🇯🇵 Hiyu Yamakoshi

Hiyu Yamakoshi is an established professional single-seater driver competing at the top level of junior formula racing. His Racer Rating of 5,095 places him among professional competitors who consistently run at the sharp end of strong feeder series fields, though not yet dominating them. Yamakoshi has contested 88 races across four seasons from 2023 to 2026, primarily in the Italian and French F4 championships and now in FIA Formula 3, with an average finishing position of 8.3 across all classified starts.[1]

Yamakoshi's record shows steady progression through the junior ranks. His early results came in F4 racing, where he scored two wins and seven podiums in Italian F4 during 2024, his most successful single-seater campaign to date. He has since moved into stronger fields, competing in Formula Regional European in 2025 and now Formula 3. Against the most frequent rivals in his record, the picture is mixed; he holds a substantial advantage over semi-professional fields such as Dion Gowda, whom he has beaten 32 times in 39 shared races, and Rashid Al Dhaheri, beaten 24 times in 34 races. However, he is consistently outpaced by drivers of higher calibre. Against Freddie Slater, a two-time champion rated 5,993, Yamakoshi finished ahead only 7 times in 49 shared races. Similar deficits appear against established professionals such as Pedro Clerot and Enzo Deligny, both rated above 5,200. Yamakoshi has occasionally beaten these stronger competitors in individual races but has not established a winning pattern against them.[2]

Yamakoshi's 2026 season in Formula 3 for Van Amersfoort Racing has brought a significant milestone. After ten races with a single podium finish, he took a maiden Formula 3 win at Monaco in June 2026, though the sprint race result was subsequently disqualified, and a pole position followed at Austria. These results suggest Yamakoshi is beginning to challenge the front of the formula 3 field after four years of incremental progress through junior racing.