Louis Sharp

Louis Sharp (born 11 May 2007) is a racing driver from New Zealand who is competing in the 2025 FIA Formula 3 Championship for Rodin Motorsport. He is the winner of the 2024 GB3 Championship for the same team and the 2023 F4 British Championship for Rodin Carlin. Sharp is also a finalist of the 2024 Autosport BRDC Award.

Personal life

Sharp was born in Nottingham, United Kingdom, living in Newark for his first few early years but spent most of his childhood in Christchurch, New Zealand, where he attended St Bede's College. He later moved back to the UK to compete in the F4 British Championship.

Career

Karting

After happening across a local karting track, Sharp's interest was piqued and he started karting at age six in 2014, driving in the Kartsport NZ National Schools Championship. He finished 18th in the Cadet class, the next year he finished third in the same class, and two years later he won the championship in the same class, along with the Sievwright Kartsport NZ National Sprint Championship, in the Cadet class. In 2018, he finished as runner up in the Kartsport NZ National Sprint Championship in the Mini ROK class and the following year he won the championship.

These results caught the attention of David Dicker, founder of the New Zealand based racing car manufacturer Rodin Cars. Dicker, through Rodin, continue to back Sharp through his formula racing career.

Lower formulae

2020

Sharp stepped up into single-seater racing in 2020, making his debut in the Formula First Manfeild Winter Series. He won one race and achieved six podiums, finishing the championship in fifth with 375 points. He also completed in the New Zealand Formula First Championship for Track Tec Racing, finishing the championship in fifth and ending his campaign with one podium.

2021

The following year, Sharp drove in the Yokohama South Island Formula Ford Series, getting five wins, ten podiums and two pole positions. finishing fifth in the championship. Sharp was leading the championship before being called up by Carlin to compete in British F4.

Formula 4

2022

Sharp made another step up to the 2022 F4 British Championship with Carlin, partnering McLaren Junior Driver Ugo Ugochukwu and Williams Junior Driver Oliver Gray. Sharp did not participate in the first round of the season at Donington Park due to still being 14 years old, with the age limit of most Formula 4 series being set at 15. In his first two rounds he got two podiums; third place in the third race at both Brands Hatch and Thruxton Circuit. He got podiums in all three races at Round 4, Oulton Park, taking his first win in the series in the third race. At the fifth round at Croft Circuit he came second place in the third race, bagging another podium for his Formula 4 campaign. He was on a consistent points streak in Knockhill and Snetterton until making contact with Aiden Neate during the third race at Snetterton, while fighting for a top ten position.

Sharp added two more third places to his podium tally in the first and third races at Thruxton. In Silverstone Sharp got his second win of the season in the first race, after the original race winner Oliver Gray was penalised. Sharp came third in the reverse-grid race, but stalled on the grid and consequently retired from the third race.

The first race in the final round at Brands Hatch did not go well for Sharp, as while he was battling his teammate Ugo Ugochukwu for 4th position his car began to smoke and the Kiwi was forced to jump out of the car before it caught fire. He had more luck during the rest of the round, coming 3rd and 2nd in the final races of the season. He finished 4th in the championship, behind his teammates, Ugochukwu and Gray despite not competing in the first round, narrowly pipping Joseph Loake to 4th in the championship standings with 272 points, just one point ahead of Loake.

2023

Sharp made his debut in the 2023 Formula 4 UAE Championship for the Trophy Rounds only, which took place in late 2022 and served as a support race for the 2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Sharp drove with Carlin and won both races in an 11 car grid.

He returned to the F4 British Championship in 2023, rejoining the newly rebranded Rodin Carlin team in hopes of winning the title, and was teammates with Australian Noah Lisle and Brit Josh Irfan. Sharp started the season by taking victory in the first two races in the opening round at Donington Park. After a season-long fight with William Macintyre, in which he took four more wins, he eventually became British F4 Champion. As the British F4 Champion Sharp also won an experience in the Simulator of the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team.

Motorsport News voted Sharp as (British) National Racing Driver of the Year for 2023, becoming the youngest ever driver to win the award, the first from outside Europe and the first single seater winner. He was also awarded the Henry Surtees Award, an accolade handed out by the British Racing Drivers' Club for the most outstanding performance by a member of the BRDC Rising Stars initiative.

2024 - GB3

He was announced to drive for Kiwi-team Rodin Motorsport for the 2024 GB3 Championship, which was the main sponsor of Rodin Carlin and had taken over the team in early 2024. Sharp started his campaign with a pole position at the first race of the first round at Oulton Park, he converted his maiden pole to a maiden win and got his second pole position in the next race, finishing that race in second place.

Following two podiums at Spa-Francorchamps, he achieved his second win of the season at the Hungaroring and claimed two more podiums at Silverstone. Sharp got two more pole positions at the penultimate round in Donington Park which he converted to wins. He led the championship coming into the final round at Brands Hatch, with his closest rivals being Briton John Bennett and Pole Tymek Kucharczyk. He got pole in the second race and won it, and in the final race of the season he finished in 10th place, winning the championship with 478 points.

FIA Formula 3 Championship

2023

Sharp joined Rodin Carlin for the final post-season test of the 2023 FIA Formula 3 Championship at Imola.

2025

Shortly after clinching the GB3 title, Sharp was announced to be promoted to FIA Formula 3 for the 2025 season, continuing with Rodin Motorsport.

Karting record

Karting career summary

Racing record

Racing career summary

^* Season still in progress.

Complete F4 British Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete GB3 Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete FIA Formula 3 Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

* Season still in progress.

References

External links

*

{{Authority control, qid=Q112262887
2007 births
Living people
New Zealand racing drivers
Sportspeople from Christchurch
British F4 Championship drivers
UAE F4 Championship drivers
Carlin racing drivers
People educated at St Bede's College, Christchurch
Racing drivers from Nottingham
Rodin Motorsport drivers
FIA Formula 3 Championship drivers
BRDC British Formula 3 Championship drivers
21st-century New Zealand sportsmen