Latest Episode | Cut To The Race Podcast
Frederik Vesti, the young Danish man who has a bright future ahead of him in motorsports
Born in Vejle Denmark, the young Danish man is currently in his second season of F2. At the end of November 2022, it was announced that Vesti would be returning to his old team PREMA. He previously won the Formula Regional European Championship in 2019.
The younger years
Vesti’s first F4 win at Hockenhiem. Photo credits: ADAC MotorsportsFrederik Vesti was just 8 years old when he kickstarted his karting career. After claiming several national trophies in Denmark Vesti was beginning to get his name out there. He won back-to-back championships in 2013, 2014 and 2015 in Cadet and KFJ Classes.
A year later, aged 14 years old, Vesti moved into single-seater cars in the Formula Ford Denmark Championship. He claimed 2 race wins, 8 podiums and came 4th overall before moving over to the F4 Danish Championship for the 2017 season. Vesti competed in 15 races in this championship and finished on the podium in every race. He then got a further 8 wins to add to his growing number before finishing 2nd overall.
An interview with the Paddock Magazine let Dorte Riis Madsen speak about how he became Vesti’s manager and what it was like watching the youngster grow up into the racer he is today. Madsen stated how ‘during a test in Barcelona with Van Amersfoort Racing at the end of 2016, he set faster times than Max Verstappen did with the team.’ This actually helped him gain his seat in the F4 championship with Van Amersfoort Racing for 2017.
For the next few years, he entered a variety of different competitions including the F4 Italian Championship and ADAC F4 Championship where he added another 4 wins to his trophy cabinet and added another 11 podiums to his name.
The Danish man graduated from F4 in 2019 and signed with PREMA for the F3 Regional Championship. After 24 remarkable races, Vesti claimed his first-ever title, finishing the season with 20 podiums and 13 impressive wins.
Becoming a Mercedes academy driver
Photo credit: Mercedes-Benz Group MediaVesti continued to showcase his talent in the 2020 and 2021 FIA Formula 3 Championship, and it wasn’t long before a Formula 1 team started taking notes of the Danish triumph.
In 2021 Vesti was signed on as a Mercedes academy driver and his first test in an F1 car came in November of 2022. After all the hard work and determination, Vesti had put into his career it was finally paying off. However it wasn’t just Vesti who was thrilled, Mercedes themselves were in awe at this star. Mercedes’ trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin stated how Vesti was “faultless” during his 124 laps around the Yas Marina Circuit.
During February, Vesti did an interview with Along the racing line, he stated how joining the Mercedes academy was a ‘long-term dream’. Later in the interview, he opened up and said ‘other F1 teams could have asked me, but I wasn’t going to say yes because I only wanted Mercedes. I think that has driven me a lot and it’s still driving me to this day.’
2023 Season
Now heading into his second F2 season, Vesti’s motivation to race for Mercedes can be seen in the impeccable drive he put on at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. He fought his way up from 6th place to finish 1st, earning his first-ever F2 feature race win. After a disappointing weekend in Bahrain, he earned no points. But after Jeddah, he now finds himself 4th in the standings and only 5 points between him and first place.
The 20-year-old has a bright future ahead of him. It is going to be interesting to see what Vesti can do in the remainder of the F2 Championship and if he can gain his second title in his racing career. However, it is even more exciting to see what the future holds for this Danish star.
Featured Image: MPMedia, Getty Images