney impressively finished on the podium in P3, scoring a double podium for Elite Motorsport alongside former teammate Joseph Smith, one of the highlights of his 2025 campaign. 

“That was probably one of my best races of the season, we were quite strong in Silverstone and it was good to get a podium on the 500th race. I didn’t actually realise it was until the end, but that’s definitely a cool thing to say and a cool memory from last year for sure.” 

Source: Ginetta

Stepping up from the Ginetta G40 to the Tatuus T-421 chassis, Carney shares his thoughts on the transition and for the upcoming season. “I mean it [British F4] is a big step from juniors, it’s a lot of differences I have to get used to, but I am really happy with my team at Fortec and we have put in a lot of hard work over the winters, so I am definitely looking forward for the season to start.” 

“It is definitely a big difference, since the F4 has got the aero and the slick tires but I think it is a good change, like it is such a fun car to drive, the F4, and the Juniors is fun as well, it’s just they are two very different cars.” His determination and ambition will definitely assist him in taking the next step to British F4 this year and to perform to his best ability. 

Source: Ethan Carney Instagram

We often hear the phrase “pre-race rituals”, most in relation to pre-race hype songs. As for Carney, he says that, “I listen to Drake quite a lot to be fair, I feel like especially some of the songs can calm you down as well, which sometimes you might need before a race, so that’s what I listen to most of the time.” 

Source: Ethan Carney Instagram

As 16-year old driver Ethan Carney moves into the Wera Tools F4 British Championship this season, we will certainly be seeing this youngster rise and continue to progress through his career with his focused and committed attitude. We ended our conversation with a message he’d like to give to aspiring and start-up drivers. “Just enjoy it as much as you can, because I think the more you enjoy it, the better you do really. Don’t take things too seriously, obviously take it seriously, but you know; just have fun, I think the results will be better when you’re just having fun.” 

Other sources:

FIA British F4 Championship | Ethan Carney. (2024). Fiaformula4.com. https://fiaformula4.com/drivers/ethan-carney/

Lancashire, U. of. (2024, May). How to get a career in Formula 1. University of Lancashire. https://www.lancashire.ac.uk/articles/advice/working-in-f1