New Zealand teenager Louis Sharp took big step towards his Formula 1 dream by winning the 2023 F4 British Championship.

The championship featured 27 young drivers that represented nine nations with 12 different race winners.

Sharp, along with Australian Noah Lisle also helped their Rodin Carlin team retain the prized Team’s Cup over Hitech Pulse-Eight which included Aussie James Piszcyk who finished fifth in the series.

Sharp hopes to follow 2015 winner Lando Norris (his McLaren Oscar Piastri was runner-up in 2017) and fellow Rodin Cars-backed racer Liam Lawson towards the F1 grid.

By winning the title, 16-year-old Sharp earned 12 Super Licence points. Other prizes include an opportunity to experience a Formula 1 simulator experience at the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team factory in Brackley.

He will also spend a grand prix weekend embedded with McLaren Racing in 2024 and a year-long coaching programme and expert guidance from Alpine Formula 1 Team at the Alpine Racing Human Performance Centre.

Sharp won the title at the season-finale on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit. He had a slender advantage in the championship standings over Piszcyk’s team-mate Brit William MacIntyre, Sharp would start Races 1 and 3 from pole position.

In Race 1, he led throughout which included a Safety Car and took his sixth win for the season and stretched his points advantage over MacIntyre who finished third.

In the reverse grid second race, Sharp progressed to 12th before a Safety Car and picked up another place afterwards. Then in the last, he finished second behind JHR Developments’ Deagan Fairclough.

“This has been a tough season with highs and lows along the way and we worked hard to make sure that we got the job done when it mattered,” he said.

“That final race of the season with Will behind me was the most stressful 20 minutes of my life and it was so nice to see the chequered flag!”