Frederik Vesti: From Formula 2 Runner-Up to Mercedes Third Driver

Frederik Vesti is a Danish racing driver who was runner-up in the 2023 FIA Formula 2 Championship and holds the record for the most points scored in Formula 3. He became the third driver at Mercedes for the 2026 Formula One season, and he also races in IMSA sportscars with Cadillac. His career has taken him through karts, Formula 4, Formula Regional, Formula 3 and Formula 2 before the sportscar and Formula One roles.

Who is Frederik Vesti?

Frederik Vesti Stamm was born on 13 January 2002 in Vejle, Denmark. He started karting competitively in 2012 at the age of ten, and he went on to win many Danish karting events, including the national KFJ title in 2014. He finished 69th at the 2015 Karting World Championship before he moved to car racing.

A Danish driver who won the first Formula Regional title, lost the 2023 Formula 2 crown by eleven points and now sits in Mercedes' third-driver seat.

How did Vesti build his early career in Formula 4?

Vesti began car racing in Danish Formula Ford in 2016, starting at the age of fourteen. He finished fourth in the championship that season, and the following year he competed in the German and Danish Formula 4 championships.

In his 2017 Danish debut season he finished second in the championship, appearing on the podium in every race he finished. His team, Vesti Motorsport, won the team championship. In the German series he took his first podium at Lausitzring, then a single win later in the year, and he finished seventh in the standings. He also made a one-off appearance in the Formula 4 United States Championship at the final round.

In 2018 he moved to Van Amersfoort Racing for the German F4 championship. He opened with two podiums and then took his maiden win at the second Hockenheimring round, followed by a second win at the Nurburgring. He finished fourth in the standings, having collected six more podiums. He also raced in the Italian F4 round at Paul Ricard, where he won two of three races, and he made his Macau Grand Prix debut, finishing 15th.

Why was 2019 a breakthrough year?

The inaugural Formula Regional European Championship gave Vesti a title that few drivers could match. He drove for Prema Powerteam and dominated the series, claiming 13 victories, six of them back to back, and 20 podium finishes. He won the championship with 467 points, 131 ahead of teammate Enzo Fittipaldi. Prema also took the team title.

The season earned him wide recognition as a junior driver to watch. Motorsport.com ranked him 13th in its list of the top twenty junior single-seater drivers of 2019. He also returned to Macau, replacing the injured Jehan Daruvala at Prema, and he finished tenth in the race.

What did Vesti achieve in Formula 3?

In 2020 Vesti stayed with Prema in the FIA Formula 3 Championship, alongside Oscar Piastri and Logan Sargeant. He took his first pole position at the second Red Bull Ring round and won the race, which was cut short by bad weather. He also won at Monza and at Mugello, where he defended a late challenge from Jake Hughes to take his third win of the year.

He finished the season fourth in the drivers' standings, with 146.5 points, 17.5 behind champion Piastri. His win at Monza helped Prema take the team championship. Vesti's Formula 3 career total would later stand as the record for most points scored in the category, at 284.5.

In 2021 he switched to ART Grand Prix, partnering Juan Manuel Correa. He won his only race of the year at the Red Bull Ring, and he finished second in the final race at Sochi. He ended the season fourth in the championship again, with one pole and a string of podiums.

How did Vesti's rookie Formula 2 season go?

Vesti moved up to Formula 2 for 2022 with ART Grand Prix, alongside Theo Pourchaire. He had a slow start and failed to score in the first two rounds, but he was third in qualifying at Barcelona and finished on the podium there. At Baku he took his first Formula 2 win, passing Jehan Daruvala late in the race.

He later took pole at the Red Bull Ring and finished the season ninth in the standings with 117 points. ART finished third in the teams' championship, and Vesti's contribution included a single win, one pole and five podiums.

How close did Vesti come to the 2023 Formula 2 title?

In 2023 Vesti joined Prema alongside Oliver Bearman. He went into the final round with a real chance of the championship, having won more races than any other driver that season. He scored six wins, ten podiums, one pole and three fastest laps across the year.

The title battle with Pourchaire was tight. Vesti won at Monaco from pole, won the Barcelona sprint and then the Monza sprint after starting third, but he lost ground through a mix of bad luck, a spin in the wet at Zandvoort and a retirement at Monza. At the finale in Abu Dhabi he finished third in the feature race after a late collision with Zane Maloney. He missed the title by eleven points.

Prema finished second in the teams' championship, 31 points behind ART Grand Prix. The season showed Vesti's speed and consistency, even though the final points gap was small.

How did Vesti's sportscar career start?

In 2024 Vesti made his sportscar debut in the European Le Mans Series in LMP2, driving alongside Alejandro Garcia and Ferdinand Habsburg. He finished second at Paul Ricard and third at Portimao, and the season earned him ninth in the LMP2 standings with 34 points.

That year he also contested his first Le Mans 24 Hours, sharing a Cool Racing entry with Matt Bell and Naveen Rao. A radiator problem early on left the car two laps down, and the team finished tenth in LMP2. At the 24 Hours of Spa he retired after 276 laps with floor damage.

What did Vesti do in IMSA and Hypercar racing?

For 2025 Vesti signed with Whelen Cadillac Racing for the endurance rounds of the IMSA SportsCar Championship, alongside Earl Bamber and Jack Aitken. He was ninth at Daytona after a rear suspension failure, fourth at Sebring and sixth at Laguna Seca with Aitken.

At Le Mans in June 2025 he partnered Aitken and Felipe Drugovich, making them the youngest Hypercar lineup by average age. At Indianapolis he ran the car at the front and built a ten-second gap during the midpoint of the race, before Aitken took the win on the final restart. The team then dominated the second half of the Petit Le Mans for its second win of the year, finishing second in the overall and Michelin Endurance Cup standings.

What role does Vesti have with Mercedes?

Vesti joined the Mercedes Junior Team in January 2021. He tested for the team at the Abu Dhabi young driver test in 2022, completing 124 laps, and he later drove in free practice at the 2023 Mexico City Grand Prix, where he was classified 19th. He also set the third-fastest time at the Abu Dhabi young drivers test in 2023.

He became a Mercedes reserve driver for 2024, sharing the role with Mick Schumacher, and continued in the reserve role alongside Valtteri Bottas in 2025. For 2026 he stepped up to become the team's third driver, replacing Bottas, who moved to Cadillac. By July 2026 he had made two practice appearances, at Barcelona and the Hungarian Grand Prix.

How did Vesti's 2020 Formula 3 weekends go?

Vesti's 2020 FIA Formula 3 season had strong moments and several collisions. His first Red Bull Ring weekend brought a fourth and a sixth, and at Spa he came through from fifth to second in the second race.

Budapest was a difficult round, with a collision in race one after qualifying fourth. In race two he worked up to 19th before damaging his suspension in a collision with Jack Doohan, which put him out of the race.

At Monza he made a strong charge in race one, passing Theo Pourchaire on the third-last lap. In race two a touch with teammate Logan Sargeant damaged his front wing and ended both drivers' races.

What did Vesti's 2021 Formula 3 rounds show?

The 2021 season had its share of retirements. A hydraulic leak ended one Budapest race on lap 16, but Vesti bounced back at Zandvoort with a third-place finish in race two. That podium came after a poor qualifying session, when he had started 13th.

At Budapest he qualified seventh but was penalised three places in race one for driving unnecessarily slowly, then retired. After no points in race two he returned with seventh in the next race, which helped him keep his place among the leaders.

He finished the year fourth in the championship, with one pole and four further podiums across the season. His Sochi finale ended with a late pass on Clement Novalak for second place.

How did Vesti's 2023 Formula 2 opening rounds go?

Vesti began 2023 with a difficult Bahrain weekend, where a collision ended his feature race and a grid penalty followed. He recovered with his first feature win of the season at Jeddah, where the leaders' spins opened the door. In the Jeddah sprint he had qualified seventh and finished one place higher, sixth.

In Bahrain he was penalised three places for impeding Arthur Leclerc in the sprint, and he retired from the feature after colliding with Richard Verschoor. He then took a five-place grid penalty for the next race.

At Melbourne he qualified 13th and fought back to eighth in the sprint. He started the feature on slower tyres, and a late safety car put him fourth.

How is Vesti's career viewed now?

Vesti is remembered for a junior record that includes a first-year title, a points record and a near-miss at Formula 2 glory. The FREC title, the Formula 3 points record and a 2023 Formula 2 season with six wins stand out, and his later results in IMSA and Hypercar racing show a driver comfortable with more than one kind of car.

His Formula One role is the next step. He has spent several seasons as a reserve, and the third-driver post places him close to the team's race operation. The next seasons will show whether that role leads to a race seat.