Mercurial young Dutchman Rocco Coronel will make his full-season single-seater debut this year after signing with MP Motorsport for his first spell in the F4 Spanish Championship. The 15-year-old Red Bull Junior from Eemnes is the Dutch team’s third signing for its multi-car Formula 4 line-up in 2026.
Coronel’s promotion comes on the back of a remarkable debut season in motorsport in which the youngster took the Ginetta Junior Championship by storm, converting a record 11 wins, 19 podiums, three pole positions and three fastest laps into a well-deserved title. Weeks after his 15th birthday, the teenager proceeded to make his Formula 4 debut in the final 2025 F4 Spanish round at Barcelona, claiming a podium in his first competitive single-seater meeting. Having already tested similar and more powerful formula cars as a member of the Red Bull Junior Team, Coronel is now ready for his first official step on the single-seater ladder to Formula 1. The Dutch teenager will join the previously announced Kasper Schormans and Louis Cochet in MP’s line-up for the 2026 F4 Spanish Championship.
“It’s wonderful to be joining MP Motorsport for my first season in Formula 4”, said Coronel. “MP is a household name, not just in my home country of the Netherlands, but in the world of single-seater racing as a whole. I’ve already come to know the team through my father Tom, who has performed countless demos with the team’s double-seater A1GP car. In Spanish F4, they are one of the teams to beat, so racing with a familiar Dutch team that is fully capable of winning is the best possible platform for starting my upwards journey in motor racing.”
“Everyone at MP can’t wait to see what Rocco has in store for us in Formula 4 this year”, said Sander Dorsman, MP Motorsport’s team principal. “We’ve had a brief taster with his wildcard run at Barcelona, and his podium didn’t even come as a shock to us. He has been nothing short of sensational in the Ginettas last year, and I’m confident that we will witness similar pace and racecraft in F4 in 2026. We look forward to fully integrating Rocco into our racing family, and learning him all he needs to do well and perform at his highest level. As usual, we are aiming for a Formula 4 line-up that boasts a talented mix of experienced sophomores and eager rookies – and with Kasper, Louis and Rocco we certainly have most of the second part of our brief covered already!”
Before stepping up to cars in the Ginetta Junior Championship while continuing in OK karts, Coronel enjoyed a meteoric rise in the international karting scene, culminating in third in the 2024 FIA World Karting Championship for OK Juniors, while taking fifth in that season’s Champions of the Future series. In 2023, Coronel secured the category’s FIA European title while snatching the French IAME Junior championship as well as claiming second in WSK’s Open Cup.
