Budget and financial issues are no stranger to many drivers looking to make it to Formula 1, and it has been the case for Alex O’Grady as he made the jump from karting to single-seaters.
Alex O’Grady missing out on a fully funded French F4 drive
In 2023 the young Irish driver drove in the FEED Racing Academy. The winner of it would get a fully funded drive in the French F4 championship for 2024. While the now 17-year-old made the final, he did not win it.
From there, it was a choice between French F4 and GB4. In the end a season of French F4 won out for various reasons.
“Yeah, I think 2024 was the hardest year we ever done. Because we obviously done the FEED Racing Academy in 2023 with the aim of winning that,” O’Grady told Pit Debrief in an exclusive interview.
“But I just wasn’t quite good enough in that and we didn’t win it. I got to the final, but it wasn’t enough. So we didn’t win the French F4 drive.
“And yeah, at that point, I think there was no chance we were ever going to do F4 with the budget.
“But yeah, then we looked into it and it was between GB4 and French F4. And French F4 at the time was actually cheaper to do. So we went for French F4, obviously, because I’d already done the FEED Racing Academy.
“We sort of had some links there. So we went down that route.”
How budget struggles badly hurt Alex O’Grady’s 2024 French F4 campaign
Before the official part of the weekend begins with timed practice, in some lower categories collective testing takes place to give these young drivers a chance to learn tracks and get familar with their packages.
However, due to financial constraints, Alex O’Grady was forced to miss these during his season in French F4. With over 2 hours of running possible in five 25-minute sessions, that means vital track time is missed out on.
On top of that, weather changes between the official practice session and qualifying disrupted the County Galway driver’s weekends even more. He was massively on the back foot.
“But yeah, it was a really tough season. I think I was the only driver that didn’t do the testing for each race. So yeah, basically, I went into every round and in qualifying I was still learning the track.
“It was just really difficult because every Thursday before each weekend, you’d have a collective test. So five 25-minute sessions. And I was the only person who wasn’t driving on that day.
“And then you’d go into Friday and you’d have one practice session and then qualifying.
“It was really difficult because you’d go out and practice, and I think in three or four of the weekends, it was either wet in practice and then dry in quali or the other way around.
“So yeah, I remember at the Nürburgring, it was a torrential rain in the practice. And we got about three laps because it was a red flag every lap.
“And then I went into qualifying and I’d never driven the track in the dry before. I’d done three laps in the wet.
“So yeah, I mean, the whole year was just really difficult.”
The positives from a difficult French F4 season for Alex O’Grady
Although he was at a significant disadvantage, the young Irishman had strong results. Podiums at Circuit de Lédenon and the Nurburgring showed his ability. In the final round at Paul Ricard, P4 in qualifying was a sign of his natural talent. 12th was his final standing in the championship.
“Looking at the outside, to finish 12th doesn’t look very good. But considering the lack of mileage I had to still have done that and got two podiums.
“And I also qualified fourth at Paul Ricard when I was still learning the track on my best lap. I think it was a pretty good effort.”
