How Caio Collet went from French F4 champion to A. J. Foyt Racing IndyCar

The rise of Caio Collet has been steady rather than explosive. A French F4 title came in 2018, then three seasons of FIA Formula 3, then two Indy NXT campaigns that finished third and second. The reward is a 2026 IndyCar seat with A. J. Foyt Racing, a route that also passed through Formula E reserve duty and a stint in the Alpine Academy.

Where did racing start for Caio Collet?

Collet began karting at seven and won several titles in Brazil before he moved to Europe. Birel ART signed him in 2016, and later Nicolas Todt's All Road Management scheme took him on. He names Ayrton Senna as his racing hero, and he has Italian and French ancestry.

His Brazilian titles came first, and European teams noticed him soon after. The Birel ART signing and the Todt scheme were the two steps that carried him into single-seaters.

A Brazilian from Sao Paulo who won French F4, ran second in Indy NXT and was rewarded with an IndyCar seat in 2026.

How did his single-seater debut go in 2017 and 2018?

His single-seater career started with Silberpfeil Energy Dubai in the Formula 4 UAE Championship. He finished sixth overall with 124 points after taking part in only two rounds, and in 2018 he won the French F4 title with 303.5 points.

In the UAE he contested only the third and fourth rounds, yet almost every race ended on the podium. He finished his first race third behind Leon Kohler and David Schumacher, and he won the third race at Yas Marina, which was the high point of that short programme.

The French series in 2018 was a different level of commitment. He raced under the number 23 and was the only Brazilian on the grid. He took his first of seven wins at the Pau Grand Prix, was on the podium from the opening round, and after Magny-Cours he was 54.5 points clear at the top of the standings.

At Jerez he clinched the championship a round early. He won the first race from pole, then took the final race to confirm the title regardless of where his rivals finished. The season closed with 303.5 points, eleven podiums and three pole positions, and a margin of 66.5 points over Ugo de Wilde.

What happened in the Formula Renault Eurocup?

For 2019 Collet moved to the Formula Renault Eurocup with R-ace GP, where his teammates were Oscar Piastri, Aleksandr Smolyar and Gregoire Saucy. His first podium in the series came at Monaco, where he took third place. Over the season he added five podiums in total, including second at Spa-Francorchamps, which was the best finish of the year.

He ended fifth in the 2019 standings with 207 points. That total was 113 behind champion and teammate Piastri.

The 2020 season began strongly. Collet took three podiums in his first three races, and the first Eurocup win of his career came at Imola. He then lost ground at the Nurburgring, where Victor Martins took both wins, and the French driver went on to control the championship from Barcelona onward.

Collet remained in contention through the summer. He was denied a podium at Spa-Francorchamps while his rival scored, then won race one at Imola later in the year. He added another race one win at Hockenheim, but a mechanical failure in the second race there cost him points. Martins secured the title at the penultimate round, with 44 points separating the two at the end of the year, and Collet finished as runner-up.

Did Collet win in the Toyota Racing Series?

He won once, at Teretonga Park, in the 2020 Toyota Racing Series with MTEC Motorsport. The campaign was a seventh-place championship finish, despite a strong start that included a pole and a fastest lap in the first race. It was the only race win he took in that series.

In that first race he had the perfect weekend on paper, with pole, fastest lap and the win in hand. A practice start on the formation lap, however, earned him a five-second penalty, and the victory passed to the New Zealander Liam Lawson, leaving Collet seventh on the road.

His only victory and only podium of the series came at Teretonga Park, which made the year a patchy one. He finished seventh overall with 219 points, and the campaign was a useful bridge into his first full season of FIA Formula 3.

How did the three Formula 3 seasons unfold?

Across the 2021 to 2023 seasons his FIA Formula 3 record produced three wins. He spent 2021 and 2022 with MP Motorsport and 2023 with Van Amersfoort Racing, and his results were a steady run of points rather than a championship push.

In 2021 MP signed him alongside Victor Martins and Tijmen van der Helm. He began at Barcelona with points, but his first podium came in a feature race in France, where he finished third. He stalled his car in one sprint race, but at Spielberg he improved his qualifying best to fourth.

The rookie year had its frustrations too. He missed the points at Budapest after qualifying 26th, a five-second penalty at Spa-Francorchamps for an off-track pass dropped him from fifth to ninth, though he then finished fourth in the next two races. At Zandvoort he qualified sixth and finished every race in the top five, without a podium. A collision on the first lap ended his final race at Sochi. He still finished ninth overall with 93 points and two podiums, second-highest among the rookies.

In 2022 MP retained him, and he set out to lead the team. He barely missed reverse pole at Bahrain and finished seventh in the sprint, before suspension damage ended his feature race. His first podium of the year came at Barcelona. Later he won the Hungarian sprint race in the wet by eight seconds, the first F3 victory of his career.

He also took pole at Spa-Francorchamps for the first time and won a second race at Zandvoort after an electric start from fourth. He finished the 2022 campaign eighth with 88 points, two wins and five podiums.

The 2023 season with Van Amersfoort was harder. He had a sprint third at Bahrain and a puncture in the battle with Paul Aron at Melbourne, then a race ending at Monaco after contact. Austria produced two third places, in the sprint and the feature race, and Silverstone brought fourth in a damp race after a charge from 17th.

At Spa-Francorchamps he moved from fourth to second in the sprint and was in front by the close of the first lap, his only win of the year. The Monza finale was less kind, and he finished the season ninth with 73 points, one win and three other podiums.

Why did Collet move into Indy NXT?

Collet joined HMD Motorsports for the 2024 Indy NXT season after testing with the team at the Chris Griffis Memorial Test in Indianapolis. He was the final addition to a nine-driver lineup, and his first full American campaign finished with third place in the standings and 436 points.

Before the opener he also ran two further sessions for the team, one at Barber and one at Sebring. The season began with top-ten finishes, and his first podium came with third at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. A second place at Detroit followed, then a double runner-up finish at Laguna Seca.

At Mid-Ohio he took his maiden pole and his first series win, but two retirements followed. He finished the season with third in the Nashville finale. That gave him one win, six podiums and the honour of being the series' highest-placed rookie. Those two retirements had cost him dearly, so the Nashville finish salvaged a season that might otherwise have looked thinner.

The overall third place was a clear step forward from his F3 years, and it set up a sharper second season at the same team.

How close did Collet come to the 2025 Indy NXT title?

He finished runner-up to Dennis Hauger in 2025, 72 points behind, after a season with three wins, three poles and nine podiums. The title was effectively settled once he failed to reach the rostrum in the final two rounds. Those nine podiums were more than he had managed in any earlier Indy NXT season.

Collet re-signed with HMD for 2025. He started with third at St Petersburg, but a throttle problem ended his race at Barber Motorsports Park. Second at Indianapolis and another runner-up result at Detroit followed, and then a third at Gateway Motorsports Park.

His first win of the year came at Road America, where he passed Hauger with five laps remaining. He added second at Mid-Ohio, then dominated both Laguna Seca races, starting from pole and winning each one outright. A third straight pole followed at Portland, but he lost the start to Hauger and settled for second.

How did Formula E and Formula One fit in?

In 2024 he was the Nissan Formula E Team's reserve and simulator man. His first taste of Formula E machinery came in a rookie practice session at Misano, and he took part in a rookie test after the Berlin ePrix.

His race debut came at the 2024 Portland ePrix, standing in for the ill Oliver Rowland. He finished 18th and 16th, and in the second race he finished ahead of Sacha Fenestraz, a more seasoned teammate.

His Formula One connection is through academies. He first sat in an F1 car on a 2012 Lotus E20 demonstration run at Ibirapuera Park in Sao Paulo. He joined the Renault Sport Academy in 2019, and when it was renamed the Alpine Academy in 2021 he was part of that line-up too. He was dropped at the start of 2023, although he said he remained linked to Alpine and in regular contact.

What is his role at A. J. Foyt Racing?

His first taste of IndyCar was a test at Mid-Ohio in October 2025, with A. J. Foyt Racing. The following month the team confirmed that he would drive the No. 4 car for the 2026 season, which turned a test into a full-time plan.

The step from Indy NXT to IndyCar is a large one. The 2026 season will show how his lower-series results carry over into the top American category, and whether his second-place finishes in 2025 turn into wins at the highest level.

Career summary at a glance