Yamakoshi and Van Amersfoort Racing: The Japanese-Dutch Alliance Aiming for the Top of F3 in 2026

Hiyu Yamakoshi: The Japanese Dream Takes Shape in FIA Formula 3

There are drivers who arrive in European motorsport and adapt. And then there are drivers who arrive and fall so deeply in love with the racing world that they seem born for it. Hiyu Yamakoshi, the 19 year old Japanese driver from Tokyo, clearly belongs to the second category. His is the story of someone who has built, with patience and results, the road towards the world’s greatest motorsport stage.

Yamakoshi began his single-seater adventure in 2023, when he joined Van Amersfoort Racing to compete in the Italian Formula 4 Championship. He quickly revealed a natural speed that caught the attention of the European paddock. In 2024, he expanded his presence and also competed in the Euro 4 series, accumulating four victories across both championships and finishing third and fourth respectively. For his first full year in European motorsport, the results spoke of a talent that grew with every lap.

In 2025 he stepped up to the Formula Regional European Championship (FREC), the direct precursor to Formula 3. The category is renowned for its extremely high competitive level, and Yamakoshi responded well. He finished ninth in the standings and also competed in the Japanese Super Formula Lights and the British F3 Championship, acquiring a variety of experience rarely seen in drivers of his age. The highlight of his season was two podium finishes, demonstrating that he could compete at the maximum level.

Van Amersfoort Racing’s decision to promote him to FIA Formula 3 for 2026 was both natural and logical. The Dutch team knows Yamakoshi perfectly well since his debut in 2023, and that mutual familiarity is an enormous asset in a category where the communication between driver and engineer can mean the difference between fighting for pole position and sitting at the back of the grid. 2026 marks Yamakoshi’s fourth consecutive season with VAR, an unusually loyal partnership at this level.

His F3 debut in Melbourne in 2026, as part of the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix weekend, was not perfect in terms of results he qualified twenty second and finished tenth in the feature race. But his attitude and learning capacity left a positive impression. In pre-season testing in Barcelona he had been the driver who completed the most laps on both the first and second days, progressively reducing his lap time from an initial deficit of five seconds off the pace leader to positioning himself inside the top 12, which would be the reverse-grid sprint pole territory. That systematic progression says more about a driver than the results themselves.

Yamakoshi represents something beyond an individual driver. He is the ambassador of a new generation of young Japanese drivers seeking to make their name in European motorsport, following in the historic footsteps of names such as Satoru Nakajima, Aguri Suzuki, Takuma Sato and, more recently, Yuki Tsunoda. The difference is that Yamakoshi has chosen to build his career from European foundations, betting on gradual development rather than an immediate leap.

A self confessed admirer of Max Verstappen for his qualifying pace and his performances in the rain, the young man from Tokyo knows his references well. And with VAR providing the necessary support, FIA Formula 3 in 2026 could be the stage where Hiyu Yamakoshi begins to write a name that the motorsport world will want to remember.

TIMELINE

2006/2007 — Born in Tokyo, Japan.
2023 — Makes single-seater debut with Van Amersfoort Racing in Italian F4.
2024 — Italian F4 and Euro 4. Four wins. 3rd in Italian F4, 4th in Euro 4.
2025 — Moves up to FREC. 9th in the championship. 2 podium finishes. Also competes in Super Formula Lights and GB3.
2026 — FIA Formula 3 debut with Van Amersfoort Racing. First season alongside F1.

IMPORTANT PHRASES

“This is my first time ever racing alongside Formula 1, which is one of my dreams.” — Hiyu Yamakoshi.
“In the first test, I was like five seconds off from P1, but by the end, I managed to improve on myself.” — Hiyu Yamakoshi.

CURIOSITIES

• He completed the most laps of anyone on both the first and second days of the 2026 Barcelona pre-season test.
• His favourite driver for qualifying and rain is Max Verstappen, highlighting his performance at Spa 2021.
• 2026 is his fourth consecutive season with Van Amersfoort Racing, an unusually loyal partnership at this level.

Sources: FIAFormula3.com, FeederSeries.net, FormulaRapida.net, FormulaScout.com, PitDebrief.com, Dive-Bomb.com